Wednesday night at Landrum High School was all about dominance. The Cardinals hosted the Region II-1A track meet and came away with two more region championships.
The girls won their 12th straight region championship by scoring 166 points. Christ Church made it a little closer than in years past, Landrum coach Martha Dorman said.
“It’s awesome (to win again),” Dorman said. “We have the best kids in the world. They keep coming out here and working hard.”
The Lady Cardinals had three individual region champions. Savanna Lapan won the shot put, Shelby Morris won the pole vault and Kelsey Spicer won the triple jump.
The boys won their 12th region championship. The last time they didn’t win the championship was in 2000.
Even with all that success, this team is special, head coach Russell Mahaffey said.
“This is probably the strongest team in the last decade,” Mahaffey said.
The Cardinals won the 4×100, 4×400 and the 4×800. Individually, the Cardinals had seven individual champions.
Chris Downey was in the back of the pack in the 400-meter dash, but found some inspiration on his feet. The senior was wearing a pair of rainbow-colored socks.
“(The socks) were given to me by a friend,” he said. “She told me they possess magical powers.”
That magic trickled down to the rest of the Cardinals on Wednesday.
Other winners were Cole McDowell in the triple jump, Christian Johnson in the 100-meter hurdles, Derek Belue in the shot put, Hunter Conley in the high jump and Peyton McCarter won two events including the 100-meter dash and the 200-meter dash.
The Cardinals now have a bit of a swagger as they go forward to the Upper State finals and a potential shot at the State finals. “We have a strong team that could win state,” McDowell said.
That was reiterated by the events the last two days.
“We have a player going to Upper State in every event,” boys coach Mahaffey said.
Upper State will take place at 11 a.m. on May 7 at Landrum High School.