North’s girls and boys, with four events still scheduled at 4:30 p.m. today and others incomplete, held commanding leads through at North’s Eagle Stadium when the meet was interrupted by rain and lightning for the second time.

The 800-, 200- and 3200-meter races and 1600 relay were scheduled to be contested today. Long jump and triple jump events were still incomplete.

The meet started last Wednesday with preliminaries, then was rained out Thursday and Friday.

North’s girls, who lead Salisbury by a surprisingly large margin of 112-85, have taken seven first places, including three by All-American LaTasha Pharr and two by Garette Hunter.

Pharr won the long jump, 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles. She’ll go for her fourth first place in the triple jump, in which she’s a big favorite. Hunter gave the Cavaliers victories in the shot put and discus.

“I think LaTasha had a real good meet. I thought she had a real good long jump (18 feet, 2 inches), and her 100 hurdles time (13.1 seconds) was good,” said North girls coach Brian Mills. Pharr won the 300 hurdles in 45.47.

“Garette Hunter was seeded first in the shot put and second in the discus. We had talked about her needing to come through in the discus as well, and she did,” he added. Hunter won the shot with a heave of 33 feet and the discus with a toss of 104-8, tying South Rowan’s Brittney Gaddy for the best throw in Rowan County this season.

Moriah Jones outdueled Salisbury’s Ternisha Charleston in the 100 dash, winning in 12.90 seconds, and Latrice McCullough, Tiffany Mack, Maria Turner and Jones won the 400 relay in 51.38.

Charleston’s best time in the 100 coming into the meet was 13.19, while Jones’ was 13.20. Charleston improved to 13.0 yesterday.

“They’ve battled the whole season in the 100 and 200,” said Mills. “Moriah is a freshman, but she’s one that has some experience (AAU with the Rowan Express) that really helps us. She’s a smooth runner.”

North’s boys, coached by Robert Steele, have outscored runner-up Ledford 90-52 so far. The Cavaliers won seven events — two each by Brian Alford and Anwar Jackson.

Alford won the shot put with a heave of 52-5 and the discus with a toss of 130-9 1/2. Jackson had winning times of 15.67 in the 100 hurdles and 41.67 in the 300 hurdles.

“He (Alford) had one of his better days, particularly in the shot,” said Steele. “It was a PR (personal record). He was sick with a virus. After the preliminary round in the discus, he came down and laid down. Then he went back and won. He overcame adversity.He’s just been a great competitor all year long.”

As for Jackson, Steele said, “Anwar had a great meet. We’re looking for consistency from him. we want him to run like that every time out. I believe he has the ability to run for a state title, particularly in the 300s. We just want him to come prepared to run every time out.”

The Cavaliers’ other first places were by Malachi Brown with a county-leading time of 49.70 in the 400; Thomas Mashore, Jackson, Aundray Russell and Brown with a county-best time of 1:31.26 in the 800 relay; and Jason McDowell, Bobby Hundley, Tyrone Miller and Jonquil Walker with an 8:51.15 clocking in the 3200 relay.

“Malachi Brown ran real well,” said Steele. “His 49.7 time in the 400 was a PR. He was looking forward to the 200 (against HighPoint Central’s Chuckie Reed) before it rained it out.”

Salisbury’s Devora Gardin,Manita Cole, Edna Cole and Charleston won the 800 relay in 1:50.54.

North Stanly’s girls took two first places. Jessica Hayes took the 1600 in 5:39.38 and ran on the winning 3200 relay quartet (10:46.54).

n