Green Hope Track & Field

Congratulations to all the athletes who competed at today's Winter State Championship track meet in Fayetteville, NC. We had an outstanding with several athletes earning medal stand (top-4) finishes. Headlining the day was the girls' remarkable runner-up team finish, led by an individual state championship in the 1600m run from Lauren Colberg.

The girls' team scored points in a variety of events and from a variety of athletes to take the runner-up trophy. The 4x800 relay team of Lauren Colberg, Erica Amatori, Cameron Inglis, and Mo McDonell led off the day with a 2nd place finish. Soon after, Maya Worth took 4th in the triple jump while Rayna Yvars placed 9th in the pole vault. Rayna just managed to slip over the bar at 9'6" to equal her PR. Maya tied for the 4th best jump on the day with another athlete, but won the tie-breaker by virtue of a longer 2nd-best effort than the other competitor. Efforts like these continued the rest of the day. Lauren Colberg ran in the midst of the lead pack during a very tactical 1600 race before separating on the last lap along with a Mt. Tabor runner. Lauren was able to hold off a charge by the other runner and separate down the homestretch to take the victory and earn the 2nd female individual state champion in school history. Mo McDonnell took 2nd place in a very competitive 1000, while Lauren came back to eke out an 8th place finish in the same race and add another team point. Jessie Rossabi and Olivia Enright contributed to the point total by taking 5th and 8th places respectively in the 3200.

Going into the meet's final event, the 4x400 relay, the girls trailed Watauga by 6.25 points for the 2nd place spot. This meant that the girls had to finish 2nd or higher in the 4x400 to score the 8 points needed to earn the team runner-up trophy. Mo, Cameron, and Maya kept us competitive through the first three legs, but still found themselves in 4th place going into the anchor leg. Monica Greene ran a memorable anchor leg, passing Cary to move into 3rd and catching the Parkland anchor runner on the final stretch to eke out a 2nd place finish in the race and propel the girls' team into 2nd place in the final team standings. It was a tremendous day for the girls' track program, and the team trophy is a testament to the hard work the entire girls' program has been putting in all year.

While the boys had a small group of athletes at the meet, they nonetheless showed and competed well in their events and placed 13th as a team. Will Hulbert led the way with a runner-up finish in the pole vault competition, the highest field event finish at a state meet in the history of the boys' program. John Mangum placed 9th in the same event. Ryan Walling took the bronze in the 1600m run.