CFNN Reporter Darius Walker

People love to hear words like “touchdown” or “goal” when watching football or soccer, but what about the track athletes? These are the athletes who get that unimaginable feeling walking to the starting line and looking at the open track ahead of them. Let’s talk about the athletes who get that unworldly rush from words as simple as: “Ready, Set, GO!”

The Cape Fear Track team was able to get out to a great start at the invitational Golden Dash event Saturday despite their first meet getting postponed Wednesday. They competed in a total of 29 events and took 14 Top 8 finishes.

The Colt’s Relay teams did a great job with 5 of the 6 placed Top 5. They came in 2nd place in the Coed Throwers relay thanks to Bryan Charles and Jackson Carter giving us a big push to our top finish; girls throwers Charlize Robinson and Bailey Lilge were also great contributors in the relay.

The boys 4×2, 4×4, and 4×8 were all top finishers. Savon Page, a senior and veteran of the track team, played a major role in running 2 events, the 4×4 and the 4×8, where he was helped by other senior track vets Khail Marshall, Tyson Sinclair, and Lucas Wells. When it comes to the 4×2, our Colts were able to pull out a 2nd place finish thanks to Jaxxon Hoover, who also ran the 4×4, and Chris Mcdonald, who was able to play a major role starting the 4×2. He has also already helped the track team qualify for regionals despite just coming off a knee injury. 

The girls 4×8 and 4×2 relay finished in 4th and 5th place. Aaliyah Phillips was on both teams despite only being a freshman. She raced alongside upperclassmen mentoring her, such as Kamiya Mcneil, Jayla Penebacker, and Leah Carter, who have helped her become a notable athlete so far this season.

The track team has a set of twins, Christopher and Collin Shick, who both had a great performance during their long-distance events at the Golden Dash. Christopher placed 8th in the boys 800m dash, and Collin placed 2nd in the boys 3200m dash. They demonstrated how strong their brotherly bond is by both placing in the Top 8 for the boys 1600m dash, pushing each other to keep going the whole way through.

They also had a 4th and 6th place finish in the Boys 110m and the Boys 3200m. Brandon Patton is one of the Colt’s Captains and did several events Saturday but he made a big impact by coming 4th in the 110m hurdles, and Kayden Giles also had a very special performance during his event where he placed 6th in the 3200m dash.

The Colts had an extraordinary showing Saturday, but 2 of their athletes stood out from the rest. Senior Thrower Bryan Charles has been on the Track team for four years; he is a Veteran who most of the underclassmen look up to, and he gave them a good reason to keep doing so by coming in 1ST place in Boys Discus. 

The Colts also have an underclassmen who qualified for Regionals in his first meet of the season; Tai Phillips is a 10th Grader who ran a 10.79 in the 100-meter dash, which would put him as a Top 10 100m runner all-time at UNC and he is only a 10th grader.

All together the Colts got out to as good a start as they possibly could with the Boys finishing 3rd and the Girls in 9th place overall. In only the first meet of the season, the team the Colts have assembled this year is special, and we can’t wait to see what they accomplish.