North Myrtle Beach had five track and field athletes qualify for next week’s state championships, including two first-place finishers, and Myrtle Beach had three boys earn spots over the weekend at the Class AAA state qualifier in York.
North Myrtle Beach’s Jeffrey Linta won the boys pole vault with a height of 13 feet flat and Jaquella Livingston tied for first in the girls long jump with a leap of 5 feet flat to lead the Chiefs. Teammates Marshawn Scott was runner-up in the boys 400 hurdles (56.95 seconds), Vincent Taylor placed second in the boys 110 hurdles (15.29 seconds) and Marisa Maher was sixth in the girls pole vault (9-0) to advance to the Saturday’s state meet at Spring Valley.
The Myrtle Beach boys were led by a courageous effort by EJ Goings, who missed almost a month due to an illness yet returned to finish second in the 800 meters (2:01.39), eighth in the 400 (50.40) and anchor the Seahawks’ 4×400 relay team to an eighth-place showing. Teammates Emaray Johnson took third in the boys high jump (6-2) and Tyquan McFadden finished eighth in the boys shot put to advance.
St. James also got a runner-up finish from Billy Krier in the boys 1600 meters (4:31.77) to round out the local Class AAA state qualifiers.
In the Class AAAA state qualifier in Spring Valley, Carolina Forest failed to have any athletes earn a spot in next week’s state meet but the Panthers got several strong performances, including a new school record in the
boys 4×100 relay. Jharrian Davis, Devante Carter, Orane Mullings, AJ Johnson turned in a time of 43:16 to break the old mark and finish 16th.
Other Carolina Forest top performers were Brandon Norman’s 16th-place showing in the boys 800 meters (2:04.81), Dustin Conklin’s 12th-place finish in the boys 1600 meters (4:36.90), Jessie Patrick’s 13th-place showing in the same event (4:39.53), Shakiel White’s 12th-place finish in the high jump (6-0) and the 4x800m boys relay team of Conklin, Patrick, Norman and Stephen Ciaramitaro (8:32.35).
