Staff report

GREENSBORO — North Rowan thrower Brittany Ellis didn’t sweep the throws in the 1A State Championship for the third time in a row, but she did get her fifth state title.

Ellis had a winning throw of 38 feet, 1.25 inches on Monday at North Carolina A&T to take her third shot put title.

Ellis threw 115-5 in the discus for second place. She had won the discus the previous two seasons.

North’s girls have a remarkable track and field history. Ellis, a senior, has done more than her share to add chapters to that book. Her five state titles have lifted North’s total to 39 individual golds in outdoor state championship meets. North’s females also have produced five relay state titles.

The first individual state title won by a North girl was by Leah Ann Miller. She won the 800 in 1984. If you’ve ever wondered where UNC’s record-breaking center fielder Vance Honeycutt’s crazy speed comes from, well, Leah Ann Miller became Leah Ann Honeycutt. That’s his mom.

A number of North Rowan ladies have won multiple individual state titles outdoors.

The incredible Latasha Pharr, Rowan’s greatest female track and field athlete, a four-time state MVP, won 12 state championships in the hurdles and jumps. Sprinter Payton Russell won five titles. Next is jumper/hurdler Teanna Cuthbertson, who won four individual golds. Sprinter Katrina Jarrett had three wins outdoors. Thrower Tara Clinding had two, as the shot put winner in 1998 and 1999. Tai’lah Ward, who now competes for Salisbury, had two hurdles wins.

And now there’s Ellis.

It also should be noted that North Rowan’s girls have won 10 indoor individual championships. Pharr accounted for half of those, while Clinding had two and Cuthbertson, Russell and Jarrett had one each.

Ellis likely would have won some indoor state championships if she’d trained for those meets, but she focused every winter on excelling on the basketball court for the Cavaliers. She was the Central Carolina Conference Player of the Year as a senior.

North’s girls gathered quite a few more points on Monday.

Kimora Chawlk was fourth in the high jump (5 feet, 2 inches).

Aniya Brown was fifth in the 100 hurdles (16.49) and also scored with an eighth-place finish in the long jump (15-5.75).

Brown was 10th in the 300 hurdles (50.04), while teammate Iysiss Kelly was 11th in 51.45.

Allanah McArthur was ninth in the shot put (31-1.5).

The 4×200 relay unit of Bailee Goodlett, Trenity Chambers, McArthur and Chawlk was 11th in 1:51.40.

Those four girls were 10th in the 4x10o in 52.36 seconds.

Keynai Ambers was a state qualifier in the 100 hurdles.

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North’s Kemyon Oglesby was 11th in the 110 hurdles (15.85) and also in the 300 hurdles (41.42).

North’s 4×200 team of Deonte Davis, Nicholas Morrow, Emanuel Ellis and Oglesby scored with a seventh-place finish in 1:33.22.

Swain County edged Mountain Island Charter for the boys team

The Maroon Devils finished the day with 81 points, just six points ahead of Mountain Island Charter’s 75 points. It marks the first-ever boys track title for Swain County.

Swain County had two first-place finishes, including a record-breaking performance in shot put. Nse Uffort recorded a distance of 61-09.50 in shot put, breaking the previous record of 60-10.25 set by Farmvile Central’s Torrey Prayer in 2005.

The Maroon Devils also took first place in the 4×400 relay. The team of Josh Collins, Josiah Glaspie, Connor Brown and Abhi Patel finished with a time fo 3:28.16, narrowly beating the team from Thomas Jefferson, which crossed the line with a time of 3:28.90.

Swain County recorded second-place finishes in the 4×800 relay and the 3200 meter run.

Reggie Daniel of Mountain Island Charter was named the most outstanding performer of the championship. Daniel set a new meet record in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 38.30. The previous record was 38.58 and was set by T.J. Wilson of Princeton in 2010. Derrick Reid Jr. of Carver, who finished second in the race, also beat the old mark with a time of 38.40.

Daniel also placed second in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.99. He was just 0.02 seconds behind Carver’s Jaden Gause-Hughes.

Corvian Community (46), Carver (37), and South Stanly (36) rounded out the top five in the team standings.