Panther track and field might be one week away from a state title.
Throughout the winter season, Franklin has boasted two of 5A’s top teams, seeking their third state championship of the past three years. In last-chance meets at Macon Middle School and elsewhere, they met their final qualifying marks for Winston-Salem.
“The last-chance meet is really for kids to get one last opportunity to qualify for state. It’s usually a pretty low-key meet where maybe one kid shows up to do an event – you usually don’t travel your whole team,” said head coach Matt Harlfinger of Franklin’s home meet at MMS Feb. 4. “The big headliner was Morgan Cress – she ran 11:29 in the 3,200-meter, and she broke our indoor school record. Coming into the event she was probably not going to advance to the state meet, and it wasn’t because we hadn’t tried. I mean, she’d run it four or five times this year and her best was 11:58, and I don’t know where it came from, but she PR’d [set a personal record] by almost 30 seconds and broke our school record. She moved up from being 20th in the state to being sixth, so I feel really good about that.”
In a sport that revolves entirely around the state meet, Cress’ run came at the perfect time, landing her squarely inside its 12-person field. On the boys side Franklin earned another precious scoring opportunity.
“We ran a boys [4x800-meter relay] team with Conner Ramey, Evan Pyles, Reid Laseter and Ken Modlin that ran fast enough to advance to the state meet,” said Harlfinger. “Over the last couple weeks on the boys side we were projected at second place. The last projection said we were going to lose by one point, and so now we have the four-by-eight team that will be there fighting for that one point.”
Normally running shorter races as two of the state’s top sprinters, Modlin and Laseter traversed more distance Wednesday, helping their team move from 14th statewide to sixth. For his part, Modlin also excelled in other events.
“Ken Modlin and Jonas Phillips ran personal bests in the 55-meter hurdles, as did Anna Timan, and I feel like the times that they ran are going to be fast enough to advance to the state meet,” said Harlfinger. “I think Jonas might have been ranked 12th, and he ran just a little bit faster. I think it moved him up to 10th … so I feel good. As long as Jonas is there and he’s got an opportunity to compete, I feel like he’s going to be able to slide up into the finals and score for us.”
Consistently among 5A’s best hurdlers, Phillips will cap his final year with a trip to state, joining fellow senior Chad Engel. Elsewhere, Franklin continued a quiet but impressive year.
“In the shot put Meliah Mason had a lifetime best … She’s ranked seventh but she’s one inch off of fifth, and Lily Tux is ranked fifth,” said Harlfinger of Franklin’s top female throwers. “Ella Raby also had a personal best of 32 feet, one inch, and so I feel really good about where we’re at there with that event group. Brady Norman for the third time this year threw over 40 feet for the boys, which is a big landmark for him – he’s done a great job this season.”
“And then our last big PR that really shakes things up would be Avynlee Anderson in the pole vault. She cleared eight feet, and that was a personal best for her. I believe that’s going to have her ranked seventh, but there’s a four-way tie there at that same bar, so she could really be fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh.”
As they have for several years, Franklin once again boasts some of the state’s top vaulters and throwers, coached by Joel Lynch, Johnny Mira-Knippel and Ryan Danehy. On Jan. 30, a few Panthers traveled to the Tryon International Equestrian Center for their last meet of the regular season.
“The big thing that came out of there was Kai Pelletier in the triple jump,” said Harlfinger. “She had a personal best of 31’1”, and that slides her into 11th for 5A. She was 12th and now she’s 11th, so we’ve got a little bit of a buffer there.”
Upon returning home from Tryon, the Panthers prepared for the 5A state meet at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, which was postponed five days to Feb. 18 due to weather. With nearly an extra week to rest and prepare, Harlfinger is bullish on both teams’ chances.
“The team that I feel like we’re competing against on the girls side is North Lincoln, and North Lincoln is a distance-school juggernaut right now – they’ve got seven of the top eight distance runners in our classification,” said Harlfinger. “As it is right now, I believe our boys are going to be ranked second going in, maybe five or six points out of first place. We’re going against a really talented J.M. Robinson [Concord] team, and there are a couple other teams in the mix, too.”
“Parkwood [Monroe] has one of the best distance teams; they’re probably within 10 points of us. Oak Grove High School [Winston-Salem] is a very good distance team … they’re probably also within 10 points of us. Croatan High School [Newport] as well is usually pretty loaded, so it feels like maybe five teams separated by 10 to 12 points, and I’m hoping that we finish on the north end of that.”