At the recent 2021 NCHSAA 1A Midwest Track Regionals, several Stanly athletes qualified for this week’s state finals.

North Carolina A&T will host the 1A state finals starting Friday at 9 a.m.

North Stanly

One of the outstanding performances of the day came from Comets senior Taegan Lowder.

Competing in three events, Lowder won the long jump with a distance of 17-foot-9, winning by 7.5 inches.

She also won the triple jump regional title with a 34-foot-1.25 distance, winning by 7.75 inches.

Lowder finished second in the high jump qualifying for states at a height of 4-foot-11, coming within one inch of winning a third regional crown.

Albemarle

The Bulldogs track teams had the most to qualify for the 1A finals of the four Stanly schools competing.

Somajhe Porter will get the chance to defend her 2019 1A state title in the 300-meter hurdles. She won the 1A Midwest Regional in the event by one-hundredth of a second, finishing in 49.34 seconds.

Ali Currie qualified in three events, including a regional title in the triple jump (40-foot-10.5) by .5 inches. The Albemarle junior also qualified for states finishing second in the high jump (6-foot-6) and third in the long jump (20-foot-5).

The team of C.J. Ellis, Jaylen Pinkney, Anthony Chambers and Christian Poplin finished third in the 4×100 meter relay in 45.62 seconds.

South Stanly

The 4×200-meter team of Jameel Shaeed, Jaquavius Caraway, Ezra Powe and Omaurion Eldridge took third place with a time of 1:35.48, only three seconds behind the first-place team from Mountain Island.

All four South runners on the 4×200 team also qualified in the 4×100-meter relay, finishing fourth in 45.78 seconds.

Gray Stone

Freshman Emberleigh Pauley-Brown qualified for the state finals with a fourth-place finish in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:50.84. Her time was a little more than eight seconds longer than first place.

Pauley-Brown also qualified for states in the 3,200-meter run by finishing second with a 12:55.46, 22 seconds out of first place.