GREENSBORO — Southside track and field coach Andrea Quinerly wanted to see each competitor leave it all out on the track at North Carolina A&T during Saturday’s 1-A state-championship meet. He said that would be considered a success.

The Seahawks, namely Eminey Redmond, did just that. Redmond won the 1-A championship in the long jump. She was seeded third going into the day, but beat out the rest to win the gold.

“I thought I was going to lost, to be honest,” she chuckled. She said she focused on placement and speed, among other things. “It was hot, which made it hard. I worked at it all year and I failed a couple of times.”

Quinerly added, “I consider it a success if they go out and do their very best. We got a few people place, Eminey won, but what I’ve seen is effort and them doing their very best. That’s what I’m most proud of.”

Redmond didn’t fail when it mattered most. The Lady Seahawk junior is familiar with the pressure that accompanies competing for a state championship. She admitted she was nervous, but was able to overcome it.

“Everybody has their own technique with how they do things,” she said. “They don’t play around. You have to be serious coming into states. At regionals and conference, it’s way different than states. There’s more competition than I’m used to.”

Redmond brought two medals back to Chocowinity. She was also on the Lady Seahawks’ third-place 4-by-200 relay team. They were placed in the slower of the two heats, but surged into first place and to run away with their heat. Their time beat out six teams that ran in the faster heat.

That relay was the perfect microcosm of that effort Quinerly wanted to see out of his athletes.

“I was very proud of them,” he said. “We were so close to getting second in that, but I was proud. We had great exchanges and they worked together as a team. That’s what it takes to win.”

 

Other notables:

Quinerly said that the boys’ 4-by-100 relay team had its best showing of the season. Despite having to shuffle the lineup and field a four-man unit that had little experience running with one another, the Seahawks finished seventh in the state.

Ronald Dennis battled through an injury and competed in the 110-hurdles and triple jump.

“I was still very proud of him. He showed a lot of effort and it’s unfortunate he didn’t make finals in the (hurdles),” Quinerly said.

Northside’s Holden Newman finished fifth in the 1,600-meter run.