Panther track and field are among the top five teams in 3A for the second straight year.
After placing first on the men’s side and second on the women’s at last year’s Indoor State Championship, both Franklin teams entered the winter season as one of 3A’s top contenders. With two top-five overall finishes at the state meet Feb. 10, the Panthers proved they’re still one of the top programs in the state.
“I’m really proud of the kids, obviously,” said men’s head coach Matt Harlfinger. “We were able to finish second place on the boys side and fourth on the girls side, and there’s a lot to be proud of when you can climb that high into the standings.”
A year after staking a claim as one of the top programs in the state, Franklin proved last season’s results were anything but a fluke. Led by a Men’s Most Outstanding Performance from senior Swiss army knife Elijah Cochran, the Panthers turned in a historic day in Winston-Salem.
“Elijah Cochran set the track on fire – he broke school records in the 55-meter dash, the 55 hurdles and the long jump,” said Harlfinger. “He was All-State in all three of those, plus he was the state runner-up in the 300-meter dash. He was named MVP of the state meet by the NCHSAA [N.C. High School Athletic Association], so he was the Most Outstanding Performer out of all the [male] student-athletes that were there.”
Having spent the indoor season rewriting the FHS record books, Cochran continued his barnstorming tour at state, placing second in the 300-meter dash (35.29 seconds), second in the 55-meter hurdles (7.71), third in the 55-meter dash (6.45) and fourth in the long jump (21’9”). In addition to Cochran, several other Panthers turned in new school records.
“Morgan Cress broke her school record in the two-mile, and she was able to score as a freshman in a distance race, which is really tough to do,” said Harlfinger. “The girls [4x800-meter relay team] broke the school record by 14 seconds, and that was Morgan Cress, Amy Mendoza Lopez, Abigail Pope and Mindi Holbrooks. Boston Stringer tied our school record in the pole vault, which, we’ve had some really good pole vaulters come through here on the girls’s side.”
In breaking six school records at the state meet, Franklin had one of their best days at the most important time. With podium finishes up and down the roster, even more Panthers earned All-State honors.
“Aaron Jennings was the state runner-up in the pole vault, and Boston Stringer was the state runner-up,” said Harlfinger of the pole vault standouts. “Our girls 4x200 was third with Hope Smith, Laura Covarrubias, Michelle Ortega and Rylee Cassada. The boys 4x800 with Logan Russo, Barrett Stork, Matheson Post and Cooper Tyler were third place, and the girls 4x800 were third place overall with a podium finish. Our fourth-place finishers were Elijah Cochran in the long jump, Charley Seagle in the shot put, Adam Rogers in the pole vault and the girls 4x400 with Amy Mendoza Lopez, Hope Smith, Rylee Cassada and Laura Covarrubias.”
By placing in the top four of their respective events, a bevy of Panthers earned All-State honors, lifting the men’s team to a second-place finish with 57.33 points and the women to fourth place with 38. In addition to their seasoned veterans, Franklin also got excellent performances from some newer additions to the team.
“One that stands out in my mind would be Talley Kinsland,” said Harlfinger of Franklin’s promising crop of first-year talent. “She was the very last qualifier in the hurdles and ranked dead last, and she ran an aweseome race. She ran 9.02 in the 55 hurdles, which ranks her fourth all-time in school history behind Laura Covarrubias, Isabelle Duchemin and Hannah Angel. That’s pretty good company. ... Same with Isabella Shope – we call her Izzy – she was one in her first year who didn’t know that she could be a good high jumper, and she’s been able to clear five feet. She scored for us in the girls high jump, and we also had Justus Bradford, who who had a fantastic season, and we’re really excited to see what she can do.”
As the only school to send three female high jumpers to state, Franklin should be well-positioned in the event for years to come, with Kinsland in her senior year, Bradford in her junior and Shope still in her sophomore. On the men’s side, Franklin also got a dramatic performance in one of the day’s highest-stakes events.
“We were in third place going into the last event, and the top two teams get a trophy and get recognized with a runner-up medal,” said Harlfinger. “We had put together a four-by-four team that had to beat Dudley just to get back on the podium as a team. ... Jason Mesa stepped up to the plate [when] we had to run an alternate on the four-by-four, which was nerve-wracking in itself knowing that we weren’t gonna put our true “A-Team” out there to try and beat a very good program. Jason Mesa put his hand up and said, ‘Put me in,’ and he did about as good a job as anybody out there.”
In the last event of the day, Mesa, Stork, Russo and Post beat out their rivals from Dudley, placing fifth in 3:35.39 to give Franklin a second-place overall finish. For all their success in Winston-Salem however, one of Franklin’s most prestigious awards was for one athletes’s sportsmanship on the track.
“David Rogers got recognized with the NCHSAA Sportsmanship Award, so he’s another one that came home with some hardware,” said Harlfinger.