GREENSBORO, N.C. — Just months after claiming its first indoor track and field state championship, the Seaforth boys’ track team won its first North Carolina High School Athletic Association outdoor track and field state title at N.C. A&T Saturday, finishing first in the 2A standings with a score of 68.
“They made a commitment to each other and a commitment to themselves, and they’ve put the work in and shown up every day and worked really hard,” Seaforth track coach Meredith Bazemore said. “I think coming off the indoor season and being able to do it again in the outdoor season is just a huge testament to them not letting up.”
In a tight race with state runner up Brevard, the team state title came down to the final event of the day — the 4x400-meter relay. Seaforth’s team of senior Sebastian Calderon, freshman Paul Cuicchi, senior Walter Entrekin and senior Will Cuicchi set a new meet record (3 minutes, 21.34 seconds) and won the event to secure the championship victory.
It took a superb effort, as the Hawks were seeded seventh for the event.
“This has been the ultimate goal since freshman year, trying to become state champions in the 4x400” Calderon, the first leg, said. “We started off running a four minute as our goal in our freshman year. Now, we have a meet record at the state championships. Honestly, this is top five moments of my life.”
After Entrekin, the third leg, closed the gap with the leading Brevard squad in the title-clinching relay, it was up to future Charlotte 49er Will Cuicchi to take over. Cuicchi pushed past Brevard’s Leo Murray in the final 200 meters and held the lead all the way to the finish line.
“Honestly, it was just kind of ‘hang on,’” Cuicchi said. “Coming off three events, that was rough, but I mean, I did it. Funny enough, me and Leo, who was the last leg on Brevard, we had the same kind of battle during cross country. So, it was a good full circle to end the senior year.”
Earlier in the day Cuicchi defended his 800-meter title with a time of 1:55.32, and he finished second in the 1,600. In the 4x800 finals, Cuicchi, the anchor leg, provided another boost for his team as he willed the Hawks from the fourth position (five points) to second place (eight points) in the final two laps.
“I think what people might not know is Will came down with a migraine in the middle of that 4x800 and spent a good portion of the races between the 4x800 and the 800 managing a migraine,” Bazemore said. “He’s just an example of what it means to be all in on the day you need to be all in and put himself back out there to run really hard.”
Of course, the Hawks couldn’t have got the job done without two more state championship victories from senior Jack Anstrom, the future NC State runner.
Anstrom defended his titles in both the 1,600 (4:19.27) and the 3,200 (9:36.80), capping off his high school career with nine individual titles across cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.
“This is my last meet in a Seaforth jersey, so I felt like I had to really go out and give it all I had,” Anstrom said. “It was a really good time. It kind of has me reminiscing on all the days from when I actually started running freshman year. I won’t have a Hawk on my chest anymore, so it’s a different feeling.”
Chatham County athletes won on the field, too. Northwood sophomore Benjamin Altenburg, who holds the school’s pole vault record, won the 2A boys’ pole vault title after a fierce battle with defending indoor champion, Seaforth’s Ryan Yoder.
Altenburg and Yoder began their duel after being the only two to clear 13 feet. At his personal-best of 14 feet, Altenburg stopped short of his jump on the first attempt.
“I got really nervous,” Altenburg said. “I didn’t take off, and I thought it was because I was just too tired. But, on my second attempt, my run felt great, and when I got over, I realized that it was feeling pretty easy today.”
Both jumpers cleared 14-6 on their first attempts, setting up an interesting finish between two jumpers who had yet to hit the 15-foot mark. After both missed their first two attempts at 15 feet, Altenburg cleared the bar on his final jump. With one last chance to extend the competition, Yoder missed his final attempt.
With the title already clinched, Altenburg hit 15-1 to set a new personal-best.
Seaforth senior Claire Morgan finished her high school career with a state title in the 2A girls’ pole vault event. Morgan won by being the only jumper to clear 9-6 on her first attempt.
“I cleared everything first attempt just like I planned,” Morgan said. “I cleared 9-6, and I was like ‘Ok, we’re where we need to be.’ And then, everyone missed at 10, and I was like ‘Oh! That’s mine.’”
Other Chatham County athletes earned points for their teams.
Northwood senior Julia Hall finished second in the 2A girls’ 3,200 with a personal-best of 11:56.37 and sixth in the 1,600, earning the Chargers 11 points. Her teammate, sophomore Jada Everson, earned two points after finishing seventh in the girls’ discus throw. For the Northwood boys’ team, senior Luke Waldstein earned a point for an eighth-place finish in the high jump. Northwood’s boys and girls both finished tied for 19th.
Jordan-Matthews senior Rachael Woods finished third in the 2A girls’ long jump competition with a mark of 17-3 and sixth in the triple jump to earn nine points for the Jets. Kamarie Hadley, a junior at Jordan-Matthews, earned five points for finishing fourth in the boys’ long jump. The Jets’ girls finished 27th, and the boys finished 29th.
In the 1A state meet, Woods Charter senior Anna Peeler earned four points for a seventh-place finish in the girls’ 1,600 and eighth-place finishes in the 800 and 3,200. The Wolves’ girls’ 4x800 team of senior Michaela Valentine, sophomore Dana Sudhir, sophomore Sofia Rodriguez and sophomore Dara Sudhir earned two points for finishing seventh. Woods Charter’s team of junior Ezra Roebuck, junior Wyatt Webster, sophomore Jackson Selleck and senior Dylan Villanueva earned three points for a sixth-place finish in the boys’ 4x400. The Wolves girls came in 23rd place while the boys finished 44th.
Chatham Charter sophomore Torris Price scored the Knights’ only two points after finishing seventh in the 1A boys’ 1,600 with a personal-best of 4:28.55. That performance put the Knights at 47th in the boys’ standings.
