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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Davie’s Cooper Williams grabbed two golds and AJ Sweet ruled the pole vault in the CPC track & field championship meet at Mt. Tabor on April 29.
Williams’ masterful throws overwhelmed the competition in two events. He slung the discus 158-1, compared to a 138-2 by the runner-up. He heaved the shot put 60-3 to beat the 51-9.5 from the second-place guy.
“His consistency in the discus hasn’t been quite what we’d like for it to be, but he put together a good series and won rather easily,” coach Rob Raisbeck said. “Then in a shot put, he was on his game. He had a throw that we measured at 62-7, but he fouled. He’ll be the favorite in the shot in the state meet. There are a bunch of guys who have thrown further in the discus this year, but it just takes one.”
Sweet made all-conference as a freshman by placing second in the pole vault at 11-6. He was shockingly silent as a sophomore – fourth place – but he came back as a junior and took first place at 13-1. Sweet is talented enough to triumph on a so-so day.
“He’s gone 15 feet indoors,” Raisbeck said. “(13-1 is) an average performance for him, but he’s at the top of the heap statewide, so his average day is better than everybody else’s good day.”
Senior David Patton, who finished second in the long jump with a personal record of 21-1, is making up for lost time.
“As a freshman, he had lots of promise, but he completely wrecked his knee, a bad ACL tear,” Raisbeck said. “He missed most of his sophomore and junior years. If it wasn’t for that football injury, he could have been a star on the track team. This was a PR by a foot. He still wears a knee brace, so he did all this with a knee brace. It’s the darndest thing you’ve ever seen.”
Davie’s fourth all-CPC performer came from the girls’ side. Jamie Cornatzer has come out of nowhere as a senior, throwing the shot put a personal-record 35-7 and taking second.
“That is a four-foot PR,” Raisbeck said. “The stars aligned. She was with us a little last year, but she got serious about it for her senior year, has been working really hard and it’s coming together for her.”
Senior Thomas Essic of the Davie boys was seeking his second all-CPC honor after finishing second in the 3200 in 2024, but his 9:42.92 time was only good for fifth.
“Thomas didn’t have his best day,” the eighth-year coach said. “If he’s on his game, he could have challenged for the win. He raced Saturday at Weddington at a big distance meet and ran 4.19 for 1600, which is really, really good. We’ll get him right for regional.”
Notes: Williams repeated as CPC champion in the shot put and won the discus for the first time. Last year he was second in the discus at 159-7. … Besides winning the pole vault, Sweet was fourth in the 110 hurdles at 15.45. … Cornatzer was third in the discus at 82-9. … For the Davie girls, juniors Alyssa Marion and America Stockton tied for third in the high jump at 4-10; junior Clara Phelps was fourth in the pole vault at 9-7; and freshman Rachel Starkey was fifth in the 1600 at 5:46.73. … The Davie girls finished fifth out of eight teams. The team scores: Reagan 195, Mt. Tabor 171, Parkland 135, West Forsyth 85, Davie 57, Reynolds 23, East Forsyth 10, Glenn 5. … The Davie boys were sixth. The team scores: Tabor/Reagan 165, Parkland 85, Reynolds 78.5, West Forsyth 67, Davie 64.5, East Forsyth 48, Glenn 21.