By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Salisbury sophomore Jordan Waller’s legs look thin standing next to Jeremiah Davidson and Jaylyn Smith, two of the strapping athletes he teams with on the Hornets’s 4×400 relay unit.

Smith’s bulging calves have fast-twitch power written all over them, and those calves don’t lie on the football field or the track, but Waller’s slimmer stems may have been struck by lightning somewhere along the way.

Salisbury’s boys, coached by former Hornet sprinter Hanson Saryee, were the story of Rowan’s indoor track season. Salisbury scored 31 points and finished third in 1A/2A. More specifically, the Hornets relay units were the story. In the relays, five Hornets teamed up for two state championships. Those five runners accounted for all of the Hornets’ points.

All five runners were special, and the younger ones will keep getting better because they work hard at it, almost year-round with the Next Generation summer AAU program in place.

These are not coaches and athletes comfortable with resting on their laurels.

Smith ran on the 4×400 champs and had a third place individually in the 300.

Davidson, who ran on the 4×400 and 4×800 state championship relays, proved that not only was he fast, he had the endurance to win the mental battle with the 800.

Samuel Fatovic and Finnegan Avery, known as distance men, proved again that they possess surprising speed. Fatovic was a 4×400 and 4×800 champ who added an eighth place at 1000 meters, while Avery ran on the 4×800 gold medalists.

Out of all those talented runners, Waller was deemed to have produced the most special season. He is probably best in the 400, but he is nearly as good in the 800. Saryee isn’t interested in labeling him as one or the other yet. He’s just going to enjoying watching him grow and watching his times fall.

Saryee found the ideal relay order for his state champions by using Waller as a blistering 400 closer, but as the lead-off man in the 800. Most 800 runners, even 4A 800 men, were not used to starting a race against a sprinter as quick as Waller, and he almost always handed the baton to Avery with the Hornets holding a healthy lead.

Besides his relay heroics, Waller placed fifth in the 300 meters. He had quite a day in Winston-Salem.

Waller earned his first career gold medal in the 4×400 in the 2024 1A/2A Indoor Championships as a freshman. He ran on Salisbury’s second-place 4×400 team in the Outdoor State Championships last spring and also ran on the fifth-place 4×200 team.

•••

Other than the quintet of Hornets, Carson’s Eric Gillis had the highest finish at the state level with a fifth in the 3200 (9:36) in the 3A Indoor Championships.

West jumpers did well in the 3A Championships, with Kendrick Cornelius taking sixth in the triple jump and Dillon Smith seventh in the long jump.

•••

Male Indoor Track Athlete of the Year: Jordan Waller, Salisbury

Coach of the Year: Hanson Saryee, Salisbury