By Hannah Field
The Brevard High School track and field team had a strong showing at the Western North Carolina Athletic Conference Championship at North Hendersonville High School on Wednesday, April 24.
Despite questions about the weather (the event would have been stopped and postponed in the event of a thunderstorm), the teams were able to complete the entire meet.
The day began with the field events. Senior D’Andre Rice threw 117 feet in the discus throw, coming in fifth place. He threw 35 feet in the shot put, coming in 17th place. Senior Lashaun Harper threw 106 feet in discus, coming in eighth place, and 39 feet in the shot put, coming in seventh place. Freshman Carla Lewis threw 75 feet in the discus, coming in fifth place. In the shot put, she threw 28 feet for fourth place.
The first running event of the day was the 4×800 meter relay. Brevard’s women’s team ran a combined time of 13:01 for fifth place, and the men’s team ran a time of 10:26 for seventh place.
In the 100 meter dash, senior Brittany Berkshire ran a time of 13.1 seconds, easily placing first. Sophomore Hannah Thompson was close behind in fifth place, running a time of 13.77 seconds. Freshman Christine Geer ran 14.28 for 17th place. As the singular Brevard runner in the men’s dash, junior Kenon Stallworth ran 11.81, and battled the second place runner for his spot, but ended up placing third.
In the 1600 meter run, freshman Amy Borhaug ran 5:39. She was barely beaten by fellow freshman and rival Allison Melrose of Tuscola for third place. Senior Hannah Field ran 5:46, placing fifth and earning a regional qualifier. Borhaug had qualified at an earlier meet. Senior Kaitlin McCreery ran 6:19, placing 13th.
Senior Tommy Connell placed second in the men’s 1600, just behind Tanis Baldwin of East Henderson, who won the 2012 3A state cross country meet. Connell ran 4:33, just a second off his impressive 4:32 personal record. Senior Tyler Holden ran 5:04 for eighth place, and sophomore Trevor Adams ran 5:30 for 13th place.
Brevard placed second in the women’s 4×100 meter relay with a time of 52.66.
In the 400 meter dash, sophomore Cassie Smith ran 1:08 for ninth place, senior Brenna Bryson ran 1:14 for 12th place and freshman Bonnie Smith ran 1:14 for 13th place. Freshman Jeremy Dodson ran 1:01 for 14th place and sophomore Trey Smith ran 1:02 for 17th place and Adams was just a millisecond off in 18th place.
In the 800, Borhaug came in second place and ran 2:35. Field ran a 2:45 for fifth place, and sophomore Sophie Davis ran 3:11 for 16th place.
Connell went head to head with Baldwin once again in the 800 meter race, passing him with 200 meters to go. Baldwin just barely caught him in the final stretch of the race, running 2:00.29 while Connell ran 2:00.80. They came in first and second.
Berkshire won the 200 meter race with a time of 26.81. Thompson came in tenth with a time of 29.73. Geer ran 30.73 for fifteenth place. Stallworth ran a time of 24.72 for 11th place.
Overall, Brevard came in fourth out of eight teams. Their next meet will take place on May 3 at Christ School. The regional meet, where athletes who place in the top four of their events advance to state, will take place on May 11 at Bunker Hill High School.