Soaring Eagle -- Rosewood's Al-montaser claims 1A state title in 110 hurdles

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on May 16, 2015 11:27 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

GREENSBORO -- Keeping momentum between the sixth and seventh hurdle and pushing toward the finish line had bothered Marquail Al-montaser for the past couple of weeks.

He made the perfect adjustment in just three days.

And it paid off Friday afternoon.

Al-montaser finished third in his preliminary heat and felt he could have pressed himself to record the top time. When he returned later in the day for the finals, he only thought about one thing -- go get a state championship.

And he did.

The Rosewood junior easily cleared the sixth and seventh hurdle in gazelle-like fashion, and out-raced Starmount's Trey Lomax to the finish line. In a matter of 15.57 seconds, Al-montaser emerged as the 110-meter state champ in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A championship meet.

Al-montaser and head coach Robert Britt hugged at the finish line. Each choked back tears.

"He said 'congratulations, I'm happy and glad you did it.' I almost cried myself," said Al-montaser, who became just the second male state champ in Rosewood history. Bob Cooke won the 1-A shot put crown in 2001.

"It means a lot. This was one of my goals I wanted to reach in track. I'm so excited," Al-montaser said, who also placed third in the triple jump with a mark of 42 feet, 9 inches.

But Al-montaser wanted that hurdle gold medal.

He won the Carolina Conference championship, but couldn't duplicate that performance during Monday's regional meet. With three short days to prepare for the state finals, he and coach Britt tried to iron out the kinks.

They developed a drill that allowed Al-montaser to not lose speed between the final two hurdles. If he could keep the pace and stride, he'd have enough space to clear the seventh hurdle -- and hopefully beat his nearest competitor by either one or two steps.

Al-montaser beat Lomax by .21 seconds. Raleigh Charter senior Vidusha Rao crossed in 15.91, followed by Whiteville sophomore Jarred Small (16.30) and Princeton senior Johnny Frasier (16.51).

"Marquail just works extremely hard," Britt said. "He wants to be the best at everything he does. He's not one that you have to ask to get out there and practice. Instead, he's one that you have to tell him to go home.

"To see him succeed at the highest level ... I'm just so happy for him."

Al-montaser is the 15th state track champion in Wayne County history, according to records researched through the NCHSAA. He is just the second athlete to win a hurdles event -- Southern Wayne's Jermaine Baker won the 300 hurdles in the 2002 state 3-A meet.