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The Davie track team made its way to North Carolina A&T in Greensboro on May 18 for the state 4-A state track & field meet. Competing for the War Eagles were senior Lexie May (discus), senior Clay Summers (1600 meters), sophomore JT Allen (300 meter hurdles) and sophomore Ivan Poag (triple jump, high jump). Sixteen competitors per event qualified for the state final as the top four finishers from each of the state’s four regions punched their tickets to the championship event.

As temperatures approached 90 degrees on a mostly clear sunny day, May was the first of the War Eagle quartet to compete. Each of the 16 competitors was allotted three attempts. The top nine athletes then advanced to the final and were given three additional throws. May grabbed the ninth and final spot in the finals with a best effort of 105-8. The Davie senior was not able to improve on her mark from the preliminaries and finished the competition in ninth place.

In the 2018 state meet, May finished fifth in the discus at the 2-A level as a member of the Salisbury Hornets. For the 2019 War Eagles, she finished second in the conference at 114-4 and fourth in the regional at 109-04.

Summers was the first of two War Eagle runners to compete on the track as he toed the line in the 1600 meters.  After running most of the race in about 10th-12th place, Summers turned in a terrific last 400 and sprinted to the finish eighth in a personal best time of 4:25.49. That time was only a second out of fifth. It was also the third time in Summers’ stellar career that he has finished in the top eight in a state championship 1600 meters as he also accomplished the feat at the indoor state championships the past two years.

Before the state, Summers was fourth in both the conference and regional competitions.

Allen was the next Davie athlete to take the track. As only one of two sophomores to make it to Greensboro, Allen was placed in the slower of the two sections. The Davie hurdler ran an exceptional race to place third in his heat and seventh overall. His time of 40.26 was another huge personal record and is the fourth-fastest sophomore time in the state among all classes.

Before heading to Greensboro, Allen was third in both the conference and regional events.

Classmate Ivan Poag competed in two events. In the high jump,  the bar was initially placed at 5-10. On his first attempt, Poag was way over the bar but clipped it with his heel. Unfortunately, the Davie jumper missed on his next two attempts and was out of the competition.

Poag then turned his attention to his specialty, the triple jump, where he was the only sophomore who qualified for the state. His best jump of 44-1.5 was 11th in the trials as the top nine advanced to the final.

On the road to the state, Poag finished third in the conference in the triple jump and fourth in the regional. In the high jump, he was second in both the conference and the regional.

Coach Rob Raisbeck was pleased with the effort of all of the Davie competitors. “We took four athletes to the meet and had two PR’s and two top eight finishes, so we were able to score points in the team competition,” he said. “Clay had a PR in the 1600 and another top eight finish. JT has knocked almost three seconds off his PR in the last two weeks and is one of the top young hurdlers in the state. Ivan finished the season ranked No. 1 in the state in the sophomore class in the triple jump. And Lexie advanced to the finals two years in a row. More importantly, all of them are great ambassadors for our program and Davie High School. For Lexie and Clay, we are excited that they will be continuing their athletic careers in college next year. And for Ivan and JT, I expect them to make some serious noise at this event next year.”