CARY – Lleyton Thomas-Johnson ’24 needed a minute Saturday afternoon. He got about 5 seconds, give or take.
The rest of the Christ School track team rushed over to the exhausted anchor leg of their 1,600-meter relay. Lleyton was on the ground, baton still in hand when he was picked up and launched into a sea of celebratory Greenies.
Christ School (124.5 points) beat out runner-up Charlotte Providence Day (112) for the NCISAA Division I state championship behind a generational distance talent in Duke recruit Dawson Reeves ’24 and unexpected points across the board.
The bulk of the two-day meet at Cary Academy was held Friday out of concerns for the weather. The Greenies trailed Providence Day by 4.5 points coming into Saturday and quickly shot into the lead. Dawson clinched the meet with one event to go by winning his third individual state championship in the 800-meter run (1:54.71).
“On paper, we were supposed to lose by 19 points. It was just a full team effort,” Greenies coach Randy Ashley said.
“Besides having a super stud in Dawson Reeves, we scored points in the throws, the jumps, the sprints, you name it. It’s been pretty awesome to have 18 seniors on this squad and I couldn’t be happier for them.”
Dawson also took first place in the 1,600 (4:12.21), the 3,200 (9:12.31), and ran on Christ School’s first-place 3,200 relay (7:58.36) along with younger brother Dallas ‘27, Luke Parrish ’24, and Patrick Wang ’24.
“What a special culmination of a great career at Christ School,” Coach Ashley said.
“It stinks that the Dawson era is over, but our cross country and track teams are at a higher level because of him. The school records are off the charts. It was tough on him being one of the few top guys to come back and run the 800 (on Saturday) and it was fitting that it clinched it for us.”
Tough love is still love. Coach Ashley called out some of his athletes earlier this week and challenged them to outperform the projections for the state meet. Overall, they did, far and beyond.
More individual highlights were Brendan Regan ’24 coming in second place in both hurdles – the 110 (15.37) and 300 (41.70). That’s not all. He earned a third silver medal by teaming with Lleyton, Jaxon Grieves ‘27, and Carter Compton ‘24 in the 800-meter relay (1:30.19). Calvin Williams ’24 was second in the shot put (49-7.5) in his final state meet and freshman Thomas Vickery ‘27 got second in the high jump (6-0). Noah Henthorn '24 made the podium with a third-place finish in the discus (138-6). He announced his college commitment to UNC Asheville earlier in the week.
This is the fifth team state championship in the history of Christ School track (the others were 1977, 1990, 2018, and 2019).
NCISAA Division I State Championship Meet
Friday and Saturday at Cary Academy
Boys
Team scores
1. Christ School 124.5; 2. Charlotte Providence Day 112; 3. Charlotte Christian 83; 4. Charlotte Country Day 56.5; 5. Rabun Gap 48.5; 6. Cary Academy 46.5; 7. North Raleigh Christian 45; 8. Ravenscroft 42.5; 9. Metrolina Christian Academy 38; 10. Charlotte Latin 29; 11. Durham Academy 25.5; 12. High Point Wesleyan Christian Academy 18; 13. Covenant Day 17; 14. Cannon School 15.
Individual results (Christ School athletes)
3,200-meter relay: 1. Christ School 7:58.36; 110-meter high hurdles: 2. Brendan Regan 15.37; 300-meter hurdles: 2. Brendan Regan 41.70; 11. Tyler Thompson 43.77; 200-meter dash: 7. Lleyton Thomas-Johnson 22.61; 21. Jaxon Grieves 23.69; 3,200-meter run: 1. Dawson Reeves 9:12.31; 5. Eyob Gill 9:31.96; 8. Luke Parrish 9:45.15; 11. Dallas Reeves 9:52.29; Shot put: 2. Calvin Williams 49-7.5; 6. Dawson Thompson 46-7.75; 16. Sam Browder 40-3.25; Luc Madesclaire 40-2.75; Long jump: 4. Bryson Cokley 21-3.5; 7. Carter Compton 20-4; 10. Thomas Vickery 19-5.5; Pole vault: 11. Jake Landis 10-0; Discus: 3. Noah Henthorn 138-6; 5. Dawson Thompson 131-4; 12. Luc Madesclaire 114-5; 15. Finley Sullivan 109-9; Triple jump: 4. Tony Murphy 40-10.5; 15. Myles Murphy 37-6; High jump: 2. Thomas Vickery 6-0; 4. Bryson Cokley 5-8; 9. (tie) Lleyton Thomas-Johnson, Jozohn Price, and Cooper Perone 5-8; 17. Carter Compton 5-6; 800-meter relay: 2. Christ School 1:30.19; 1,600-meter run: 1. Dawson Reeves 4:12.21; 6. Luke Parrish 4:25.58; 11. Dallas Reeves 4:30.11; 400-meter relay: 6. Christ School 44.48; 800-meter run: 1. Dawson Reeves 1:54.71; 13. Patrick Wang 2:01.68; 15. Luke Parrish 2:03.05; 18. Dallas Reeves 2:03.65; 1,600-meter relay: 6. Christ School 3:31.97.