By Ryan Bisesi
rbisesi@salisburypost.com
SPENCER — Coming into the season, North Rowan’s youth equaled skepticism for those wondering if the Cavalier program would have an off year.
North provided plenty of answers Thursday and they were all the right ones.
The Cavs won another YVC boys title Thursday on their home track with 193 points, well ahead of second-place West Montgomery’s 102.
“I have coached 14 state championship teams,” North coach Robert Steele said. “I’ve never been prouder than I am tonight. To me it’s my finest hour as a track coach at North Rowan.”
The defending 1A state champions took first place in 10 different events and had Corey Angle and Neegbeah Reeves win two each.
“Neegbeah had a good day and Corey Angle had a good day,” Steele said. “Our sprint guys ran well. It was just a great effort.”
The Cavs rolled in the relay events, winning the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400. Angle took the long jump and triple jump, while Reeves rolled in the 800 and 1600-meter runs. Reeves ran a 2:08 in the 800 and 4:46 in the 1600.
“To be honest, I should have done better,” said Reeves, who hopes to run at N.C. A&T. “I’ve got to get the times down.”
In field events, Angle won the triple jump (44 feet, 53/4 inches) and the long jump (20-3). Jareke Chambers was second in the long jump and Pierre Givens was fourth. Givens was the runner-up in the triple jump.
Malik Ford and Khandler Kimber both jumped 6 feet in the high jump, with Ford placing first. Tydler Watlington was second to Chatham Central’s Wyatt Grillo in the discus with a throw of 126 feet, 9 inches.
Will Robertson finished fourth at 116-10.
“I’m not sure we could have put more into it today,” Steele said. “I’m just tickled with the effort that we made out there.”
Darius Wallace won the 400 in 52.68 seconds.
Shareef Walker won the 110 hurdles (15.28), with teammates Demiah Hawkins and Kimber finishing 2-3.
Johnny Oglesby, a state champion in the 110 and 300 hurdles and long jump last year, didn’t participate in any of that trio of events but competed in the relays.
“We worked through some adversity,” Steele said. “I just got goosebumps thinking about how they got after it today. There were a couple of things we had to adjust as late as 4 o’clock. But we got after some people.”
West Montgomery was sound in the sprint events with Jaquil Capel winning the 100 and 200 dashes.
West Montgomeryalso won the 4×800 relay. Chatham Central’s Chris Jaeger took the 3200, and East Montgomery’s Calton Quan Johnson was the 300 hurdles champ.
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NOTES: Chatham Central (82 points) and Albemarle (42) finished third and fourth, respectively.
South Stanly (37) placed fifth.
The Cavaliers will head to the Midwest Regional meet next weekend at North Stokes.