Mills River – Hurdlers Emma Hall of West Henderson and Trevae Woodyard of 2A Owen, Enka shot putter Graham Cannon, and North Buncombe Lady Hawk relay runners all won gold in recent state meet competition.
Local boys sparkled in three 3A field events. Enka junior Cannon won the shot put. His toss of 53 feet, 11.75 inches seemed shot out of Cannon’s canon. He was fourth in the discus toss.
Three locals high-jumped as high as six feet, two inches. North Henderson junior Daniel Coronell earned a share of bronze for overall jumps. Enka’s Josh Flack finished sixth. West’s Royce Johnston tied for seventh.
Hall of Famer Hall
Hall, a newly-graduated West senior, won state titles for the third season in a row. The seven-time state champion won the WNC Sports Award as the best female athlete in an Olympic sport, among larger mountain schools. She received it in person on May 19.
The next day, Hall starred in the 3A state outdoor meet in Greensboro. She repeated as 300-meter hurdles champion, winning by more than a full second at 44.51. She was runner-up at 14.36 seconds in 110m hurdles, an event she won in 2023.
Hall dominated even moreso in the winter indoor state championship meet. She won the 55m hurdles in 7.94 seconds. That is a state record, and the tenth fastest time nationwide in 2023-24.
Howell, Other Falcons
Tayman Howell starred in football as a receiver as the Falcons set their all-time wins record last fall. He won the 110-meter hurdles as a sophomore in 2023. This spring, he was second both in the 300-meter hurdles at 37.94, and 110m hurdles at 14.18.
Teammate Rian Jones, also a rising senior, was sixth and Jake Ramage of A.C. Reynolds was seventh in 110m finals. Jones and Howell led West sprint relays to fifth in 4×400-meter and seventh in 4x200m.
The Falcons were literally “runners-up” at 8:05.01 in the 4x800m relay. In the 1600-meter/mile run, Hudson Rice was third at 4:17.93 while WHHS teammate Eli Clonch was seventh. North Buncombe’s Michael Ferguson was sixth. Those three also placed in the 3200m/two-mile final heat’s top eight.
Lady Falcon golfers Kerisen Cole and Alex Fix played in the state tourney. Falcon tennis top seeds Drake Gallian and Julian Stolevski played in doubles at the state meet.
Rockets, Eagle Soar
Elsewhere in 3A track, East Henderson’s Andrew Ramsey was sixth at 21.84 in the 200-meter dash in 3A.
Reynolds sophomore Gus Simmons was third (1:55.23) in the 800m run. Cavalli Montgomery was eighth at 10.93 seconds in the prestigious 100-meter dash state finals. Teammate Max Guest, ACR’s star football runner, was ninth in the 3A preliminary heat. They helped Rocket relays medal twice — seizing silver in 4×100 at 42.42, and bronze in the 4×200 at 1:29.27 seconds. Lady Rocket Jaylee Monteith tied for third in the high jump.
Lady ‘Track Hawk’ Relays
North Buncombe Lady Black Hawk track stars made sterling 3A track feats. They were third overall among 3A female outdoor track squads. They won the 4×400 relay by nearly five seconds, at 3:54.49. With a 9:25 time, they repeated as 4×800 state champs.
Best of all in 2023-24, they won indoor gold with a 4×400 state-record time of 3:57.89. That rates as 63rd best nationwide. That is among three state champion relays that Eden Barnwell ran on. At the outdoor state meet, she was fourth in 800m at 2:18.
Lady Hawk Sophia Banks was fourth outdoors in 400m at 57.57. Katie Johnson was sixth in 1600m and ninth in 3200m. She won the WNC female academic award for ranking first in the senior class with a 4.817 weighted GPA. Maya Flynn was fourth, pole vaulting to ten feet even. Amelia Smith, also of NBHS, was eighth in the discus toss.
Top Locals in 4A, 2A
In 4A outdoor track, Asheville top ten finishes were Cougars Seth Caudill (1600m) and triple jumper Joshua Avery, and Lady Cougars Hannah Caudill (3200m) and pole vaulter Paiden Castelblanco.
T.C. Roberson Rams were fifth in the 4×800 and seventh in the 4×400. In cross country last fall, Rams led by all-stater Will Fiore won bronze at the 4A state meet. They placed three in the regional meet’s top five. West girls were third and Falcon boys fourth in the 3A region.
In 2A track, Hendersonville’s Turner Knox was second in 1600m at 4:30.53. Emory Freeman was tenth in 300m hurdles.
Owen’s Trevae Woodyard won the state 300m hurdles crown at 37.83. He was fifth in the 100m dash at 11.10. Sierra Honeycutt was fifth in girls’ high jump. In relays, Warhorses were third in 4×400 and Warlassies were seventh in 4×200.
Owen state track medalists last year include soccer superstar Davis Kendall (Class of ’25). He was second in 400m. He led relays to gold (4×400) and silver (4×200).