McKenzie wins SAC title in high jump, Raiders place 4th

SOUTHERN PINES — Scoring points across 17 events, the Richmond Raider track and field team placed fourth overall at the Sandhills Athletic Conference championship meet.

Participating against the six other SAC schools at Pinecrest High School last Friday, the Raiders secured 72 points.

Richmond had one individual conference champion, as well as one conference runner-up performance.

The Raiders alo scored points with six fourth-place results, four fifth-place finishes, three seventh-place marks and two eighth-place distances.

The host Patriots won the conference title with 203.5 points. Taking second and third place were Union Pines and Hoke County high schools, respectively. Finishing behind Richmond were Lee County, Southern Lee and Scotland.

Senior jumper Tyrene McKenzie won the individual title in the high jump, clearing the bar at 6 feet, 4 inches. That victory awarded the Raiders 10 points.

Richmond’s 4×100-meter relay team nearly brought home the conference crown, but finished second. Keonta Pegues, Deshaun Ingram, Tyreese Collins and Jayden Hamilton combined for the lap around the track in 42.68 seconds.

Adding eight points to the team’s total, the four Raiders finished just behind Union Pines (42.35 seconds).

Three field events, two more relay teams and a hurdle event combined for 30 points (five points apiece) with fourth-place times or distances.

Domonic Tillman completed the 110-meter hurdles in 16.47 seconds, Hamilton placed in the high jump at 6 feet, Pegues landed at 21 feet, 6.50 inches in the long jump and McKenzie ended the triple jump with a final distance of 42 feet, 2 inches.

Also taking fourth overall were the 4×400 and 4×800-meter relay teams.

Nyjier Allen, Amer Morrison, Christian Surgent and Jordan Bostick each ran a lap around the track and passed the baton in 3:41.00 in the 4×400.

Bostick, along with James Coicou, Cameron Gladden and Hayden Smith, paced the 4×800 in 9:33.50.

The Raiders’ foursome of Allen, Ingram, Morrison and Jyneil Scott notched one of the team’s four fifth-place results in the 4×200-meter relay. Their time was 1:34.42, good enough for four points.

Collins added eight more points for Richmond with a pair of fifth-place times in the open 100 (11.45 seconds) and the 200-meter dash (22.88 seconds). Jordan Hamilton’s toss of 108 feet, 6 inches put him fifth in the discus.

Pegues (11.49 seconds), McKenzie (20 feet, 11 inches) and Jordan Hamilton (37 feet, 9 inches) all took seventh place and added two points each in the 100-meter, long jump and shot put, respectively.

The Raiders’ final two points came from Tillman in the triple jump (39 feet, 3 inches) and Laurence Williams in the discus (100 feet, 8 inches), both of whom finished in eighth place.

The Raiders and head coach John Rich will now prepare for the NCHSAA 4A Mideast regional meet, which will be held May 11 at Pinecrest.