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After a steady rain forced a postponement of the Midwest 4-A Regional track meet on May 11, 19 schools converged on War Eagle Stadium May 13 as competing athletes sought one of the coveted four spots for the state meet. Over 20 athletes represented Davie and four advanced to the state meet at NC A&T on May 18.

In the team competition Reagan, West Forsyth and Pinecrest swept the top three places in the boys and girls competitions. The Davie boys had one of their best showings in years with a ninth-place finish. The Lady War Eagles placed 17th.

Davie’s girls were led by senior Lexie May, who placed fourth in the discus with a throw of 109-4. This would be May’s second straight trip to the state championships as she competed for Salisbury in the 2-A meet last year – and placed third – before transferring to Davie.

“Honestly, it was one of my worst throws,” said May, whose career high is 114. “I wasn’t too happy with the 109. I almost got knocked out (of the top four). I got kind of scared there for a minute because I was second and then a girl threw 111 and another girl threw 114.”

She wound up taking fourth comfortably, as the fifth-place girl threw 101.

May: “I was expected to go to state, but once those girls started throwing close to me, I started sweating a little bit.”

Junior Emerson Frantz qualified in both the 1600 and 3200 meter events, though the Davie distance star elected to compete in only the 1600. Frantz claimed ninth place with a time of 5:45.12.

Elizabeth Dorsett was the final individual qualifier for the girls following her remarkable five-second improvement in the 300 hurdles the previous week at the CPC meet. Dorsett grabbed the 16th and final qualifying spot and shaved another second off her previous best time. Her mark of 51.76 was good for 14th. The girls’ 4×100 relay also competed and placed 13th with their effort of 57.19.

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The Davie boys qualified six individuals in nine separate events as well as three relays for the regional meet. Ivan Poag, JT Allen and Clay Summers notched top-four finishes to advance to the state.

Poag had a memorable day as the Davie sophomore grabbed second in the high jump with a personal best clearance of 6-2.     Poag returned to action after a short break and claimed fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 45-2, a career-best effort.

Poag: “I feel like I could have done better in the triple jump, but I was OK with the high jump. It was awesome (qualifying for the state in two events). I didn’t think I was going to do anything like that. I surprised myself.”

Freshman phenom Spencer Williams competed in the discus and shot put. Williams took seventh in the discus with a throw of 133-11. His heave of 37-0 was good for 14th in the shot.

Williams was the top freshman in the regional in both events. In the discus, the top six finishers were two seniors and four juniors. In the shot put, the top 13 guys were three seniors, eight juniors and two sophomores.

Davie’s hurdling tandem of sophomore JT Allen and Matt Hill competed in their specialties. In the 110 hurdles, Allen placed 10th in 16.13 while Hill claimed 13th in 16.57.

But Allen was just getting warmed up; the 300 hurdles were next. Entering the meet as the 10th seed and competing in the slower of the two sections, Allen charged off the turn in first place and didn’t look back. His time of 41:08 was a huge personal record by over 1.6 seconds That time was good for third place as Allen punched his ticket to the state.

Allen: “I was pretty upset because I did awful in the 110 hurdles and didn’t qualify for the finals. I was determined to (crack the top four in the 300 hurdles). I went all out. I was pretty happy (with third).”

The final two individuals representing the War Eagles were Davie’s senior distance duo of Clay Summers and Trey Raisbeck. Competing first in the 1600, Summers grabbed the fourth and final qualifying spot in 4:31.61. Raisbeck sprinted home in fifth with a time of 4:37.59. Though physically spent after the 1600, and competing against a field of rested runners, Summers still managed ninth in the 3200 (10:09), while Raisbeck placed 11th in 10:22.

Summers reached the state for the second time, having helped the 4×800 relay team to second in the regional in 2018. In 2018, he finished fifth in the regional in the 1600, barely missing out on the individual state berth.

Summers: “I meant a lot, especially after the heartbreak from last year. The goal was to do whatever I could to get in the top four and it worked out. Even though it wasn’t first or a podium place, I was very happy with getting fourth.”

The War Eagle boys were represented in three relays. The 4×800 team claimed 10th in 9:08.50. The 4×400 team was 14th in 3:56.35. And the 4×100 team placed 10th in a season best time of 45.35.

Coach Rob Raisbeck: “We are very excited to qualify four individuals to states. Last year our 4×800 relay made it but we did not advance any individuals. The program is definitely on the rise as further indicated by our ninth place team finish as compared to last year when we placed 16th.”