WHS sends several to state
From staff reports

ASHEVILLE — Watauga track and field coach Randy McDonough would like to see the Pioneers go back to the times when they needed a bigger bus to take all of his athletes to the state meet.

A small bus has been plenty in recent years, but the Pioneers made strides Saturday toward needing a bigger vehicle. Watauga’s girls’ team finished fifth in the state 4-A Western Regional with 57 points and will take eight athletes to the state meet, which is Saturday at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro.

The boys team finished sixth overall with 46 points in a tie with Charlotte Myers Park and will take six athletes to the state meet.

“Last year, basically the boys team was the (3,200-meter relay) team,” McDonough said. “This year, it’s like we’re rolling again. Our goal is to eventually take a big bus to state.”

Watauga is still bringing its 3,200-meter relay team to the state meet. Thomas McDonough, Daniel Osborne, Ethan Poulos and Justin Martin qualified fourth at the regional with a time of eight minutes, 28.07 seconds.

Osborne also qualified in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:24.23, good for fourth.

The top four in each even qualified for the state meet.

Ian Boyd also qualified for two events, taking second in the pole vault and finishing fourth in the 100-meter high hurdles. Boyd vaulted to a height of 13-feet, and finished the hurdles in a time of 15.69 seconds.

“We knew he was in the top three going into the (pole vault), McDonough said of Boyd. The surprise was qualifying in the hurdles. There was some very good competition in that event and he was not in the top four there. He willed himself to get through.”

Watauga had another double qualifier in Jordan Pineda, who finished second in the discus (148-3) and third in the shot put (47-2). McDonough feels that Pineda can improve on those distances Saturday.

“He still has not thrown as well as he can throw,” McDonough said. “I hope he can come out and throw his best at the state meet.”

Watauga’s girls’ team also sent its 3,200-meter relay team to the state meet. Kayla Schneider, Kristina Kanagy, Hannah Barbour and Hailey Middlebrook took fourth at the regional with a time of 9:53.36.

Barbour also qualified for the 3,200-meter run by finishing third with a time of 11:44.89.

Kasey Jones was second in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.10 seconds, while finishing seventh in the 300 hurdles with a 50.61.

In field events, Taylor Cook was second in the pule vault with a leap of 11-feet. Kristina Tracy was fourth at 10-feet. Tara Trivette also qualified for state in the high jump with a leap of 5-feet.

Sydney Cook was sixth in the high jump and sixth in the pole vault.

“I was glad to see Taylor over 11 feet again,” McDonough said. “Kristin was over 10 feet and on her attempt, she looked like she could have cleared 12 feet. And Tara Trivette is just a freshman, but she didn’t let the nerves get to her.”

The state meet begins at 10 a.m. Saturday with field events. The running events, which starts with the 3,200-meter relays, begin at 11 a.m. Preliminaries for the sprints also begin at that time. The finals for the running events begins around 1 p.m.