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Marable wins long jump; Knox, others finish high
By JOHN SWARTZ, Sports Writer
GREENSBORO — Two jumps was all he needed. The other finalists couldn’t match his mark with six attempts.
Southside’s Jeremiah Marable literally flew to the school’s first individual state title in the long jump at Friday’s North Carolina class 1-A track and field championships.
“It feels great,” Marable said right after he found out he win the event. “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. Wait until I get on that podium.”
Marable was looking forward to the long jump all week, and he’d tell anyone who would listen how good he hoped to do.
When he scratched on his first attempt, it didn’t even phase him.
His coach, Gerry Klas, watched the event from a few yards away, and even stated to fellow Southside supporter Gean King how good the first attempt was.
The next jump was listed on the board for everyone to marvel.
On his second attempt, Marable flew to a distance of 23 feet, 1/2 inch.
Marable second-recorded jump in the preliminaries was 22 feet, 5 inches. Both distances were better than the previous Southside High School record let by, well, Jeremiah Marable (22 feet, 4 inches) at the 2006 East Regional track meet.
On that jump, Marable actually fell back and lost several inches. This set the stage for an even longer jump at the state meet, and Marable didn’t disappoint.
After the three-jump prelims were over, the top nine athletes moved into the finals. Marable sat by idly while the other eight finalists tried to best his mark.
“I was hoping no one would even get close to 23 feet,” Marable said. “I was hoping I already had a number I could hold onto.”
And that he had. In fact, only two other competitors even crossed the 22-foot mark. Marable closest rival was Mount Airy’s David Benge who jump to a distance of 22 feet, 2 inches.
After the results were final, Marable had one more chore.
“Now, I can go tell my brother (Raphael) I won it for him,” he said. “He didn’t get to compete in the state (long jump) championship this year.”
Marable also finished fourth in the 200 meters.
Also in individual action, Southside’s Jordan Knox speed to a second-place finish in the 800 meters. This was after Knox ran the third leg of the 4x800-meter relay event earlier that morning.
Knox took the baton on the third leg with the Seahawks struggling for third place. He then ran a powerful two laps, and turned over the baton with Southside in the lead by nearly 10 paces.
His performance in the relay even set the stage for success in the individual 800-meter run.
During his race, Knox ran with the pack on the first lap.
“I got boxed in on that first lap,” Knox said after the race.
With 200 meters left, it looked like he was going to medal with a solid finish of fourth place. This was after moving up a few spots in front of Polk’s Jacob Wolfe and Topsails Zach Broan.
He began, however, to kick forward.
His strong finish saw him pass Tim Gribble of South Stokes and Trevor Brown of Avery County for second place.
“The boy from Topsail, I thought he wasn’t going to quit,” Knox said. “The two other guys (Wolfe and Gribble), I knew I could pass them because I saw them dying. The guy from Avery County (Brown) was seeded No. 1, so I thought he was going to have a good kick, but he folded in the last 20 meters, so I just took the opportunity (to pass him for second place).”
Klas also marveled at Knox’s running Friday.
“He’s come a long way,” Klas said. “With the way he’s running, the only thing that’s going to stop him from getting under two (minutes for 400 meters) by his senior year will be him. If he does go to (The Durham School of) Science and Math next year ... they’re going to get a good runner. We’ll be coming here to watch him, and he’ll be wearing a different jersey, but we’ll still root for him.”
Going into the state meet, Southside’s relay teams had high hopes. In the first relay, the 3200 team finished second.
Things went sharply downhill after that.
The 800-meter relay went next, and was disqualified for running out of the exchange zone on the second baton pass. The Seahawks’ runners didn’t see the red flag fly up, and continued to push forward. A strong last two legs saw them cross the finish line third.
“We had someone just get a little impatient in the zone, and we just didn’t push it through,” Klas said. “It cost us. I can’t say where we would have finished. I mean, we finished third after we DQed.”
Hoping to repeat as state 4x100-meter relay champions, the Seahawks 400 team had a lot to live up to. This time, the team got all three exchanges smoothly, but finished third behind Jordan Matthews and East Carteret.
“We got beat by two good teams in East Carteret and Jordan Matthews, and they ran fantastic times,” Klas said of the 400 relay. “We equaled out best time of the year. Like I’ve said before, if we equal out best time and we get beat, that’s all I can ask from the kids.”
The relay events ended on a bright note for Southside as the mile relay team finished in second place.
As a team, the boys finished third in the state behind South Stokes and Pamlico.
On the girls’ side of things, Southside’s Mary Baker and Quentira Marable came away with the highest individual finishes.
Marable went for third in the 200 and fourth in the long jump. Her 16-foot, 9-inch leap in the long jump was a personal best, and Marable says an athlete couldn’t ask anything better of herself in a championship meet.
