Robbinsville girls finish as state runners-up
Greensboro – Between three individual state champions and a plethora of high placements, the Robbinsville Black Knights mixed together the right formula for 1A immortality.
Accumulating 100 points under the scorching Greensboro sun, the Knights ran away with the program's first-ever team championship May 14. Robbinsville finished 34 points ahead of second-place Northside (66 points) at North Carolina A&T University.
Twenty points were banked early in the meet, when Isiac Collins heaved the shot put 49' 5" to collect a gold medal. The 4x800 relay team of Austin Bohn, Benjamin Frederick, Nathan Frederick and Xamuel Wachacha followed suit by crossing the finish line at the 8:12.96 mark – setting a new school record in the process.
Nathan Frederick – who also received the Farm Bureau Sportsmanship Award at the conclusion of the event – also triumphed in the 800-meter run, turning in a time of 1:58.34 to capture the crown. Nathan was eighth in the 400-meter dash (53.21), as well.
Aiding the cause was a second-place finish for Collins in the discus throw (131' 6"), as well as a silver medal in the 4x400 relay (3:36.07). Colton McCoy secured third in both the 200- and 400-meter dashes, completing the events with respective times of 22.39 and 50.36. He also took fifth in the 100-meter dash (11.33).
Benjamin Frederick placed third in the 800 run (2:04), as did Wachacha in the 3,200-meter run (10:00.37). Wachacha also crossed the finish line at 4:37.72 in the 1,600-meter run – good for sixth place – while Benjamin Frederick was eighth in the competition (4:38.98). Zander Lucksavage collected a pair of third-place finishes in the 110-meter hurdles (16.42) and the pole vault (9' 6"), and claimed sixth in the 300-meter hurdles (43.71).
Rounding out the contributors to the final team score was Elijah Lambert, who recorded a fifth-place spot in the 300 hurdles (43.46) and a seventh-place finish in the 110 hurdles (17.96).
The Black Knights were also represented by Benjamin Koeller, who finished 10th in the 800 run (2:10.33); the 4x200 (1:36.75) and 4x100 (46.94) relays – good for 10th and 11th place, respectively – and Caelyn Rodkey, in the high jump (5' 4").
Lady Knights
Just one point kept Robbinsville's varsity girls from competing a Knights sweep in the team-championship category.
With 66 points, the Lady Knights fell just shy to Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy (67 points) in the race. The battle for a crown was hard-fought, with the North Carolina School of Science and Math – Morganton finishing third, compiling 65 points; Phoenix Academy High School (fourth, 60.5); and the N.C. Leadership Academy (fifth, 60).
Chloe Adams was Robbinsville's lone girls state champion, as the sophomore leapt a flat 17 feet in the long jump. In other events, Adams was second in both the triple jump (34' 11 1/2") and the 200 dash (26.05).
Senior Abby Wehr capped her high school career with a pair of second-place finishes in the 800 (2:35.37) and 1,600 (5:31.60) runs. Wehr was also fourth in the 3,200 run (12:55.92) and later received a Farm Bureau Sportsmanship Award.
Elsewhere, the Lady Knights finished second in the 4x200 relay (1:53.11). Zaelyn Phillips claimed a bronze medal in the triple jump (34' 3") and took fourth in the long jump (15' 2"). Brooklyn Cox took ninth in the 300 hurdles (56.03), while an 11th-place finish for Ashley Howell in the shot put (26' 6 3/4") and 12th place for Alyssa Bohn in the discus throw (75' 10") capped the effort.