Warrior girls triumph

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 21, 2011 1:55 PM

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Eastern Wayne turned in another consistent effort and captured the team title during the 2011 Wayne County Girls Track and Field Championships contested at Rosewood High School.

Brianna Coleman emerged victorious in two individual events and ran a leg on the winning 800-meter relay team, which helped catapult the Warriors past Charles B. Aycock, 147-120, on Wednesday afternoon.

The host Eagles, who won the 1,600-meter relay, placed third with 88 points. Goldsboro (75 points), Southern Wayne (69) and Spring Creek (30) rounded out the six-team field.

"We've done very well in this meet the last 10 years," said Eastern Wayne head coach Marvin Bowman.

And Coleman certainly enjoyed a great afternoon. The speedster seized first place in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. She was joined on the relay by Raju'anna Boyette, Tamiya Dortch and Ayanna DeCruise.

"Brianna, I thought she did very well," said Bowman.

DeCruise won the 300 hurdles.

One week ago, the Golden Falcons experienced a disastrous last-place finish in the season-ending Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference championship meet. They rebounded in strong fashion with a first-place effort in the first running event of the day -- the 3,200-meter relay.

The foursome of Ronjae Perry, Jasmine Perry, Layla Stevens and Adia Dobbs broke the tape in 12 minutes, 33 seconds. That set the tone for the team, which finished second in the 800 relay and third in the 400 relay.

Emily Martin grabbed the high jump title, while Dobbs captured the 110 high hurdles.

"I was looking forward to them rebounding and doing what they were capable of doing, and they did that," said Golden Falcons head coach Roger Rhodes. "Eastern Wayne's girls stepped up to the plate and my girls stepped up to the plate, and did a good job. They gave it their all and didn't leave anything on the field at Rosewood today."

Goldsboro distance standout Mikayla Huf secured victories in three events -- the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. Teammates Dansler and Taylor secured first place in the discus and 400 dash, respectively.

Southern Wayne's Qualanda Mathis and Kanesha Jones won the discus and long jump, respectively. Jones ran the opening leg on the Saints' 400-meter relay team, which took first place in 51.78 seconds. She was joined by Deborah Bennett, Latricia Johnson and Jane Hamilton.

Rosewood's Brynna Lee won the pole vault. The Eagles' foursome of Elise McSwain, Armani Perry, Alysse Atwell and Crystal Allen comprised the winning 1,600 relay squad.