Shuler repeats, adds to championship resume
Winston-Salem – In the last 15 months, Zoie Shuler has won five individual state championships.
Titles eluded her freshman season, but Shuler finally broke through the barrier with an indoor, long-jump crown attained in February 2022 and a pair of outdoor titles (long and triple jump) in May 2022.
On Saturday, she reported to the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem and was tasked with defending her indoor long-jump championship. To little surprise, she took care of business, defeating Forest Hills’ Tanaia Taylor by three inches (Shuler’s launch was 17 feet, 5 inches; Taylor’s was 17 feet, 2 inches).
But the final missing piece of the puzzle was collected later in the day: the indoor triple-jump crown. After finishing second last year, Shuler skipped and leapt 39 feet, 9 ½ inches – a whopping 2 feet, 3 inches ahead of runner-up D’Anna Cotton (Hugh M. Cummings) – to reach the top of the awards podium.
Shuler also competed in the high jump, placing fourth in the field (5 feet). She also joined Delaney Brooms, Claire Barlow and Kensley Phillips in a ninth-place effort in the 4x200 relay (1:57.18).
“Running back and forth, competing in (the) long (jump) and high (jump) simultaneously knocked me off my game a little,” Shuler said. “Once I was out of the high jump, I had a chance to catch my breath and get refocused.
“My goal is always to compete and do the best I can.”
Brooms earned a bronze medal in the pole vault (8 feet), while Barlow finished 10th in the long jump (15 feet, 8 ½ inches) and 14th in the triple jump (30 feet, 8 ½ inches).
Freshmen Anna Williams and Katie-Lyn Gross were sandwiched between Brooms and Phillips in the 4x400 event, as the Lady Knights clocked in at the 4:51.25 mark – good for 15th place. To show how bright the prospect of the future is, Phillips was the only senior to participate in Saturday’s meet for Robbinsville.
Just one Black Knight – Caden Lail – punched a ticket to the competition. He cleared 11 feet in the pole vault, good for seventh in the contest.
Swain County repeated as the 1A/2A girls champion, recording 83.5 team points to defeat second-place Hugh M. Cummings (61). East Burke’s 48 points edged Union Academy’s 43 for the boys title.