The Davie High track and field team kicked off the outdoor season by hosting the CPC Quad Meet 1 on March 20 against Mount Tabor, Glenn, and Parkland IB. Not listed on the schedule for this meet, however, was a hidden fifth opponent: the wind. Throughout the meet, athletes from all teams were buffetted by cold winds that provided an unexpected challenge at this season-opening meet. Despite this challenge, though, there were many strong performances from the team, who made the most out of a windy first meet.
Outside the track, the boys’ throwing team started the meet on a high note. Senior Cooper Williams placed 2nd in discus and 1st in shotput. In the discus, Williams threw 142’9” and in the shot put threw 58’0”. Junior AJ Imes placed 11th in the shotput with a distance of 35’8”. Imes shares his motivation and goals for this season, stating, “This being my first season after having so many knee surgeries, I was looking forward to just being out here…just to improve every single day.”
There were stand-out performances for other field events, including junior Bryson Lantz placing 3rd at the pole vault, reaching 8’6”, and senior David Patton placing 3rd in the men’s long jump at a length of 19’3”.
On the track, the boy’s team fought for the top 3 spots. Junior Gavin Reece placed 3rd overall in the 100m sprints with a time of 11.69. Moving to the 200-meter sprint, junior Josh Jones placed 2nd overall with a time of 23.64 seconds. Juniors Brayden Kistner and Logan Zuleger placed 1st and 3rd in the 800-meter sprint, respectively. Kistner won with a time of 2:13 minutes, beating out 2nd place by 0.59 seconds. Zuleger claimed 3rd place with a time of 2:17.
Only Davie runners participated in the endurance-testing 1600m race led by senior Thomas Essic, who ran 4:51 in the event. Following him are junior Ethan Lakey at 2nd running 4:52 and sophomore Jacob Steelman in 3rd running 4:57. Of all 1600m participants, only one girl entered to run the mile, freshman Rachel Starkey. Starkey ran a 6:31 in the boys’ event. As Starkey notes, being with the guys had no impact on her strategy, but it did affect her performance.
“Running with the boys gave me an incentive not to get lapped,” Starkey said, “which was a good motivator.”
Outstanding performances came from all corners concerning the girl’s track team. On the throwing team, senior Jamie Cornatzer placed 2nd in discus with a distance of 89’3” and 3rd in shotput with a distance of 32’0”. For field events, junior Clara Phelps was the only female participant in pole vaulting out of all 4 schools, clearing a height of 9’6”. The entirety of the top 4 female high jumpers were from Davie. Junior America Stockton placed 1st, and junior Alyssa Marion placed 2nd, both clearing a max height of 5’0”. Junior Precious Jimerson placed 3rd, and Clara Phelps placed 4th, both clearing a max height of 4’6”.
On the track, freshman Carrington Pitcher ran the 100m race in 13.67, obtaining 5th place overall at her first high school track meet. As a freshman coming into a new season, Pitcher states, “The competitive drive to beat everyone around me,” and her goal of consistently improving her times serves as her motivation. As for her first impressions of the high school level of performance, she states how she found new confidence in her abilities.
“I think I went into it thinking that everyone was going to be crazy good and I was going to be really behind, but I wasn’t,” Pitcher said. In the 800m race, Lexi Marion won 1st place with a time of 2:44.
From nearly the beginning to its ending, the cold winds were a constant complication for the runners.
“It definitely made us feel like we were running with weights,” Zuleger states. “It felt like the wind was coming from both directions, which made it really challenging.” Other runners echoed Zuleger’s words, with Lantz reinforcing this by stating that because of the wind, “I had to use a lot more power to make sure it wouldn’t throw me off, but I usually had to wait for it to die down.” Pitcher spoke similarly: “I definitely had to push harder, ’cause the wind’s going against you. It was moving around a lot…so I think it slowed everybody down.”
Concerning the inclement weather, Imes shares his sentiment of how the weather affected his performance, stating, “The wind was terrible. I remember one throw—I would’ve had a PR, but the wind blew it out, so I scratched.”
Despite all this, the Davie athletes pushed through to perform their best, staying motivated despite the conditions. Imes states he’s willing to put in the extra effort and push himself harder, as he hasn’t had the opportunity to throw as much as other athletes. 800m runner and junior Jamie Brown states her goals this season are to better herself and maintain a positive attitude. “I gotta go in there, do what I gotta do…you just have to push through, and you’ll eventually finish.”
Lantz expresses his belief in the team by stating that despite the weather, “We saw a lot of improvement and came in strong this season.”
Track and field is a sport won in tenths of a second and fractions of an inch. The determination of these athletes demonstrates the unwavering frame of mind required to succeed on and off the track. The outdoor season is just getting started, and the Davie High Track Team is in high spirits.
The next home track meet is on April 17, and it is the Davie County CPC Quad Meet 2.
