FAIRVIEW – (Special from Philip Latter) Swain County’s track team sent a partial squad to last Saturday’s Blue Ridge Classic on the campus of A.C. Reynolds High School. With over 35 teams and 1,000 athletes in attendance, it was an excellent opportunity for the Maroon Devils to face off against some of the top competition in the Southeast.
The top male performance belonged to Cooper Reinert, who cleared 13’0” in the pole vault to finish in a tie for second place. Other top performances included Ben Miller placing 10th in the 110-meter hurdles (17.11) and 14th in the 300-meter hurdles (45.27), Parker Chatham placing 23rd in the 3200-meter (11:03), Reinert placing 27th in the 200 (24.70), and Angel Bowers placing 23rd in the triple jump (37’6”).
Emma Pindur and Shelby Hyatt led the women’s team. Pindur placed 6th in the 3200-meter with a time of 12:24, with Hyatt close behind in 9th in a time of 12:53. Pindur and Hyatt came back to finish 17th and 23rd, respectively, in the 1600m with time of 5:49 and 6:00. Katherine Brown led the throwers with a 10th place finish in the discus (90’9”), while Emma Blythe also placed 10th in the shot put (29’2”) with Faith Long right behind her in 13th place (27’11”). Maggie Burns placed 15th in the long jump (14’10”), 17th in the 200 (28.04) and 19th in the 400 (1:03.74). Lydia Sale also performed well, placing 13th in the triple jump with a leap of 32’1”.
“Our program is only going to get better by seeing the best the state has to offer,” said head coach Philip Latter. “I think today is a great simulator for the conference, regional and state meet, and it shows us where we’re really solid and where we need some more work.”
The Maroon Devils host their final home track meet of the year on Wednesday, April 22, at 3:30 p.m.