By By STEVE FRANKLIN, Sports Writer
GREENSBORO — Friday was a historic day for the Pam Pack at the NCHSAA Group 3-A State Track &Field Championships.
For the first time in almost a decade, Washington’s track team had a state medalist. In fact, the Pack had two of them.
Junior thrower Sharita Grice took home the bronze medal in the discus, while senior Travis Daniels picked up a fourth place medal in the triple jump.
Grice tossed the discus 114-feet, 4-inches to finish third behind Western Guilford’s Cori Goins (118-feet, 7-inches) and Concord’s Emma Player (117-feet, 7-inches).
Grice was pleased to be Washington High School’s first medalist this century, but at the same time left disappointed after not reaching the 128-foot mark she threw earlier in the year
Meanwhile, Daniels earned a medal for his fourth place finish in the triple jump after posting a career-best leap of 45-feet, 9-inches. Daniels leap was almost a foot and a half better than his previous best.
Daniels sat second entering the final jump of the competition, but wound up fourth after Southwest Guilford’s Cordell Livingston and T.C. Roberson’s Artis Gilmore leaped past him. Mooresville’s Jamel Allison won the event by leaping more than 49-feet.
Not only did the Pam Pack have two medalists, they also placed five kids. That’s the most in the six years that Blank’s been teaching at WHS.
Daniels reached the finals in the long jump for a second straight year. After an eighth place finish last season, he placed ninth this season.
Senior Melvin Spruill laid down his best time of the season in the 400-meter dash in the prelims as he ran the one-lap race in 50.50 seconds to earn a spot in the finals.
But in the final race, he ran into some problems and finished eighth.
Dakuan Spencer was the other Pam Pack finalist. The sophomore hurdler raced to a seventh place finish in the 110-meter high hurdles after racing across the line in a time of 15.98 seconds
Overall, the Pam Pack boys finished in a tie for 23rd place in Group 3-A. The Lady Pam Pack wound up tied for 30th in the 50-team field. Mooresville’s boys’ team and Jacksonville’s girls’ team captured the Group 3-A team championships. Allison and South Central’s Kelsey McCorkle took home the meet’s MVP awards.