Vance County hosts first track and field invitational
Apr. 19—HENDERSON — Vance County successfully completed its first home track meet in the school's history when four teams traveled to the Vipers Nest on Monday to compete in the first ever Invitational Track and Field Event. Vance County's boys team finished on top with a 79 total points, with J.F Webb coming in second with 56.
"It was an amazing experience and an honor to be here," said first-year Athletic Director Phil Weil.
"It went unbelievably smooth because of Coach Max Seward and April Macon and everyone else that made it happen. We are so pleased that Vance County is back hosting track and field events."
Vance County junior Clarence Debnam kept his hot streak going with another first-place finish in the boys 400M. Track competes with wrestling for one of the most difficult sports — it's incredibly demanding physically and mentally. Athletes are not only racing against other runners, but they are also fighting the clock for a qualifying time.
While his 54-second performance was enough to earn a first-place finish, Debnam is still over four seconds shy of a qualifying time.
Seth Williams would have completed the trio of first-place finishes in the 3200M, 1600M, and 800M, but lost by .01 seconds. In his shortest run of the day, the freshman was beat out by the foot of Jaden Easow, as the two were jockeying position at the finish line on the inside lane.
South Granville's girls team dominated, taking home first place with 74.5 team points. Vance County was well behind in second place with a total team score of 45. In particular, Shari Jackson was lighting it up for the Vikings, finishing first in the 200M and 400M, and helped her team sweep the relays.
Senior Jaylah Jefferson, the state long jump champion last year, unsurprisingly took home first place for the Vikings in the long jump and triple jump with 17' and 33'10" respectively. She is also No. 3 in the state with her 4x100M relay team, in which she burns the first leg with her terrifying speed.
Jefferson currently has multiple college offers, including Montreat College, Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, and Chowan University. Jefferson, a Henderson native, grew up in the area before transferring to South Granville in Creedmoor her freshman year.
"It was a special moment for me because this is where it all started," she said.
"Coming back to compete in my hometown was a heartfelt moment. Being able to see my childhood friends and coaches to now being the NCHSAA long jump state champ, it felt very good to be there."
Samiah Darby is another freshman sensation on the Vance County T&F team. Like the other standouts, Darby has been racking up first-place finishes in her event: the girls 100M. Darby sported a time of 13.43, beating her closest competitor by nearly half-a-second.
"She's only a freshman, but she's going to be something special," said her coach, Max Seward.
Darby still needs to slice about a second off her time to qualify for regionals — a feat that will be hard to achieve this year with only one meet left — but Seward believes she will get it done in the years to come.
The Vipers track team will face its final challenge when they travel to Louisburg for the Northern Lakes Conference Championships next Thursday.
