Millennium Charter senior Calvin Devore will represent the Lions at the 1A/2A State Championship Indoor Track Meet.
Andrea Jarrell Photography
A total of 16 student-athletes from five schools will represent Surry County at the 2022 1A/2A Indoor Track State Championship.
The Indoor State Championship Meet returns after a one-year hiatus. The 2019-20 indoor season wrapped up a few weeks before the COVID-19 shut high school sports down in March 2020, and no indoor season was held during 2020-21 school year.
Athletes qualified for the state championship based on their top performances throughout the season since indoor track doesn’t have regional championships.
The 2022 1A/2A Indoor Track State Championship is scheduled for February 11 at 4 p.m. The event will be held at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem.
Elkin Buckin’ Elks
Freshman Aniya Edwards will compete in three different events for the Buckin’ Elks. She is seeded No. 6 in the girls 55-meter dash with a time of 7.35 seconds; all 15 qualifiers posted times between 7.10 seconds and 7.64 seconds.
Edwards is seeded No. 2 in the girls 500 meters with a time of 1:21.28. She is the only freshman competing in the event and is just 0.28 seconds behind the top seed.
Her final event is the 300 meters in which she is also ranked No. 2. Her time of 42.28 seconds is 0.11 behind the top seed.
Millennium Charter Lions
Millennium is competing in the Indoor Track Championships for the first time in 2022.
The two athletes breaking ground for the Lions are Ava Utt and Calvin Devore.
Utt, a junior, is seeded No. 5 in the girls high jump. The top two seeds have cleared 5-00.00 feet, No. 2 through No. 5 cleared 4-10.00 feet, and No. 8 through No. 11 cleared 4-08.00 feet.
Devore, a senior, will compete in the 1,000 meters. The senior is seeded No. 7 with a time of 2:45.54 and is just three seconds behind the top seed.
Mount Airy Granite Bears
Granite Bear senior Gracie Butcher and sophomore Blake Hawks will compete in the same two events at the state championship: high jump and triple jump.
Butcher is seeded No. 5 in the girls long jump with a distance of 16-07.50 feet, which is 15 inches behind the top seed. She is seeded No. 10 in the triple jump with a mark of 32-6.50 feet, which is three feet out of first place.
Like Butcher, Hawks’ is the No. 5 seed in the boys long jump. With a mark of 20-08.00 feet, he is just four inches behind the top seed. Hawks is seeded No. 7 in the triple jump with a mark of 40-05.00, which is just 14.5 inches behind the top seed.
North Surry Greyhounds
Junior Jared Hiatt will compete in three events for North Surry. He is the No. 3 seed in the boys high jump at 6-04.00 feet, but trails the top spot by just one inch.
Hiatt will compete in against Mount Airy’s Hawks in the long jump and triple jump. Hiatt is No. 8 in the boys long jump at 20-6.25, 5.75 behind the top seed, and seeded No. 6 in the boys triple jump at 40-05.00 feet – even with Hawks.
The Greyhounds will also be sending two girls to the state championship.
Senior Bella Aparicio will compete against Elkin’s Edwards in the 55 meters. Aparicio is seeded No. 9 at 7.48 seconds, which is just .38 seconds behind the top seed.
Freshman Ella Riggs is the No. 7 seed in the girls shot put. Riggs’ mark of 32-07.25 feet is just over nine feet out of the first place mark.
Surry Central
Surry Central is sending the most competitors to the state championship with nine: eight girls and one boy.
Sophomores Ella Priddy and Andrea Gonzalez will each compete in the three events. Priddy is on three relay teams: the No. 10 seeded 4×200 team is made up of Priddy, Wendy Cantor, Aylin Soto and Lillian Orozio; the No. 4 seeded 4×400 team is made up of Priddy, Cantor, Soto and Gonzalez; and the No. 5 seeded 4×800 team is made up of Priddy, Gonzalez, Lanie Fitzgerald and Abigail Hernandez.
Gonzalez’s third event pits her against Elkin’s Edwards. Gonzalez is seeded No. 9 in the 500 meters, and all 10 qualifiers are within six seconds of each other.
Central’s only male state qualifier is sophomore Ignacio Morales. Morales is seeded No. 8 in the 3,200 meters with a time of 10:21.17. He is seeded 30 seconds behind the top time.