It’s been a good year for Macon Middle School track and field.
Having won their second straight boys championship last year, Macon entered this spring among the Blue Ridge Athletic Conference favorites. With a third straight title from the boys, their first-ever title from the girls, and several top finishes at the state meet, the Panthers capped a season for the books.
“We definitely knew we had a bunch of returners. The girls side is still kind of young, but we've got quite a few eighth graders that are moving on now,” said head coach Josiah Brendel. “On the boys side we were looking pretty good; they definitely kicked it into high gear and worked their butts off.”
Having led Macon’s boys to their second straight title last spring, Brendel knew his male athletes had the talent to contend once again. On the girls side however, the Panthers took the BRAC by surprise.
“The girls definitely shocked us. Going into the season, I didn't think that we had much of a shot,” said Brendel. “We went over to Brevard, and it was super-super-close over there. I think they ended up placing third, but one first place or a couple kids in the top five would have changed everything. … Last year we got third [at the conference meet], and I said, ‘You guys have never placed higher than top-three, but I think you guys can do it – I truly believe it.’”
Throughout the regular season Macon’s girls became a force, joining their male counterparts as bona fide BRAC contenders. In the conference championship meet at North Henderson High School, both teams proved they’re the class of WNC.
“On the boys side I wasn’t expecting a blowout win, but I definitely thought we stood a good chance to do it,” said Brendel. “Apple Valley was close with us and Hendersonville was up there, but they ended up pulling it off. It was awesome … I want to say they won by like 20 or 30 points.”
“I think Hendersonville’s girls were going for their fourth or fifth year in a row that they’d won it, but when they were reading off third place, second place, first place, we didn’t hear our name,” he continued. “I’d figured we’d finish in the top three, so when we didn’t hear our name at three and two, it was crazy. You automatically knew we were at that ‘One’ spot, so it was awesome. … They lost it, but I think I may have lost it a little bit more than them.”
With just 16 girls in attendance, Macon earned a narrow 10-point win, equal to the value of a first-place finish in just one event. With two BRAC titles in hand, the Panthers turned to an even bigger meet.
“Throughout the entire year we were looking at the state rankings,” said Brendel. “Typically we really hadn’t had a fast enough group to actually watch those rankings, but with the boys 4x100 [meter relay] we kind of went back and forth watching them trade places for first in the state throughout the entire season, and same thing with the 4x400. … Then we had Andrik [Rodriguez], our high jumper; we were kind of watching that for him too because he was leading towards the beginning of the season, and as time went on he was still up there tied for first.”
Between Rodriguez, the 4x100 [Hunter Humphries, Sam Antoine, Christian Garcia, Jordan Mattox] and 4x400 [Humphries, Mattox, Abe Lynch, Braylon Crisp] teams, Macon boasted several of the state’s top boys throughout the year. In the program’s first-ever state meet May 2, the Panthers lived up to expectations.
“The 4x100 team actually won state, our 4x400 team placed third, and then we had [Rodriguez] also place third,” said Brendel of the NCRunners Middle School All-State meet in Concord. “We also had a hurdler [Chris Stacy] who ended up placing 11th, which is still crazy for state. It was a big, big meet; I think there were roughly 115 teams that came out there, so it was definitely something different for them.”
With three podium finishes and four in the top 11, Macon returned home from Concord with plenty of hardware. Versus the top middle school boys from across the state, the small team from the mountains punched above their weight.
“For both of those relays, the 4x100 and the 4x400, throughout the entire season – I don't like to put down other teams – but we didn't have a whole lot of competition,” said Brendel. “They were just blowing everybody out of the water, and we were really, really curious to see how they matched up once they saw some competition. It was awesome; they definitely exceeded what I thought we were going to do.”
“They [the 4x100 team] were a little worried going into it because after seeing the other teams, they were like, ‘Man, we don't know if we can pull this off or not,” he continued. “We just kept trying to reassure them that they had the state-leading time, and I said, ‘You guys have just got to go out and do your thing.’ It was pretty close there for a minute; the lane just inside them had a fumble at the last exchange so that helped a bit, but I still think they would have pulled it off. They were a heck of a 4x100 team, and they broke their own record almost every week throughout the season.”
A list of MMS’s BRAC Champion/record-breaking/state meet performances from this spring can be found below.
Girls
Karter Pollock: 100-meter hurdles, 18.67 – BRAC Champion.
Lucy Stork: 400-meter dash, 1:05.02 – BRAC Champion.
Brooklyn Tallent: 1,600-meter run, 5:36.37 – BRAC Champion, MMS Record.
4x400-meter relay: 4:36.77 – BRAC Champions, MMS Record.
Boys
Christian Garcia: 200-meter dash, 24.52 – MMS Record.
Jordan Mattox: 100-meter dash, 11.78 – BRAC Champion, MMS Record, BRAC Record.
Andrik Rodriguez: High Jump, 5’ 10” – BRAC Champion, MMS Record, 3rd Place at state meet.
Chris Stacy: 110-meter hurdles, 19.09 – 11th Place at state meet.
Salvador Vasquez: Discus, 116’ 05” – MMS Record.
4x100-meter relay: 45.93 – BRAC Champions, MMS Record, BRAC Record, State Champions.
4x200-meter relay: 1:41.29 – BRAC Champions.
4x400-meter relay: 3:53.77 – BRAC Champions, MMS Record, 3rd place at state meet.
Sports Editor Will Woolever can be reached at sports@thefranklinpress.com