Track fans were treated to an odd sight Saturday in Fayetteville, N.C. — indoor events taking place in the cold outdoors.
For 24 years the indoor track and field season had culminated in an indoor track championship meet on UNC's campus. But the Eddie Smith Field House, the only indoor facility in the state, was under construction and unavailable this season.
Options included moving the event out-of-state, or canceling the state meet entirely. Eventually the NCSHAA decided to have the meet outdoors and call it a "winter track championship."
Cardinal Gibbons (Raleigh, N.C.) senior Sarah Rapp swept the distance events in the 1A/2A/3A girls meet, earning gold medals in the 1,000 meters, 1,600 and 3,200 and scoring 30 of Gibbons' 36 points. That was enough to edge runner-up Marvin Ridge, which scored 34 points.
"I just glad they had this meet," she told the Raleigh News & Observer. "I wouldn't have wanted to miss a meet because we didn't have the indoor meet in my senior year."
The boys 1A/2A/3A winner was defending champion
Asheville (N.C.).
Wakefield (Raleigh, N.C.) dominated the 4A girls meet, but
Knightdale (N.C.) bested Wakefield 62-44 to win the 4A boys meet.
