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The Davie track team hosted the Central Piedmont Conference championship meet May 25 and claimed six individual victories as well as one of the top team finishes in recent school history.

The Davie boys amassed 125 points to finish second to Reagan’s 180. West Forsyth scored 113 points for third and was followed by Glenn (49), Reynolds (45) and East Forsyth (37).

West Forsyth (218) edged Reagan (200) for the girls’ title. They were followed by Reynolds (63), Davie (45), Glenn (12) and East Forsyth (6).

The War Eagle boys claimed five individual titles and had seven total all-conference performances by virtue of finishing first or second in their respective events. The girls claimed one individual title and had three all-conference performances.

The Davie boys did most of their damage in the field events, where they claimed four of their five  individual victories. Spencer Williams easily won the shot put (61-11) and discus (162-6) as he garnered 20 team points. Williams’ throw in the shot eclipsed his own junior class state record by 17 inches and is currently the No. 5 mark among all juniors in the United States. Spencer’s younger brother, Palmer, picked up four points with his fourth-place showing in the discus.

Davie swept the top two places in the high jump as junior Bryson Robinson claimed the title with a personal-best clearance of 6-6.  Ivan Poag took second by clearing 6-0.

At the pole vault pit, Davie picked up 10 crucial points as Austin Kiser cleared 9-0 for third place and Daniel Horton cleared 8-6 for fourth.

The War Eagles also picked up big points in the horizontal jumps. Poag soared to victory in the triple jump with a leap of 44-6 and also claimed third in the long jump with a best effort of 21-8. Robinson was third in the triple jump (40-6) and fifth in the long jump (19-10). In all, Poag and Robinson combined for 42 points.   

The hurdle events also yielded 20 big points for Davie. JT Allen was narrowly edged out in the 110 hurdles and settled for second in 15.08, while Khomauri Wilson was fifth in 16:86. Allen left no doubt as to who was the class of the field in the 300 hurdles as he easily won that event in 40.32. Sophomore teammate Sam Rosser turned in a solid showing in the 400 meters by finishing fifth in 54.25.

In the distance events, the Davie 4×800 relay team got the War Eagles off to a fast start in the first event of the day. The team of Nate Brooks, Sebastien McEwen, Will Allard and Cole Swade picked up eight points as they finished second. The 1600 featured a wave of orange and black as sophomore Owen Sulecki (4:44), Caleb Young (4:55) and Reece Yount (4:57) placed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. The 3200 turned into a tactical race as the leader came through the first 1600 in about 5:25. Things heated up fast over the last four laps as the field started to spread out. Andrew Brown claimed the bronze medal in 10:24 as the top three finishers ran their final 1600 under 5:00.

The final six points of the Davie tally were secured  by a quartet of War Eagle distance runners in the 4×400 relay. Young, Brooks, Sulecki and Yount overcame a dropped baton due to interference from one of the other teams to finish third.

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A small but determined Davie girls squad was led by sophomore Monica Long, who claimed the gold medal in the shot put with a personal-best throw of 33-5.

Teammate Tenia Davis soared to a new personal best clearance of 4-6 to take second in the high jump. Davis also added a fifth-place finish in the long jump with a best mark of 13-9. Krystal Davis  claimed fourth in the discus with a new personal best throw of 79-9. Maggie King picked up a point in the high jump with her sixth-place finish and a clearance of 3-10.

Freshman Jaylan Clement had a very impressive evening as she placed second in the 100 in 12.74. That effort ranks her No. 9 in the freshman class in the state. Clement also posted a fourth-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 15-3 and was sixth in the 200 (27.47). The fourth-place 4×400 relay and fifth-place 4×200 relay rounded out the scoring for the Davie girls.

Reagan boys coach Richard Burton and West Forsyth’s Nathan Newsome were named coaches of the year. Davie’s S. Williams and West’s Haley Hanes were named field athletes of the year. Sanchez Redden of Reagan and Shannaya Davis of West were named sprinters of the year. Gwen Parks of Reagan and Jackson Nichols  of West were named distance runners of the year.

“This was a great performance by our student-athletes,” said coach Rob Raisbeck. “It has been many years since our boys had beaten West at conference. They have a tremendous program with lots of depth, as does Reagan. But our guys came through. It was a total team effort as we scored points in almost every event. And we did it with only two seniors scoring points. I am really happy for Ivan, JT, Bryson and Spencer, who all get to call themselves ‘CPC champion.’

“Our girls also competed very hard. The main thing we need is more numbers so we can compete in all of the events. Monica, Tenia and Jaylan are very young  but turned in terrific performances in their first conference championship meet.

“We will have one more tri-meet at Glenn and then get ready for regionals June 19. We are in good position to have a large number of regional qualifiers and should have several representatives at the state meet the end of June.”