Two major track and field meets just took place in Lexington County as teams prepare for the upcoming SCHSL state championships. 

The Lexington County Championships and 5A Region 4 Championships put some of the county’s top track and field athletes against each other. These meets are two of the final few chances right before the state finals to give athletes a gauge for how they stack up. 

The Lexington County Championships were first up, taking place on April 25 at Lexington High School. 

Nine teams from the county participated in the event. The home team swept both the boys and girls championships, finishing in first place among all the teams.

Brookland-Cayce’s boys and Chapin’s girls finished in second, and the Chapin boys and Swansea girls came in third. 

A Lexington athlete finished first in seven boys events and eight girls events. The teams’ scores were also boosted by three podium sweeps and other high-placing finishers. 

The boys team captured the top five spots in the 1600-meter run and the top three in the 3200-meter run. The girls team swept the podium in the long jump.

Ryann Robbins had multiple first-place finishes for the Wildcats, winning the 200 and 400-meter dashes. 

Brookland-Cayce’s Aden Price gave an amazing performance in the boys events, placing first in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dashes. 

At the 5A Region 4 Championships, the athletes faced many of their same peers from the county championships. Every team in the region except Irmo participated in the county championship. 

Lexington’s girls defended their county title at the 5A Region 4 Championships. But the boys finished second behind River Bluff, who finished 28 points ahead of the Wildcats. 

There were many impressive performances during these events, including 11 that met the  MileSplit US Second Team standard.

Five of those 11 performances were done by a member of the White Knoll girls team. Cheyenne Love’s 200 and 400-meter dash wins, Courtney Ludley’s 100-meter dash win, Nyla Fair’s 100-meter hurdles win and the 4x100-meter relay team’s win all qualified. 

River Bluff and Lexington each had two athletes achieve that feat.

For Lexington, Ciara Williams’ 5.4-meter long jump qualified. As did Grant Garrick’s 10.73-second 100-meter dash. 

For River Bluff, Patton Casto’s 11.28-meter shotput and Daniel Jackson’s 6.88-meter long jump made the cut.

Irmo and Dutch Fork rounded things out, each having one athlete meet the standard. Jayla Weaver’s 10.98-meter triple jump got it for Irmo, while Anderson Bean’s 49.46-second 400-meter dash earned the recognition for Dutch Fork.

While these two events do hold a lot of weight and come with their own set of bragging rights, the true test for many of these athletes comes next week at the SCHSL state championships. 

The championships are set to be held from May 15-17 at Richland Northeast and Spring Valley High Schools. Many other Lexington County teams that did not participate in either of the local events will be a part of the state championships. 

Lexington County Championships boys team results

Lexington - 190

Brookland-Cayce - 103

Chapin - 99

River Bluff - 93.5

Gilbert - 77

White Knoll - 47.5

Dutch Fork - 34

Pelion - 28

Swansea - 21

Lexington County Championships girls team results

Lexington - 236.5

Chapin - 129

Swansea - 77

River Bluff - 65

Gilbert - 55

Dutch Fork - 54.5

White Knoll - 33

Brookland-Cayce - 24

Pelion - 20

5A Region 4 boys team results

River Bluff - 135

Lexington - 107

Dutch Fork - 97

Chapin - 95

Irmo - 58.5

White Knoll - 58.5

5A Region 4 girls team results

Lexington - 169.5

Chapin - 119.5

White Knoll - 93

River Bluff - 83

Irmo - 64

Dutch Fork - 26