Pope looks for 2 state titles in final meet

Erin Pope’s foray into running for her senior year at Fike High has already paid off major dividends for the Golden Demons soccer star who will play that sport at Lenoir-Rhyne University this fall.

However, Pope’s legendary running career will add another final chapter Monday as she guns for not one, but two state titles at the NCHSAA 3-A track and field championships.

Pope is one of nine athletes from the Times readership area who will be competing at Marcus T. Johnson Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University. She will be joined by teammates Jewel Brewington and Ja’Khyla Ruffin as well as Hunt High junior Deontrae Barnes, C.B. Aycock’s Jeremy Johnson, Na’jay Jackson and William Seth Cowan and Southern Nash’s D.J. Pridgen, Chris Harris and the girls 4×100-meter relay.

The meet was originally set for Saturday but heavy rain in the forecast caused it to be moved to Monday, which was the day her Fike soccer team was set to host Greenville Rose in the third round of the state 3-A playoffs. Instead, soccer will be played Tuesday and Pope gets a chance to make history Monday.

Pope enters as the top seed in the girls 3,200-meter run and is second in the 1,600. She won the 3,200 at the NCHSAA 3-A indoor championships in February and placed second at the NCHSAA 3-A cross-country championships in November. The holder of Fike records in both distance events, Pope won both at the 3-A East Regional meet last Saturday at Croatan High. Her time of 10 minutes, 59.49 seconds ranks first in the 3,200 and was more than 18 seconds faster than the No. 2 seed by Pope’s “nemesis,” First Flight sophomore Morgan Miller.

Pope lost to Miller in the 3-A cross-country championships but got her revenge in the 3,200 at the indoor championships as Miller took second at JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem.

Both runners take a back seat to Lake Norman senior Lily Yampolsky, the West Region champion and top seed in the girls 1,600 at 4:59.22. Pope clocked in a 5:02.96 to win the East Regional race while Miller is seeded fourth at 5:08.96, just behind North Lincoln sophomore Olivia Ferraro at 5:08.91.

Besides Pope, the best bet for an area athlete to place is Hunt’s Barnes, the 3-A East shot put winner with a personal-record toss of 51 feet, 3 inches. That ranks second to only the 52-8.5 by Zahir McPhail of Fayetteville E.E. Smith in state meet entries.

Pope’s teammates, Brewington and Ruffin, will be making their first state meet appearances. Ruffin enters as the No. 12 seed in girls discus with her fourth-place toss at regionals of 103-6 while Brewington ranks 12th in long jump at 17-3.

Southern Nash’s Harris is seeded seventh in boys discus with a toss of 150-1 while Pridgen will run in the first flight in the 300 hurdles. His regional time was 40.54 seconds.

The Ladybirds 4×100 relay unit of Chastity Battle, Anta Diop, Terri Richardson and Ja’nhiya Riggins also qualified with a time of 51.68. They will run in the first flight.

Cowan landed state berths in boys discus and shot for CBA. The sophomore ranks eighth of 16 in shot entries with a regional heave of 48-6.5 while his 130-0 discus toss is 16th among state entries.

Johnson is listed as the No. 7 entry in boys 110 hurdles with a regional time of 14.94 seconds, nearly a second behind pace-setter Tayman Howell of West Henderson in first place. Jackson is the 15th seed in the boys 200 dash with a time of 22.52.

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