Panther track and field is one step closer to the state meet.
Having met five qualifying marks for state in just their first two meets, on Dec. 4 the team continued their young season with a trip to Swain. At the Be a Payne Polar Invitational, named in honor of Swain’s late track and cross country head coach, several Panthers would have made the 13-time 1A State Champion proud.
“We had some really good things coming out of the Swain meet,” said head coach Matt Harlfinger of the trip to Bryson City. “We had 11 event winners, and of those 11 we were able to qualify four more kids for the state meet.”
At an 11-team meet in Swain including three Mountain Seven Conference rivals, a talented Panther squad continued to round into midseason form. With impressive performances in the girls field events, Franklin expanded their state championship contingent.
“Isabella Shope cleared five feet in the high jump, and at the time that was ranked number one in the state,” said Harlfinger. “There was a girl over the weekend that surpassed that mark by two inches, but [Shope] is gonna be in contention this year. ... Justus Bradford is also gonna be in the mix in the high jump – she took some really good jumps at the qualifying mark, and just fell a little short. Her outdoor best last year would be leading the 3A Division right now.”
Having placed 7th and 9th, respectfully, at last year’s indoor state meet, Shope and Bradford likely comprise the best high-jumping duo in 3A. With another year of seasoning, Harlfinger says the pair could make even more noise this year.
“I think barring some kind of crazy thing like somebody transferring into 3A that is an elite-level high jumper, I feel like Izzy Shope’s gonna have a chance to compete for either a state title individually, All-State, or coming home with a medal at the state meet. [That’s] a big deal, because only the top four get medals. ... We’re really excited about what’s going on in the girls high jump for us. I truly feel like we’ve got two of the top three high jumpers in the state, and we’ve got a chance to make some noise there.”
In clearing 5’0” at Swain, Shope punched her ticket to the 3A state meet Feb. 15, with Bradford hot on her heels at 4’10”. In the relay events, Franklin’s girls also impressed.
“Additionally on the girls side, our girls [4x800-meter] and [4x200-meter] teams also got in their qualifying marks,” said Harlfinger. “Right now our girls four-by-two team is ranked second in the state in 3A, and our girls four-by-eight team is ranked fourth.”
With times of 1:48.84 and 10:41.60, respectively, Franklin’s 4x200 (Laura Covarrubias, Michelle Ortega, Anna Timan and Kai Pelletier) and 4x800 teams (Morgan Cress, Amy Mendoza Lopez, Breanna Pendergrass and Abigail Pope) put the rest of 3A on notice. With several state-qualifying marks through just their first three meets, the Panther girls should be right back in the state title race.
“Those three girls performances came out of the Swain meet, and now you also throw into the mix Charlie Seagle, who’s already qualified and is ranked first in the state [in the shot put],” said Harlfinger. “Laura Covarrubias missed the [55-meter dash school record] by .01, and she’s qualified in the 500, which isn’t really even her strongest event. ... Morgan Cress has also qualified for the two-mile, so right now we’ve got six girls – individuals and relays – that would compete at the state meet.”
Having placed second, third, fourth and second at the last four 3A state meets (winter and spring), Franklin’s girls hope this is the year that they can finally win a state title. On the boys side, the Panthers have also turned in an encouraging start.
“On the boys side, Josiah Mascorro was our lone guy that punched his ticket at that meet in the pole vault. He’s a senior that’s only been pole vaulting now for maybe eight weeks, so that’s kind of a big deal,” said Harlfinger. “We’ve got three boys now that are set to compete at the state meet, and all three are pole vaulters – Aaron Dewhurst, David Rogers and Josiah Mascorro. David is ranked second in the state right now, and we also have Adam Rogers, who hasn’t competed yet. His lifetime best is a foot higher than what’s ranked first right now, so I feel really good about where we’re at with the boys pole vault.”
Having guided former Panthers Blake Cassada and Boston Stringer to state titles in the past two years, pole vault coach Joel Lynch has done perhaps his best work yet, molding what is likely the state’s best group of male vaulters. In the relay events, Franklin’s vaulters should soon receive some state meet reinforcements.
“We had some near-misses on all three of the relays on the boys side. The four-by-eight narrowly missed it; we’re gonna re-run that again on Saturday with that same quartet, and I feel really good about where they’re at,” said Harlfinger. “The boys four-by-two team nearly made it through, which, they increased the performance marks this year to get in across the board, and in the boys four-by-two they made it amost three seconds faster. So, in order for us to qualify we’ve got to break the school record by two seconds, and we were very close to that. And then, the boys four-by-four team missed it by less than half a second.”
After winning indoor and outdoor state titles in 2023, Franklin’s boys are looking to rebound from a disappointing state finish last spring. With a deep and talented group of underclassmen, Harlfinger says the team should compete for years to come.
“I’m feeling a lot better about where we’re at right now on the boys side, considering the immense amount of talent that we lost last year,” he said. “Our younger guys are showing a ton of promise across all their event groups, and I’m really excited about the future of the boys team. ... With last year’s group, with Elijah Cochran being the 3A MVP and Logan Russo and Barrrett Stork and Aaron Jennings, we graduated a lot, and as coaches we sit back and we’re like, ‘When are we ever gonna see a group like that again?’ I feel like our freshmen and sophomores – if we can keep that group together – it feels a lot like that senior class did their freshmen and sophomore years.”