Princeton senior Terrayah McCoy soars over the bar during a successful attempt in the girls’ high jump at the 5-6A/6-6A area meet last Friday at Ron Poe Stadium in McKinney. Photo by Jerry Winfrey / C&S Media
By David Wolman
MCKINNEY – Last Friday was a special day for the Princeton track and field team.
Every entry that the Panthers had for the area 5-6A/6-6A meet at Ron Poe Stadium earned a berth into this week’s Region I-6A meet, set for Friday and Saturday at the University of Texas at Arlington’s Maverick Stadium.
Every Panther placed in the top four of their respective events. The top four finishers in each event qualify for regionals.
Senior Kingston Williams is a regional qualifier in three events: long jump, 300-meter hurdles and 4×400 relay.
Williams nearly didn’t come away with a regional meet berth in the long jump.
After scratching on each of his first two attempts in the boys’ long jump in the area 5-6A/6-6A meet, Williams was staring at the potential end of his high school career in the event. If he had scratched on his third and final attempt, the future Baylor Bear wouldn’t have qualified for the Region I-6A meet.
Williams came up with an easy fix: Don’t clap your hands. He had clapped his hands before he ran down the track on his first two jumps in an attempt to get himself and all of the fans around him fired up.
On his final attempt, Williams leaned back, ran down the runway and recorded a good jump of 23-feet, 1.75-inches, which earned him first place.
“It felt good,” he said. “I didn’t clap on that one. It helped me to zone in. I didn’t jump as far as I wanted, but it was good enough.”
Later in the day, he finished in second place in the 300 hurdles with a time of 38.24. Then, in the final event of the day, the boys’ 4×400, Williams, Leobardo Sanchez, Aiden Rutledge and Will Smith ran to second place, finishing in a time of 3:17.51, which is a new school record.
“I’m so ready for regionals,” he said. “This year, I’m more in tune, especially in the long jump. I did not do well in the long jump at all last year. I didn’t even make the finals. I’m excited because I’ve been consistent. I’m just excited to keep that going.”
It was one of two new school records on the day for Princeton.
Princeton’s girls’ 4×100 of Alanya Towers, Leah Boadi, Kelly Nworka and Kaira Nworka ran to a new record in the spring relay, finishing in third place with a time of 46.65.
“Their performance was very well executed,” said Michael Wellington, Princeton head coach. “I was happy with how they all came out and competed.”
Senior Terrayah McCoy won an area championship of her own, earning first place in the girls’ high jump with a clearance of 5-4.
McCoy and Plano’s Morgan Olschewsky needed a jump-off to determine which one would win first place.
No one was able to clear 5-8 or 5-6, but a breakthrough occurred when the bar was lowered to 5-4. McCoy was the only one to have a successful clearance at that height. A short time later, she took her place at the top of the medal stand at Ron Poe Stadium to receive her first-place medal.
“It feels good,” she said. “I feel like that I could have done better, but it’s all about survival now. It felt good to finally clear the bar because I’m able to move on to regionals.”
Overall, it was a great day for Princeton in the jumps.
Senior Gavin Sharpe earned a berth in the regional meet in the boys’ triple jump, placing second with a 44-8. He went over 44 feet in each of his first three attempts with his third attempt of 44-8 being his best leap of the day.
Senior Kelly Nworka captured third place in the girls’ 200 with a time of 24.2 seconds.
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