“I don’t know why, but I didn’t think I was going to jump as far today,” She said. “But I went out and did my best (jump of the season). I’m proud of myself. I wasn’t expecting to be near the top; I was just trying to meet my goal of getting out of the 15s and getting into the 16s. I made my goal, and I’m happy about that.”
She made that goal with 9 inches to spare.
Baker went for third in the shot put with a toss of 33 feet, 1/4 inch. Winning the event was Andrews' Tiffany McGaha with a massive toss of more than 37 feet.
In the three girls relay events, Southside’ highest finish was fourth place in the 800 relay (1:50.02).
Valenti finishes track career
Staff Reports
GREENSBORO — Washington High School’s Gina Valenti completed her high school track career with a pair of top-10 finishes in her two events.
Valenti competed in the mile and two-mile runs at Friday’s North Carolina class 3-A state track and field championships at Greensboro’s North Carolina A&T State University.
First, Valenti ran in the 1,600-meter run, and moved up from 14th spot to 10th place on the last two laps.
In the 3,200-meter run, Valenti chopped nearly five seconds off her personal best time to finish in 12:00.61. She finished seventh.
Next season, Valenti will be running for Lees-McRae College in cross country as well as track and field.
NCHSAA CLASS 3-A FINALS RESULTS
WASHINGTON
GIRLS
Gina Valenti, 10th in 1600 meters (5:38.82)
Gina Valenti, seventh in 3200 meters (12:00.61)
NCHSAA CLASS 1-A FINALS RESULTS
SOUTHSIDE
BOYS
Jeremiah Marable, first in long jump (23 feet, 1/2 inch)
Jeremiah Marable, fourth in 200 meters (22.88 seconds)
Sterling Moore, 16th in 800 meters (2:15.7)
Jordan Knox, second in 800 meters (2:03.59)
Shane Boyd, eighth in 400 meters (53.35 seconds)
400-meter relay, third (43.28 seconds)
800-meter relay, Disqualified
1600-meter relay, second place (3:33.43)
3200-meter relay, second (8:44)
GIRLS
Mary Baker, third in shot put, (33 feet, 1/4 inch)
Quentira Marable, fourth in long jump (16 feet, 9 inches)
Quentira Marable, third in 200-meter dash (26.6 seconds)
Quen Miller, discus, results unavailable
Danielya Whitley, 12th in triple-jump (30 feet, 1 inch)
800-meter relay, fourth place (1:50.02)
1600-meter relay, ninth place (4:29.97)
3200-meter relay, 14th place (12:05.91)
Southside’s Jeremiah Marable literally flew to the school’s first individual state title in the long jump at Friday’s North Carolina class 1-A track and field championships.
“It feels great,” Marable said right after he found out he win the event. “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. Wait until I get on that podium.”
Marable was looking forward to the long jump all week, and he’d tell anyone who would listen how good he hoped to do.
When he scratched on his first attempt, it didn’t even phase him.
His coach, Gerry Klas, watched the event from a few yards away, and even stated to fellow Southside supporter Gean King how good the first attempt was.
The next jump was listed on the board for everyone to marvel.
On his second attempt, Marable flew to a distance of 23 feet, 1/2 inch.
Marable second-recorded jump in the preliminaries was 22 feet, 5 inches. Both distances were better than the previous Southside High School record let by, well, Jeremiah Marable (22 feet, 4 inches) at the 2006 East Regional track meet.
On that jump, Marable actually fell back and lost several inches. This set the stage for an even longer jump at the state meet, and Marable didn’t disappoint.
After the three-jump prelims were over, the top nine athletes moved into the finals. Marable sat by idly while the other eight finalists tried to best his mark.
“I was hoping no one would even get close to 23 feet,” Marable said. “I was hoping I already had a number I could hold onto.”
And that he had. In fact, only two other competitors even crossed the 22-foot mark. Marable closest rival was Mount Airy’s David Benge who jump to a distance of 22 feet, 2 inches.
After the results were final, Marable had one more chore.
“Now, I can go tell my brother (Raphael) I won it for him,” he said. “He didn’t get to compete in the state (long jump) championship this year.”
Marable also finished fourth in the 200 meters.
Also in individual action, Southside’s Jordan Knox speed to a second-place finish in the 800 meters. This was after Knox ran the third leg of the 4x800-meter relay event earlier that morning.
Knox took the baton on the third leg with the Seahawks struggling for third place. He then ran a powerful two laps, and turned over the baton with Southside in the lead by nearly 10 paces.
His performance in the relay even set the stage for success in the individual 800-meter run.
During his race, Knox ran with the pack on the first lap.
“I got boxed in on that first lap,” Knox said after the race.
With 200 meters left, it looked like he was going to medal with a solid finish of fourth place. This was after moving up a few spots in front of Polk’s Jacob Wolfe and Topsails Zach Broan.
