With only 10 students on their team, the Highlands School track team isn’t big enough to compete the way other 1A schools can, but four students qualified for the NCHSAA 1A West Regionals this weekend.
Junior Kasen Mitchell, sophomore Claire Worley, sophomore Isaiah Vilardo and junior Mallory Shriver qualified. Though, according to coach Jaycee Rogers, Vilardo won’t be able to attend.
Mitchell qualified off a 6-2 mark in the high jump. Rogers said that was a school record. He also qualified for the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.58 seconds, and the 200-meter dash, finishing in 24.36 seconds.
Worley qualified after finishing the 1600-meter run in 6:18. Shriver cinched her place at regionals after finishing the 100-meter hurdles in 19.27 seconds.
Vilardo qualified from a 5-6 high jump as well as getting 17 feet, 6.5 inches in the long jump.
The regionals event will take place this Saturday, May 11, at the Montreat College track in Black Mountain.
Rogers said the last meet, the Smoky Mountain Conference Outdoor Championships held in Swain County on Wednesday, May 1, had gone well for the Highlanders.
“It went well, they did very well,” she said. “The majority of them set personal records for themselves in at least one event.”
Rogers said the small team size made it difficult to compete with other teams, but they were focused on scoring individually.
“There’s some really good talent on this team, they’re breaking records,” she said. “It’s a young team. By the time they’re juniors and seniors, we hope to be competing at regional and state. But it’s hard to win a meet when we have 10 kids, when other teams come with 50 to 75 kids.”
This was Rogers’ first year coaching track, and the school didn’t have a track program the previous year. Rogers is hoping to keep the momentum from this season going into future years.
She said that will include upgrades to equipment and, hopefully, younger students being recruited to join to keep things running.
“My hope is now that it’s established, the goal is that kids will recruit friends, and there will be kids coming up from middle school,” Rogers said. “Next year we want to update some of our equipment. We have great hurdles, but we want to get a full set. We want to get some high jump equipment. I’m going to do the best I can.”