Kinston and South Lenoir Shine in Conference Meet

Photos by: William Hardy

In a conference track meet filled with strong performances and tight competition, East Duplin emerged as the overall winners in both the boys and girls events. Kinston finished second in both boys and girls, while South Lenoir secured third place in the boys and fourth in the girls. South Lenoir’s Derek Kopanski was named the ECC Male Track Athlete of the year.

Kinston freshman Ex’Zavion Croom won the 100m with an impressive 11.07, and Jammer Flowers came in second in the 200m with a 23.15. Flowers also finished first in the 400m with a time of 52.90, while Cameron Ivey finished second with a 52.97.

South Lenoir took first and second place in the 800m, with Derek Kopanski winning with a 2:06 and Jonas Miller right behind him with a 2:11. Kopanski also took the 1600m with a 5:06, while South Lenoir's Alex Flores finished second with a 5:08. Flores later claimed victory in the 3200m with an 11:00 time.

Quincy Brown from Kinston won second place in both the 110m hurdles and the 300m hurdles. North Lenoir's Jaleel Jones finished fourth in the 110m hurdles with a 17.45, while Kinston's Adrian Simmons finished fourth in the 300m hurdles with an 18.13.

In the relay events, North Lenoir's boys took second place in the 4x100 with a 45.63, Kinston won the 4x200 with a 1:31.68, Kinston also finished first in the 4x400 with a 3:39, and South Lenoir won the 4x800 with an impressive 8:45 time.

Treshad Lynch won the high jump with a 6-00, while Kinston's Kemionte Hargett finished second with 5-10 and Cameron Ivey secured third with 5-08. In the long jump, Quazarion Ivey from North Lenoir took first place with a 20-04. Quincy Brown finished fourth in the triple jump with a 38-10.

In the throwing events, South Lenoir's Adam Turner won the discus with a 131-04, North Lenoir's Tony Stephens finished second with 129-05, and North Lenoir's Gracie Reece finished fourth with 107-04. Stephens won the shot put with a 48-03, and Turner took second with a 46-03.

On the girls' side, North Lenoir's Ti’asia Bryant won the 100m with a 13.02, followed by Kinston's Tysheka Moore with a 13.30 and Katara Fisher with a 13.53. Bryant also won the 200m with a 27.45, Moore was second with 27.85, and Fisher came in third with a 28.10. Moore claimed another victory in the 400m with a 1:04 time.

South Lenoir's Charley Whitacre ran a 2:59 for third place in the 800m, and Julia Herring from Kinston took home fourth place with a 2:59. In the 1600m, Sage Jones from South Lenoir took first with a 6:37, North Lenoir's Marissa Doyle took second with a 6:41, and Jamming Herring took fourth place with a 6:53.

South Lenoir's Rachel Noble took second in the3200m with a 15:01, and Sage Jones took third with a 15:11. Kinston's JeNiyah Wooten took second place in the 110m hurdles with an 18.82, while her teammate Hailey Rochelle took third place with an 18.97. Temya Hooker finished fourth with a 19.56. In the 300m dash, Tameya Hooker took third with a 57.68, and JeNiyah Wooten took fourth with a 57.75.

Kinston's girls won first place in the 4x100 relay with a 54.01, while North Lenoir came in third with a 55.76. Kinston also claimed victory in the 4x200 relay with a 1:55 time. In the 4x400 relay, Kinston took second place with a 4:50, and South Lenoir finished fourth with a 5:12. Kinston's girls came in third in the 4x800 relay with an 11:32 time.

In the high jump, Ricayla Warren from North Lenoir finished second with a jump of 4-8, while South Lenoir's Tameya Hooker finished fourth with a 4-8. In the triple jump, Kinston's Tysheka Moore jumped 31-09 to secure third place, and her teammate Madysen Hawkins finished fourth with a 29-08.

In the discus event, Kinston's Hadiyah Whitfield finished third with a 79-08 throw. Camrin Davis from Kinston finished second in the shot put with a 30-09 throw.

The regional championship is set for Saturday, May 12th, and teams are looking forward to another opportunity to showcase their talents and secure victories.

Quotes from coaches:

“We had too many mistakes today to win. Our conference is tough and every team is pretty good at something. Dropped batons, false starts, and bad marks on jumps are things we’ll work on moving forward. Hopefully, we’ll be a better team in our next meet.” - Head track Coach Corey Bryant from Kinston High School.

“Croom is a special talent, and we’re very fortunate to have him in our program. He’s been splitting time with baseball, so he really doesn’t get a lot of practice time. I’m not surprised at all about him winning the 100m dash because he’s a fierce competitor and he hates to lose.” - Head track Coach Corey Bryant on his freshman sprinter Ex’Zavion Croom.

“Overall, I thought the team gave it everything they had today. Our conference is a very strong track conference, and while we don't have many sprinters on our team this year, it makes it hard for us to compete at a high level. However, our kids threw everything they had at them, and for that, I am extremely proud of what they have accomplished this season. We had a lot of bright spots today for the conference meet, and it has set us up well going into the regional championship next Friday. Hopefully, we will have another great day and prolong our season another week.” - Head Coach Carlos Dodd on the South Lenoir track teams.