Three local schools competed in the Foothills 2A Conference Track & Field Championship on May 2.
The three Surry County schools combined to win 31 individual medals at the FH2A Championship.
North Surry led the way by winning 16 of the county’s 31 total medals. The Greyhound girls won nine medals, while the boys won seven. North accounted for eight of Surry County’s 15 gold medals.
North Surry sophomore Fisher Leftwich was also named FH2A Male Athlete of the Year.
East Surry athletes won seven total medals, including a pair of golds, while Surry Central won eight total medals — half of which were gold.
Girls
Team Standings
1. Wilkes Central 145
2. Forbush 121
3. West Wilkes 87
4. North Surry 80
5. Surry Central 46
6. North Wilkes 40
7. East Surry 26
Ella Riggs and Ariana Liberatore both won a pair of gold medals for the Greyhounds.
Riggs, a two-time state champion, dominated the field in both shot put and discus throw. Her distance of 39-02.50 was nine feet farther than the runner-up, and her mark of 102-01 in discus won by nearly 16 feet.
Anna Escobar and Westyn McCraw also had strong performances in the throwing events. Escobar finished runner-up in shot put with a mark of 30-6.50, followed by McCraw in third at 29-09.50. Escobar also finished third in discus with a mark of 84-10.
Ariana Liberatore added two gold medals for the Greyhounds. Liberatore won long jump with a mark of 17-04, more than a foot longer than the runner-up, then won triple jump with a mark of 33-10.50.
Lenae Sumner won high jump to give North’s girls a sweep of the three jumping events. The sophomore posted a height of 4-11 to win the event. Sumner also finished third in long jump with a mark of 15-09.
Surry Central’s 4x400-meter relay team won the school’s lone gold medal on the girls side. The team of Sierra Carpenter, Tasyanna Hughes, Aylin Rodriguez and Ivy Toney won with a time of 4:26.00.
Hughes added two silver medals for the Golden Eagles. The junior finished runner-up in the 400-meter run with a time of 1:02.07, then finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:37.44.
Rodriguez had the Eagles’ final medal by winning bronze in the 100 meters with a time of 13.46 seconds.
Four East Surry girls combined to win two relay medals: Kelis Brown, Brycen Banks, Kyleigh Boyette and Lilli Clodfelter. The relay team won gold in the 4x200 with a time of 1:53.96, then finished runner-up in the 4x100 with a time of 54.68.
Boys
Team Standings
1. Wilkes Central 132
2. West Wilkes 105
3. Forbush 95
4. North Surry 74
5. Surry Central 70
6. East Surry 58
7. North Wilkes 20
Leftwich led North Surry with a trio of gold medals.
The sophomore won long jump with a distance of 21-11.00 feet, which would’ve earned him second place in the 2A State Championship last year behind his former teammate Jared Hiatt. Leftwich also set a new school record by winning the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.97 seconds.
Leftwich won his final gold as part of the Greyhounds’ 4x100 relay team. The team of Leftwich, Jake Simmons, Derrick Simmons and Owen McMillian won the event with a time of 44.86 seconds.
Four North Surry athletes each won one medal at the conference championship: Cruz Ramirez won silver in the 1,600 meters with a time of 4:55.79, Michael Hiatt won bronze in the long jump with a mark of 19-05, Anthony Williams won bronze in discus with a mark of 122-07, and Jaime Cruz-Martinez won bronze in shot put with a mark of 45-05.75.
Allen Huffman led Surry Central with a trio of medals at the conference championship, including two golds. Huffman won the 300 hurdles with a time of 41.72, won bronze in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 16.99 seconds, then was part of the Eagles’ 4x400 relay team that won gold. Huffman was joined by Isaac Eller, Sony Orozco-Flores and Migral Perez on the championship relay team.
Each member of the championship relay team also won an individual conference title: Perez won gold in the 800 meters with a time of 2:04.67, Orozco-Flores won bronze in the 800 with a time of 2:14.23, and Eller won bronze in the 400 with a time of 54.29.
Jacob Doria won Surry Central’s final gold medal in the 3,200 meters with a time of 11:12.10, and Aaron Aguilar added a bronze in the 1,600 with a time of 4:57.19.
2022 State Champion Isaac Vaden set the bar in discus throw at the FH2A Championship. The senior met the MileSplit US Second Team Standard with a throw of 164-1– more than 26 feet farther than the event’s runner-up.
Three Cardinals won silver medals in individual events: Lindann Fleming with a time of 23.27 in the 200 meters, Nolan Withers with a time of 53.17 in the 400 meters, and Aidan Harpe with height of 5-08 feet in high jump.
East Surry’s 4x800 relay team added the school’s final medal. The team of Ryland Taylor, Hector Venegas, Banks Johnson and Michael Fischer won bronze with a time of 9:46.38.
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