Rosewood boys win Carolina 1-A track meet
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on April 26, 2012 1:49 PM
PRINCETON -- Unselfishness proved to be Rosewood's biggest asset during the 2012 Carolina 1-A Conference men's track and field championship meet Wednesday afternoon.
The Eagles made changes in their lineup, benefited from their depth and wrapped up the team title for the second straight year. Jaylan Sneed's four gold medals spearheaded a 144-point effort at the Fred Bartholomew Athletic Complex.
The host Bulldogs claimed second with 106 points. Ayden-Grifton (100 points), Goldsboro (84), Spring Creek (65.5) and North Duplin (47.5) rounded out the six-team competition.
"We thought we had a good chance coming in and we had our athletes spaced out, which is something we try to do because it's not always easy," RHS head coach Robert Britt. "We've got an unselfish team and they know we're trying to do what is best for the team. All year long they've run events that it might not have been what they wanted to do, but it was event that would get us points when we came to the conference meet.
"We did well."
Sneed won two individual events -- the triple jump (38 feet, 9 1/2 inches) and 800 run (2 minutes, 13 seconds). He ran the anchor leg on the gold medal-winning 3,200-meter relay and opening leg on the 1,600 relay.
The 3,200 squad, which ran a season-best 9:34, included Ricky Donahue, Brendan Trinidad and Nick Britt. The 1,600 squad was comprised of Trinidad, Jamari McGowan and Josh Davis.
Britt claimed gold in the 3,200 and silver in the 1,600 runs. Teammates Joel and Josh Davis grabbed first place in the high jump and 400 dash, respectively. McGowan was the gold medalist in the long jump.
Donahue and Jay Sellars earned silver medals in the pole vault and 300 hurdles, respectively. Sellars set a personal-best time of 44.16 seconds.
"It was definitely a team win," coach Britt said.
Princeton's Ethan Anderson secured gold medals in the pole vault and 1,600 runs. He edged Britt by one second in a spirited race that was determined on the final lap.
"I let Nick take the lead for the second and third (laps) because that wind is awful on the back side (of the track)," Anderson said. "I just drifted behind him and I knew on that fourth lap I could out-kick him. I've been working on this for a long time."
The Bulldogs' Adryan Joyner threw discus a meet-winning 118 feet, one inch. Teammate Jamal Allen topped the field in the 110 and 300 hurdles.
Goldsboro's foursome of Jai Alston, James Clyde, Christian Martens and Tyquell Jones won the 800-meter relay in 1:34.9.