Varsity Track and Field

Congratulations to the St. David’s Varsity Track and Field team for their participation in the NCISAA Division II State Championship meet on Saturday, May 15. Just hours after a night of dancing at the prom, sixteen athletes boarded the bus at 7:00 AM headed for Forsyth Country Day School on the other side of Winston-Salem. Arriving just in time for a quick warm-up, senior co-captain Caroline Ross competed in the first of her three open events, the 3200m. Caroline posted a top-10 finish and a season record of 12:34.21. Just a few hours later, Caroline posted another season record of 5:46.63 in her 12th-place finish in the 1600m. To round out the day, Caroline ran step for step with teammate Laura Martin in the 800m, Laura edging out Caroline in the final yards for 15th and 16th places overall. Laura also had a busy day, competing in the long jump and 110m hurdles, posting a PR of  13”9.5” with a 12th-place overall finish in the former and a 9th-place overall finish in the latter. Isabel Driggers ran to an 18th-place overall finish in the 100m and spent the rest of the day with sister, Rebecca (injured this season), cheering on their teammates from the side of the track. Meanwhile, junior co-captain Kailey Wadsworth was occupied jumping high and long. Even without posting new records, Kailey’s 4th-place finish in the high jump led to a 5th-place finish in the long jump and finally, a 2nd-place medal finish in the triple jump and a spot on the podium! The only medal finish for St. David’s! Congratulations, Kailey! Now for the boys: First on the track were the 4 x 800m relay team: Will Patrick to Mason Herr to Isaac Bostic to William Fox, who ran well but unfortunately were DQed in a questionable call on their second exchange. Thanks go to alternate Jack Wells, who was also ready to go, if needed. Three other relay teams had good performances: the 4 x 100m relay team (Jack Piner, Jackson Rouser, Kaishun Sato-Choi, Ghiair Chisley) rounded the turns and exchange zones safely to a 11th-place overall finish in 50.15; the 4 x 200m relay team (Dhru Govindji, Sam Fox, Kaishun Sato-Choi, Jackson Rouser) to another 11th-place finish in 1:51.36; finally, the 4 x 400m relay (Will Patrick, Ghiair Chisley, Kaishun Sato-Choi, William Fox) to an 8th-place overall finish in 3:59.05. Other open track event athletes included Jack Piner in the 300m hurdles who tied for 18th and William Fox in the 800m whose PR of 2:15.84 was good enough for a 20th-place overall finish. In the field events, Ghiair Chisley jumped to a new personal height of 5’4” for an 8th-place finish and Jackson Rouser’s PR of 19’2” in the long jump earned him a 6th-place overall finish. At the end of a long day, St. David’s boys team finished in 11th place overall and the girls tied for 13th. The athletes remained spirited all the way home and are already looking forward to building on this year’s performances next season.

Our Track and Field Warriors faced tough competition against Durham Academy and Wake Christian Academy and emerged with new personal records and state qualifying times. After weeks of practicing baton handoffs, our boys’ relay teams blew us away with great performances. Sam Fox (’24), Sadler Powell (’22), Dhru Govindji (’24), and Kaishun Sato-Choi (’24) ran in the 4 x 100 meter relay, placing 3^rd with a time of 55.6. For the first time this season, Will Patrick (’22), Ghiair Chisley (’23), Dhru Govindji (’24), and William Fox (’23) banded together to enter the 4 x 400 meter relay and earned a respectable 4^th place with a time of 4:06.7. 

In the individual events, Laura Martin (’23) placed 2^nd in the 100 meter hurdles with a personal record time of 20.1. Caroline Ross (’21) pushed through the 1600 meters and 3200 meters, finishing 2^nd and 3^rd with times 5:52.3 and 12:41.3. Kailey Wadsworth (’22) and Ghiair Chisley (’23) flew past the competition in the 200 meters, both earning 3^rd place with times of 29.2 and 24.3 respectively. Mason Herr (’24) soared in the 1600 meters and earned a personal record time of 5:35.9. Even with the tough competition, Sadler Powell (’22) won 1^st place in the shot-put, throwing a distance of 29’6”, and even though we have no sand pit in which to practice the long jump and triple jump, Kailey Wadsworth (’22) won 1^st in both events, flying distances of 15’6.5” and 32’11”.

After a few weeks of recovery and tough workouts, the Warriors will race again in the State Championship meet on Saturday, May 15^th.

Our boys’ and girls’ Track and Field teams took third place against Trinity Academy and Ravenscroft School on April 15^th at Ravenscroft’s home track. Though low in numbers, we pushed ourselves to the limits and gave some great performances.

In the men’s running events, William Fox (’23) won first place in the 800 meters with a time of 2:24.46, and Ghiair Chisley (’23) took third in the 200 meters with a time of 24.35. In the field events, Sadler Powell (’22) earned third place in the shot-put, throwing a distance of 29’3”, and Jackson Rouser (’23) achieved second in the long jump with a distance of 17’.5”. In the women’s events, Caroline Ross (’21) finished second in the 1600 meters with a time of 5:58.84 while Laura Martin (’23) hopped into third in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 20.65. Kailey Wadsworth (’22) continued to soar to new heights, earning third place in both the long jump and the high jump with distances of 14’7.5” and 4’6” respectively.

 It was a strong meet for all our runners, and we’ll be back on the track Thursday, April 22^nd at Durham Academy to continue our path of excellence.

On March 25^th, both our male and female Track and Field Warriors took 4^th place at North Raleigh Christian Academy. Kailey Wadsworth dominated the field events, taking second place in the long jump and first in the triple jump, flying past her competitors by more than three feet. Jackson Rouser also competed in the long jump, landing in sixth place with a distance of 17’-01”. Sadler Powell tried his hand in the Shot Put and earned third place, throwing a distance of 27’-01”.

For the distance runners, Caroline Ross placed 1st in the mile posting a time of 6:03 and had another strong performance in the 800 meters by placing 2nd with a time of 2:42.  William Fox took sixth place in the 800 meters with a time of 2:20.06. In the 1600, Mason Herr finished seventh with a time of 5:43, followed closely by Will Patrick at 5:49 and William Fox at 5:50. Herr improved immensely from his previous time of 6:15, the key to which he revealed was “focusing on the finish line and nothing else” (Mason Herr ’24).

The sprinters were equally competitive with Alexander Pettifer placing fifth in the 200 meters, followed by Jackson Rouser and Ghiair Chisley in seventh and ninth. The athletes then teamed up with Jack Piner to take third in the 4x100 meter relay, displacing Durham Academy’s team by an impressive nine seconds. Laura Martin started her season with a bang as she took fifth place in the 200 meters with a time of 29.59. “It was a good start,” Martin commented, “and now it’s time to get better. I love the smell of track season” (Laura Martin ’23).

Following Martin’s sage words, the Warriors will continue to dominate next at Ravenscroft on Thursday, April 15^th.

Written by: C. Ross '21