FRANKLINTON – Nine Bladen County girls – 5 from West Bladen and 4 from East Bladen – qualified to advance to the Class 2A State Championships Saturday with their performances in the NCHSAA Class 2A Mid East Track & Field Girls Regional.
West Bladen senior Jessalynn Vendrick heaved the shot 29 feet, 7 inches to place 2nd in the regionals. East Bladen senior Maya McDonald captured 4th place in the shot put with a distance of 28 feet, 9 inches. Both Vendrick and McDonald advanced to state in the shot put.
McDonald is also a member of East Bladen’s 4×200 meter relay team that finished 2nd in the regional and qualified for state with a time of 1 minute, 52.44 seconds. Other members of the Lady Eagle relay team are Sabara McLean, Trinity Kemp and freshman Laila Smith.
West Bladen’s 4×200 meter relay team also qualified for state with a 3rd place finish in 1 minute, 54.07 seconds. Members of the Lady Knight relay team are sophomore Trinity VanEyken, sophomore Kiera Lewis, junior Shanyla Hunter and sophomore Trinity Meares.
Burlington Cummings won the girls team regional championship with 84 points. Southeastern Athletic Conference member Fairmont was 9th with 32 points followed by West Bladen in 10th place with 28 points, and East Bladen in 13th place with 23 points.
The NCHSAA Class 2A Track & Field State Championships will begin Friday at 9 a.m. at North Carolina A & T University in Greensboro.
Other East Bladen and West Bladen girls results from the Regionals include:
100 Meter Dash -5th Shanyla Hunter (WB) 13.26.
200 Meter Dash -9th Laila Smith (EB) 27.96.
400 Meter Dash -12th Azillyah McDonald (WB) 1:14.05.
100 Meter Hurdles – 3rd Laila Smith 18.64; 6th Trinity VanEyken (WB) 19.19.
300 Meter Hurdles -6th Trinity VanEyken (WB) 53.15.
4×100 Meter Relay – 6th West Bladen (Trinity VanEyken, Kiera Lewis, Azillyah McDonald, Shanyla Hunter) 53.78; 9th East Bladen (Sabara McLean, Trinity Kemp, senior Aniya McKoy, Maya McDonald) 54.9.
4×400 Meter Relay -7th East Bladen (Laila Smith, Sabara McLean, Naiheenna Leach, sophomore Tayla Jackson) 4:52.56; 12th West Bladen (junior Alicia Lawson, freshman Sierra Lawson, senior Trinity Lewis, Azillyah McDonald) 5:18.61.
4×800 Meter Relay – 9th East Bladen (Tayla Jackson, Naiheenna Leach, senior Tahjanae Bell, senior Shaquanna Kemp) 15:00.
High Jump – 7th senior Trinity Lewis (WB) 4-04.
Long Jump – 9th Shanyla Hunter (WB) 15-04; 10th Kiera Lewis (WB) 15-02.5.
Shot Put – 14th sophomore Harmony Jacobs (WB) 21-11.
Discus – 7th Maya McDonald 73-06; 14th Jessalynn Vendrick (WB) 59-09.
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