Panther track and field are Mountain Eight Conference champs.
On Jan. 29, the team traveled to the Tryon International Equestrian Center for the M8C title meet. There they earned men’s and women’s conference titles in blowout fashion.
“We had some really good performances yesterday, and we had three school records fall,” said head coach Matt Harlfinger. “Michelle Ortega broke the 55-meter school record, and she was our conference champion in three events – she also won the 300-meter dash and the 500-meter dash. Amy Mendoza Lopez broke the school record in the 1,000, which, she had the record, but that was a three-second PR [personal record] for her. She also won two other events, the mile and the two-mile, and then Ken Modlin broke the school record in the five hundred.”
Just now rounding into postseason form, the Panthers continued their season-long rewriting of the school record books. While conference officials did not calculate the meet’s top individual scorers, Harlfinger believes Franklin completed a clean sweep.
“Amy and Michelle both won three events, so I would have to guess based on how many points they scored that they are going to be named the Co-Runners of the Year for the Mountain Conference, having scored 30 points,” he said. “Ken was first in the 500, he was second in the 300, he was second in the 55 hurdles and then fifth in the [55-meter dash], so Ken scored 30 points and will likely be named the Runner of the Year for the Mountain Conference as well on the boys side.”
“Kamden Reis scored 24 points in the field events – she was second in the long jump, second in the triple jump, third in the high jump and seventh in the shot put, and she scored the most points in our conference for field event athletes. So, she should be the Field Event Athlete of the Year. And then Drew Hodges scored 27 points – he won the pole vault, he got second in the triple jump, third in the high jump and sixth in the long jump.”
With the conference’s top scorers in all four categories, Franklin put on a master class in Tryon. Unsurprisingly, both teams cruised to conference titles.
“Michelle Ortega, Anna Timan, Amy Mendoza Lopez and Kamden Reis combined for 114 points. If we hadn’t brought our entire team, that right there would have been enough to beat second place with just the four of them,” said Harlfinger. “Also, C.J. Engert tied his school record in the high jump. He set that earlier in the year and was able to match it, and I kind of consider that a school record to some degree, so you could say we had four school records. We were able to bring home the team titles, which is always important to us as a team.”
In routing Pisgah on both the men’s (198-103) and women’s (230.5-79) sides, Franklin earned the first-ever Mountain Eight Conference titles. Upon returning home, the team set their sights on the 5A State Championships.
“We had some really stellar performances that, outside of the conference, we had kids that slid up pretty significantly in the state rankings,” said Harlfinger. “Michelle Ortega is now ranked third in the 55-meter dash, Amy Mendoza Lopez is now ranked first in the 1,000, Anna Timan had a great race in the 55-meter hurdles and she moved up to fifth in the state.”
“Ken is now number one in the state, and Reid Laseter is now number two in the state in the 500,” Harlfinger continued. “C.J. Engert is ranked first in the high jump, Morgan Cress had a three-second lifetime best in the 1,600-meter, and she slid up in the girls state rankings. She’s going to be ranked 11th, which gets her into the state meet – you’ve got to be top 12.”
With top-ranked athletes up and down the roster, Franklin should contend for both men’s and women’s state titles next week, planning a trip to Winston-Salem’s JDL Fast Track Feb. 13. In a “Last Chance” meet at Macon Middle School Feb. 4, they’ll try to qualify as many athletes as possible.
“We’ve got a really, really special freshman right now with Abby Timan, Anna’s little sister. Abby ran a 12:05 in the two-mile, which was like a 30-second best,” said Harlfinger. “She just looked so comfortable when she was running I feel like she could go even faster, and she’s knocking on the door right now to maybe getting an invitation to the state meet in the two-mile. If she can run about five seconds faster I think she can get there, and that would be an added body that we maybe didn’t account for pre-season. In a meet that may come down to one point when it’s all said and done, if we can just get one more person there that could be the difference-maker.”
Having lost the women’s outdoor 3A title by one point in 2023, few programs know the importance of state qualifiers better than Franklin. Having won men’s indoor and outdoor titles that year however, the Panthers believe they have what it takes to return to the top.
“On the drive down to the conference meet yesterday, MileSplit – the website that manages all of the results and the rankings and all that stuff – had released the power rankings based on what the scores would be if you just went down the rankings for the state meet,” said Harlfinger. “It kind of generated some buzz on the bus, because the boys are ranked second in the state behind first place by one point, and the girls are ranked second in the state about 15 points out of first.”
“That was a good little jolt heading into the conference meet like an hour before we took off from the blocks. ... If they were to redo that list today, I would think that we’ve got to be number one on both sides. I’m glad that we’re number two – I’d rather not have the target on our back.”