He began, however, to kick forward.
His strong finish saw him pass Tim Gribble of South Stokes and Trevor Brown of Avery County for second place.
“The boy from Topsail, I thought he wasn’t going to quit,” Knox said. “The two other guys (Wolfe and Gribble), I knew I could pass them because I saw them dying. The guy from Avery County (Brown) was seeded No. 1, so I thought he was going to have a good kick, but he folded in the last 20 meters, so I just took the opportunity (to pass him for second place).”
Klas also marveled at Knox’s running Friday.
“He’s come a long way,” Klas said. “With the way he’s running, the only thing that’s going to stop him from getting under two (minutes for 400 meters) by his senior year will be him. If he does go to (The Durham School of) Science and Math next year ... they’re going to get a good runner. We’ll be coming here to watch him, and he’ll be wearing a different jersey, but we’ll still root for him.”
Going into the state meet, Southside’s relay teams had high hopes. In the first relay, the 3200 team finished second.
Things went sharply downhill after that.
The 800-meter relay went next, and was disqualified for running out of the exchange zone on the second baton pass. The Seahawks’ runners didn’t see the red flag fly up, and continued to push forward. A strong last two legs saw them cross the finish line third.
“We had someone just get a little impatient in the zone, and we just didn’t push it through,” Klas said. “It cost us. I can’t say where we would have finished. I mean, we finished third after we DQed.”
Hoping to repeat as state 4x100-meter relay champions, the Seahawks 400 team had a lot to live up to. This time, the team got all three exchanges smoothly, but finished third behind Jordan Matthews and East Carteret.
“We got beat by two good teams in East Carteret and Jordan Matthews, and they ran fantastic times,” Klas said of the 400 relay. “We equaled out best time of the year. Like I’ve said before, if we equal out best time and we get beat, that’s all I can ask from the kids.”
The relay events ended on a bright note for Southside as the mile relay team finished in second place.
As a team, the boys finished third in the state behind South Stokes and Pamlico.
On the girls’ side of things, Southside’s Mary Baker and Quentira Marable came away with the highest individual finishes.
Marable went for third in the 200 and fourth in the long jump. Her 16-foot, 9-inch leap in the long jump was a personal best, and Marable says an athlete couldn’t ask anything better of herself in a championship meet.
“I don’t know why, but I didn’t think I was going to jump as far today,” She said. “But I went out and did my best (jump of the season). I’m proud of myself. I wasn’t expecting to be near the top; I was just trying to meet my goal of getting out of the 15s and getting into the 16s. I made my goal, and I’m happy about that.”
She made that goal with 9 inches to spare.
Baker went for third in the shot put with a toss of 33 feet, 1/4 inch. Winning the event was Andrews' Tiffany McGaha with a massive toss of more than 37 feet.
In the three girls relay events, Southside’ highest finish was fourth place in the 800 relay (1:50.02).
Valenti finishes track career
Staff Reports
GREENSBORO — Washington High School’s Gina Valenti completed her high school track career with a pair of top-10 finishes in her two events.
Valenti competed in the mile and two-mile runs at Friday’s North Carolina class 3-A state track and field championships at Greensboro’s North Carolina A&T State University.
First, Valenti ran in the 1,600-meter run, and moved up from 14th spot to 10th place on the last two laps.
In the 3,200-meter run, Valenti chopped nearly five seconds off her personal best time to finish in 12:00.61. She finished seventh.
Next season, Valenti will be running for Lees-McRae College in cross country as well as track and field.
NCHSAA CLASS 3-A FINALS RESULTS
WASHINGTON
GIRLS
Gina Valenti, 10th in 1600 meters (5:38.82)
Gina Valenti, seventh in 3200 meters (12:00.61)
NCHSAA CLASS 1-A FINALS RESULTS
SOUTHSIDE
BOYS
Jeremiah Marable, first in long jump (23 feet, 1/2 inch)
Jeremiah Marable, fourth in 200 meters (22.88 seconds)
Sterling Moore, 16th in 800 meters (2:15.7)
Jordan Knox, second in 800 meters (2:03.59)
Shane Boyd, eighth in 400 meters (53.35 seconds)
400-meter relay, third (43.28 seconds)
800-meter relay, Disqualified
1600-meter relay, second place (3:33.43)
3200-meter relay, second (8:44)
GIRLS
Mary Baker, third in shot put, (33 feet, 1/4 inch)
Quentira Marable, fourth in long jump (16 feet, 9 inches)
Quentira Marable, third in 200-meter dash (26.6 seconds)
Quen Miller, discus, results unavailable
Danielya Whitley, 12th in triple-jump (30 feet, 1 inch)
800-meter relay, fourth place (1:50.02)
1600-meter relay, ninth place (4:29.97)
3200-meter relay, 14th place (12:05.91)
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