And with that, it’s over.
We made it through the 2020-21 high school athletic season. There have been some great moments — we’re looking at you, Jennah Fadely (women’s swimming) and Caroline Murrell (track & field), Chatham’s two record-setting champions — and some heartbreaking ones. We’ve seen freshmen and sophomores star in their respective sports, college-bound seniors end formidable careers and both athletes and coaches win awards across the sports landscape.
It’s been an interesting year featuring rule changes, condensed playoff fields and unusual cirumstances in what was an abbreviated, COVID-affected season, but as numerous people across the county have said all year: at least these athletes were able to have a season at all. At the end of the day, that’s really all that matters.
For the final time until fall sports start back up in August, here are this week’s schedules and last week’s results.
No sporting events scheduled; summer break.
Monday, June 21, to Thursday, June 24
No sporting events scheduled.
Friday, June 25
Tennis: Jordan-Matthews sophomore Maggie Thornton suffered a first-round exit in the NCHSAA 2A Women’s Tennis State Championships at Cary Tennis Park, losing to Oak Grove’s Jessica Fuchs (6-0, 6-1) in the singles bracket. Read our story on Thornton’s successful first season in this week’s edition.
Tennis: Northwood’s senior doubles duo of Courtney Fisher & Suzanne Earnshaw were eliminated in the first round of the NCHSAA 3A State Championships doubles bracket. Fisher/Earnshaw was taken out by Charlotte Catholic’s duo of Ava Tan & Kaitlyn Tozzi (6-2, 6-2), the eventual 3A doubles state champions. See photos from the Chargers’ match in this week’s edition.
Track & Field: Chatham Charter and Woods Charter both participated in the NCHSAA 1A Track & Field State Championships at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, where, as a team, the Knights finished tied for 38th in the women’s events (3 points) and the Wolves placed 45th in the women’s events (1 point) and 30th in the men’s events (5 points).
Participating in events for the Knights were sophomore Tamaya Walden (13th place, girls 100-meter dash, 13.44; 9th place, girls 200-meter dash, 26.96; 9th place, girls 400-meter dash, 1:02.60) and junior Brooke Garner (DNF, girls 100-meter hurdles; 11th place, girls 300-meter hurdles, 54.52; T-5th place, girls high jump, J4-08.00; 10th place, girls triple jump, 31-04.00). Participating in events for the Wolves were freshman Ellie Poitras (10th place, girls 1,600-meter run, 5:47.41; 8th place, girls 3,200-meter run, 12:57.34), senior Kyle Howarth (6th place, boys 100-meter dash, 11.64; 9th place, boys 200-meter dash, 23.56) and senior Jay Charbonneau (7th place, boys 400-meter dash, 53.13). See meet recap in this week’s edition.
Saturday, June 26
Track & Field: Jordan-Matthews had one individual and three relay teams competing in the NCHSAA 2A Track & Field State Championships at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, where the Jets finished 44th as a team in the men’s events (3 points). Participating for the Jets as an individual was senior Eral Jones (11th place, boys high jump, 5-10.00), alongside J-M’s three relay teams: the boys 4x100 meter (Jones, senior Xavier Woods, senior Jayden Davis and senior Jacquez Thompson, 8th place, 44.71), the boys 4x200 meter (Woods, Jones, Davis and Thompson, 7th place, 1:33.63) and the boys 4x400 meter (junior Calvin Schwartz, Thompson, junior Carlos Rojas and Jones, 10th place, 3:38.24). See meet recap in this week’s edition.
Wrestling: Jordan-Matthews senior Jaylan Scotton (16-7, 106 lbs) was eliminated in the first round of the 2A NCHSAA Wrestling State Championships at Wheatmore High School in Trinity by First Flight’s Reagan Riddick (14-2, fall 5:52).
Wrestling: Northwood had two wrestlers at NCHSAA 3A Wrestling State Championships at Eastern Guilford High School in Gibsonville: freshman Josh Miller (106 lbs, 22-1) and sophomore Cliff Davis (182 lbs, 15-5). Miller was the 2A state runner-up in the 106 weight class after losing to Central Cabarrus’s Charleston Baglio (18-2) by fall (1:54) in the first-place match. En route to the championship, Miller defeated Tuscola’s Aiden Bell (12-8) by forfeit in the first round, Cleveland’s Matthew Vindigni (16-2) by decision (8-5) in the quarterfinals and Piedmont’s Noah Cauble (26-5) by decision (11-9) in the semifinals. Davis was eliminated in the first round by East Rowan’s Tayron Frost (23-2) by fall (1:31). See match report in this week’s edition.
Track & Field: Northwood had two athletes competing at NCHSAA 3A Track & Field State Championships at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. One of those athletes was junior distance runner Caroline Murrell, who won the state championship in the girls 3,200-meter run with a 3A record-setting time of 10:51.83, beating the record set by A.C. Reynolds’ Anna Vess in 2014 (10:52.18). Murrell became Northwood’s first track & field champion since senior Samantha Ennis in girls shot put in 2019 (42-04.00). The Chargers also had senior Jake McCall in the boys pole vault (NH). See meet recap in this week’s edition.