Track 2011

Track season is over. We competed yesterday in the 2A State Track meet at NC A&T in Greensboro, NC. It was a hot and sunny day, but full of records being broken. It was a fast day.

North Henderson was not left out of the mix either. We had a great day. The 4x800 of Daphne, Emily, Catie and Elena set a new school record (old record 9:58.74) on their way to a runner-up finish in the first running event of the day. Their goal was the school record-- we thought if we broke that we might have a chance for the State Championship. Our 9:57.78 was a great time, but Carborro smoked a 9:49 to win. It was still a great effort by our ladies and they were thrilled and I was very proud.


They wrote their goal on their palms.

Just so everyone knows what a great race they ran, their best race before last weekend was a 10:43 at the conference meet. They really stepped it up and ran a 10:06 last week at the Regional Meet to finish second and qualify for state. The first place team was a second ahead of us. Yesterday, that team ran almost 9 seconds off last week's pace while these girls gutted out a time almost almost 9 seconds faster. As a coach, I only ask for their best effort. I think I got that yesterday.

Daphne also had a good day individually, placing 6th in the 300 Hurdles. Catie finished 7th in the 800. Daphne had never run under 50 seconds before yesterday. She ran 49.41 in the preliminaries and grabbed the last spot in the finals. In the finals she set another personal record of 48.96 to grab sixth place.

The boys were led by Kaleb's 6th place finish in the 400 and Brandon's 7th place finish in the 300 Hurdles.

And as tradition, the girls always choose a theme and dress up and surprise us at dinner. This year: Old Ladies. It was, needless to say, fun.

State Champion!

This past weekend was the NCHSAA State Championships and it was a great weekend for North Henderson. We left the tournament with two state placers, including the 2A State Champion at 103 pounds!

Colby Langford is a sophomore wrestler at North Henderson. The kid was not even a starter at the regional tournament last year as he wrestled behind some kids he could not quite beat out. This year, he had a great opportunity and made the most of it. Colby finished with a record of 52-3. In the state tournament, he had pins in 3 out of 4 matches including the finals match. No only did he collect a fall in the third period of his finals match, he avenged a 5-4 loss from the finals of the regional tournament the previous week.

Colby finishes the season tying the North Henderson school record for wins in a season with 52. The old record was held by our last state champion, Brett Williams (2006). He also set a new record for pins with 36. Best of all, Colby is a great kid with a great attitude. He's a terrific student (even if I had to make him take my honor's class), has a supportive family and has taken ownership of this team as a sophomore. Pretty cool that we get him for two more years.

Colby sported the old Edneyville (the school North replaced) singlet in the finals

I don't want to leave out German Ramirez. German finished 4th in the state. Wish you could have met the kid as freshman. He's one of the greatest success stories that I've had as a teacher and coach. German had just moved to the United States and spoke no English but somehow ended up on the wrestling team. We had to translate everything (luckily, we had some Hispanics since my Spanish is nonexistent).

Now look at German. He speaks great English. He's an excellent and admired young man. He's a terrific and tough wrestler. He's a wonderful teacher. He'd be a great wrestling coach someday...

Fe- State Champion!

130/366 9 May - [Fe, State Champion!]
Originally uploaded by heanguy

Felisha Garren is the 2008 2A State Champion in the 400m Dash from North Henderson. What a well deserved honor for a great, hard working student-athlete. She finished 2nd in the state the last two years, so nice to see the persistence pay off. Her time of 56.75 is a new school record (she broke her old one).

Fe leaves North Henderson with the following accolades:
State Champion 400
State Champion 4x400
State Runner-up 400 (2x)
State Runner-up 200
4th in state 4x200
2x Conference Runner of the Year
School records: 100m (12.54); 200m (25.48); 400m (56.75), 4x200 (1:46.06); 4x400 (4:09.32).

Congratulations on a great season and an outstanding career! Best to you in whatever you decide to do...