CFNN Reporter Darius Walker

The Colts have had an impressive week, showcasing their strength as a well-rounded team. Not only did they have a Regional Qualifier in a Field Event, but they also broke school records in both a Field and Track Event this week. 

The Colts only participated in one Meet this week due to the Conference meet being cancelled on Thursday due to weather. Despite only having one Meet this week, the Colts still had a sensational showing at the Union Pines Vikings Relay Meet Saturday. The team placed Top 8 in 12 events and Top 5 in 15 events which was enough to push the Boys to a 3rd place finish and the Girls to a 6th place finish.

The Colts had their strongest performance of the year in Field events this week, securing a Top 8 finish 8 times in Field events. Emma Faircloth and Aaliyah Phillips both were top placers in the Girls High Jump, with Emma setting herself a new personal record. Klara Konecny and Shanel Sutton had amazing results this week in the Girls Shot Put with Klara coming in 5th and Shanel placing 1st earning herself her first medal of the year.

Aydin Leonard had an unworldly performance Saturday being in 3 of the Colts Top placing events. Aydin was a top placer in the Boys Shot Put and was also part of our Boys 4x100M and Boys 4x100M Throwers Relay, making a big push for both relays being able to accomplish a top placement.

The Colts had more Hurdle placements this week than they’ve had all year by having 4 Top 7 placers through only 3 events. Kamari Faison was responsible for 2 of those top finishes by placing 5th in both the Boys 110M and 300M Hurdles. He was joined by Sydney White who came 7th in the Girls 300M Hurdles and Brandon Patton who placed 2nd in the Boys 110M Hurdles. Sydney has shown a lot of improvement with her 300M Hurdle placement being her first time placing this year but I’m sure there will be many more to come. Brandon Patton did a great job with his 110M Hurdles and is just 1 tenth of a second away from qualifying for Regionals AGAIN! I’m sure that the Colts Hurdlers have many more great performances left just like the ones they had this week.

The Colts had 11 Top 8 finishes in Relays at the Union Pines Vikings Relays Meet. They had a pair of both DMR and SMR placements with the Boys 4000M DMR placing 3rd, Boys 1600M SMR placing 5th, and both the Girls 800M SMR and Girls 4000M DMR placing 3rd.

The rest of the teams Relays also showed out by placing 8th in the Boys 4x100M, 6th in the Girls 4x400M, 5th in the Girls 4x100M, 4th in the Boys 4x800M, 3rd in both the Boys 4x400M and Girls 4x800M, along with the team winning the Boys Thrower Relay.

The Colts had another Regional Qualifier along with 2 NEW SCHOOL RECORDS. Bryan Charles was able to qualify for  Regionals and break the school’s record for Boys Discus, which has stood for over half a decade. The school record for Boys 4000M DMR was also broken again after being broken just last week.

Bryan Charles won the Discus Throw on Saturday, which isn’t surprising considering he threw a 141-3, beating the old school record by almost 2 feet. Bryan has been working on his fundamentals lately, saying, “I’ve been attentive about tightening up my form and doing the little things right.” 

“It’s something I’ve been working for, but it isn’t entirely unexpected,” said Bryan, happy to hear his hard work paid off by qualifying for Regionals.

“I was very surprised to find out I broke the school record, I never really knew I was even close to it,” said Bryan, in shock when he realized he broke the record. When asked about possible going to states, Bryan said he not only feels like he can go to states, but he is confident he could earn a medal too.

Chris Shick, Collin Shick, Andrew Bertacini, and Savon Page rebroke the School Record for the Boys 4000M DMR after the record was just shattered last week. The Boys ran a time of 11:54 which is 7 seconds faster than the time they set last week. Savon was a new addition to the Relay and was able to make sure to carry his load even with this being his first time running the event. 

The Relay team had a lot of preparation for this week’s meet. “We focused on fine tuning and our pacing this week,” said Coach Jaclyn Ditt. Coach Ditt also said that even though 4000M DMR is not a Regional or State Qualifying race, they still love and enjoy every opportunity they get to run it at Invitational Meets. 

When asked about how they handled the roster change, Coach Ditt had this to say, “We stayed adaptable and trusted our depth as a team, this relay team is made possible because we have so many strong athletes who can step up and fill a role if we need them too.” 

Coach Ditt is very proud of her 4000M DMR team and believes that they could break the record again in upcoming weeks when given the chance.

The Colts had a pretty nice showing Saturday by having top placers in almost every event that was run and it’s believed that Cape Fear has a real chance of being the Top team in the Conference, Region, and with how things are going, Cape Fear could be a powerhouse statewide.