By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.com
GREENSBORO — Yes, Myquon Stout won a 3A state championship in the shot put on Friday, but he doesn’t consider it a true state title until he passes his coach.
“Not until I beat Coach Carter,” Stout chuckled after routing the field at Irwin Belk Track at N.C. A&T with a throw of 55 feet, 41/2 inches.
He was referring to Carson assistant Josh Carter, who once threw the shot a whopping 58-4. But Carter was more focused on what Stout did Friday — winning the school’s first-ever state championship.
“In warmups, I asked him how he was doing and he grinned at me,” Carter laughed. “I knew he was ready to go.”
The 6-foot-1, 245-pound man-child wasted little time in showing the rest of the competitors they were fighting for second. His very first throw was the winning one, bringing oohs and ahhs from the crowd surrounding the event.
“I was trying to make everybody else chase me,” Stout said.
Mission accomplished. No one came close. He won by almost four feet.
“You could see the air come out of everybody else,” Carter said of Stout’s first heave.
Stout said he wanted to make up for last year, when he said, “I choked,” in the regionals and didn’t even make the state meet.
“I thought about it all year,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about it.”
“He wanted to do it, he was hungry,” Carter said.
Stout scored 16 points for Carson. He was also third in the discus with a personal best (147-5).
“He’s not satisfied,” Carter said. “He wanted to be a double-winner. The biggest thing is competing and he did that today.”
The state title completed an outstanding year for Stout, who played four sports for Carson. He was an all-conference starter in football, a starter in basketball and also won a third-place medal in indoor track. He was field event MVP in the county (he shared it) and in the conference. He won the regionals in the shot and discus.
And what’s really scary, he has two years left.
“I’m just going to keep going,” he smiled.
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While Stout has a bright future ahead of him, Cole Honeycutt’s brilliant career ended at East Rowan on a high note. He finished third in the 800 meters (1:57.75) and anchored the third-place 4×800 relay team. In both races, Honeycutt showed why he was one of the best runners Rick Roseman has produced.
In the relay, he was seventh until the last 200 meters. Roseman said Honeycutt is a better finisher and he proved it by passing four runners. He helped brother Conor, Brad Oden and Graham Lyerly make it to the victory stand.
In the 800, Honeycutt was jammed up in the pack for most of the race but a late kick saw him pass runners again.
“I wanted to win it, of course,” Honeycutt said. “But it’s not bad.”
Roseman gave Honeycutt an emotional hug afterward.
“He has been a class act in everything he’s done,” Roseman said. “He is such a competitor, such a leader. He left everything he had out there.”
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East’s boys had the best finish of any Rowan County team. The Mustangs’ 20 points were good for 10th.
Marshall Shank placed fourth in the pole vault at 13-6. He actually tied for second but criteria (number of jumps) pushed him to fourth.
“His goals were so high for a freshman,” Roseman said.
Hakeem Gittens was sixth in the triple jump (44-7).
West Rowan’s Trey Cuthbertson was 10th in the 300 hurdles. Carson’s Dontae Gilbert was 11th in the triple jump.
A.L. Brown’s Damien Washington was fifth in the long jump (21-0) and Kalif Phillips seventh in the high jump (7-0).
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In girls action, West Rowan placed 11th with 23 points.
The foursome of Amber Holloway, Shay Steele and Hannah and Christa Landy came in as the top seed in the 4×200 relay but placed second (1:45.04), less than a tick behind winner Burlington Williams (1:44.27). The 4×400 relay team of Steele, Holloway, Christa Landy and Alexis Kemp was seventh.
In the 100 hurdles, South Rowan’s Talvanisha Lawing was fourth (15:45) and Holloway seventh. In the 300 hurdles, Holloway was third (46.23) and Lawing ninth.
In the triple jump, Lawing was seventh and Carson’s Jan Sitterson 15th.
West’s Steele was 13th in the 400.
South’s JaQuasha Littlejohn was eighth in the shot put.
In the discus, East Rowan’s Kaisha Fisher tied a personal best (99-1) finishing sixth after being seeded 10th.
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NOTES: Honeycutt is going to Liberty but hasn’t decided whether he will run. He owns East’s three fastest 800 times … Angie Chrismon’s South girls scored eighth points. Her star Lawing returns. … A.L. Brown’s boys scored 13 points.