FRANKLINTON — Red Springs’ Monica Washington, St. Pauls’ Hope Morgan, Fairmont’s Zandra Upson, and Fairmont’s boys 4×100 relay team each won regional championships over the weekend at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 2A Mideast Regional in Franklinton.

In all, eight individuals and three relay teams from Robeson County placed in the top four in their respective events to advance to the NCHSAA State Championships; these predominantly came from Robeson’s 2A schools, with one individual also advancing from Lumberton.

The 2A and 4A state meets will be held concurrently Saturday at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.

2A girls

Each of the regional championships won by individual athletes from Robeson County came in the field events at the 2A girls regional.

Washington, who advanced to states in two events, won the regional title in the discus throw, with a throw of 89 feet, 11.00 inches, beating Jordan-Matthews’ Madelyn Eubanks by six inches. Red Springs’ Javonastee McNeill finished eighth at 68-08.00 and Fairmont’s Zandra Upson was ninth in 67-04.00.

Morgan claimed the long jump title for the Bulldogs in 18-04.50, beating runner-up Jaylah Jefferson from South Granville by 2.50 inches. Red Springs’ Elora Oxendine was 15th in the event at 12-08.50.

Morgan also advanced to states in the high jump, finishing fourth at 5-02.00, five inches behind winner D’Anna Cotton from Cummings. St. Pauls’ Jaiden Morrison was sixth at 4-10.00.

Upson won the shot put with a throw of 32-11.00, 10 inches ahead of second-place Aaliya Carson from N.C. School of Science & Math. Washington took third in the event for the Red Devils at 31-07.00, also advancing to states; Red Springs’ McNeill was 12th at 25-00.00.

On the track, Kiara Campbell earned two third-place finishes, advancing to states in the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. In the 100-meters, she finished in 12.47 seconds, with South Granville’s Shawnti Jackson winning the event in 11.64. Campbell was also third in the event prelims; Fairmont’s Brianna Davis finished seventh in the prelims at 13.34 and Red Springs’ Macaiden Henbury was 10th in 13.48.

Campbell’s third-place finish in the 200-meters came at 25.83, while Jackson also won this race for South Granville in 24.40. Davis also reached the final for Fairmont, finishing fifth in 27.01, one spot behind the requisite top four to advance to states, 0.66 seconds behind the fourth-place finisher.

Davis also narrowly missed advancing in the 300-meter hurdles, finishing fifth in 48.67, which was 1.11 seconds behind the fourth-place finisher. Red Springs’ Elora Oxendine was eighth in 51.63.

St. Pauls’ 4×200 relay team was the only local relay team to run in the 2A girls regional; the Bulldogs placed seventh in 1:54.44.

While St. Pauls’ Morgan advanced in two field events, she did not in the 400-meters, finishing ninth in 1:06.34; teammate Jaiden Morrison was 12th in 1:19.34.

St. Pauls’ Rubianna Estrada was 12th in the 100-meter hurdles prelims in 19.58.

2A boys

Fairmont’s boys 4×100 relay team of Travelius Leach, Emanuel Oxendine, Jamir Jones and Donovan Brown won the regional championship with a time of 43.36, exactly a half-second ahead of second-place Granville Central. St. Pauls was 10th in the race in 44.62.

Two St. Pauls relay teams also advanced to states; the Bulldogs’ 4×400 team placed second in 3:32.67, behind race winner Research Triangle at 3:30.22. Red Springs was sixth in the race in 3:39.45.

St. Pauls’ 4×200 team finished third in 1:31.88; Cummings won the race in 1:28.83.

Three local individuals also advanced to states from the 2A boys regional, including two Bulldog runners. Marcus Alexander finished third in the 110-meter hurdles at 16.09, with Zirion Ferreira from Research Triangle winning the race in 15.78. Alexander was fourth in the event prelims.

Charles Johnson finished third in the 400-meter dash in 50.14, with Cummings’ Jonathan Paylor winning the race in 48.50; Fairmont’s Travelius Leach was fifth at 50.83, which was 0.65 seconds behind the fourth-place finisher in the last spot to advance to states.

Leach did advance, however, in the 100-meter dash, finishing fourth in 11.41; an improvement from fifth in the prelims to fourth in the event finals was key to Leach advancing. Cummings’ Paylor also won this race, in 10.83.

In other track events, Leach finished seventh in the 200-meter dash in 23.07; Fairmont’s Malachi McKinnon was seventh in the 300-meter hurdles in 43.49, with Emanuel Oxendine 12th in 44.46 and Red Springs’ Carnelius Manning 13th in 44.54; and St. Pauls’ Donel Thomas was ninth in the 800-meters in 2:11.79.

St. Pauls’ 4×800 relay team finished seventh in 9:10.73, Red Springs was eighth in 9:17.45 and Fairmont 13th in 10:00.43.

In the field events, Alexander and Red Springs’ Julian Evans-Bowen shared the best local finish as each took sixth in an event. Alexander’s sixth came in the triple jump at 40-02.00, 7.50 inches behind the transfer position of fourth.

Evans-Bowen took sixth in the shot put at 39-03.50, which was over two feet behind fourth place; St. Pauls’ Kemarion Baldwin was 11th in the event in 36-02.00.

Other field results included: Red Springs’ Jaylen Rush finished ninth in the discus at 109-01.50; St. Pauls’ Tykeem Oxendine was 10th in the high jump at 5-08.00; and Red Springs’ Manning was 14th in the long jump at 18-00.50.

4A girls

Lumberton’s Kyleigh Pollock was the only local participant to advance to states from the 4A Mideast Regional, held at Green Level High School in Cary. Pollock finished third in the long jump at 16-10.00, with Jack Britt’s Bella Ross winning the event in 17-02.50; Pollock had the best score in the event prelims, also finishing that competition at 16-10.00.

Purnell Swett’s Lillymae Ellerbe finished 11th in the 200-meter dash at 27.15; she also finished 12th in the 100-meter dash prelims at 13.10.

Lumberton’s La’Kayia Hunt placed 12th in the triple jump at 32.07.25; Janya Rolland was 13th in the discus prelims at 80-07.00, and also 13th in the shot put prelims at 28-07.00; and Annabelle Horrigan took 13th in the 110-meter hurdles at 18.38.

Lumberton also had two relay teams in the event: the 4×200 team finished 11th in 1:47.93, and the 4×800 team was 12th in 11:54.10.

4A boys

No local boys advanced from the boys 4A regional; the best local finisher was Purnell Swett’s Chase Harris, who ran the 400-meters in 52.18, and finished 0.97 seconds behind the fourth-place finisher, who had the last transfer spot.

Lumberton’s Sivan Smith placed 10th in the 300-meter hurdles prelims in 42.22, and 15th in the 110-meter hurdles prelims in 17.24.

Lumberton’s 4×800 relay team finished 15th in 8:52.81.