Greenies Track Wins 3A State Championship
The NCISAA 3A State Track Championship was held at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, NC on May 18-19, 2018. Christ School had 16 boys on the State track roster and all came ready to compete. The 2018 spring season was loaded with strong individual results and the boys were finally prepped and charged to go after the best teams in the NCISAA 3A class.
According to the results from the season, the Greenies were a strong lock to finish 2nd in the meet. If the meet went as expected, or to the Chalk, the results would have Providence Day School finishing with 124 points to Christ School's 101. In the run-up to State, Coach Ashley and Coach Cobb asked the boys to do two things:
1) Just do what you do, that is: run fast, jump far and high and throw as far as you can, and
2) Try to outperform your seed for the meet.
This push to perform better than the seed is ultimately what propelled the Christ School track team to its first State title since 1990.
The Greenies were led by a group of athletes that led the Christ School track team to a 2nd place finish in 2017. Kevin Snyder '19, Keyvaun Cobb '19, Aydan White '20, and Trey Austin '19 exemplified strong leadership with the incredible athleticism to keep the foundation of the team viable for a title. The addition of Eddy Sherman '19 and Jalen Lecque '19, combined with the emergence of Juan Mantilla '19, provided the coup de grace to all competitors. The aforementioned athletes scored roughly 118 of the 134 points scored to secure the title.
In the process of taking home the Championship trophy, the Greenies set 3 NCISAA State records. Kevin Snyder '19 broke the Triple Jump record with a winning leap of 48-5.5. The 4 x 200 meter relay ran 1:27.83 to set a new meet record. The team consisted of Juan Mantilla '19, Keyvaun Cobb '19, Andrew Redmond '20, and Eddy Sherman '19. And the 4 x 400 meter relay team also set a meet record, running 3:22.36. This team consisted of Juan Mantilla '19, Keyvaun Cobb '19, Trey Austin '19, and Eddy Sherman '19. Additionally, 4 school records were set. Aydan White '20 broke his own 110 meter Hurdle record to repeat as State Champion, running 14.90. Keyvaun Cobb '19 broke his brother's, Kokayi Cobb '17, 400 meter record of 49.18 by running 49.15 to finish 2nd. Keyvaun finished .009 out of 1st place. The 4 x 200 meter and 4 x 400 meter times were also school records. In all, 18 personal bests were attained in the meet.
Watch the interview by NCRunners with Kevin Snyder '19
