The distance between fourth place and a state championship is two inches.
Had Toney Baker's best throw in the discus gone two inches longer, he would have tied for a second individual state title on the day - and Ragsdale would have tied for the state championship at the 3A Finals held at North Carolina A&T University May 12 and 13. His throw of 163' 11" fell just short of Roberson's Erik Raabe's 164' 1", and that point proved to be the difference in the closest state meet of all time. Ragsdale finished in fourth place with 42 points which Jacksonville and Asheville Roberson tallied 43. Asheville High School recorded 42.5 points to take third place.
Baker also took home first place in the shot put for the second consecutive year with a throw of 56' 3-1/2", and he was joined as an individual state champion by Kiara Crutchfield who won the long jump. Her leap of 17' 8" broke her own Ragsdale school record.
"I knew it was going to be close, but we didn't know that it was going to be that close," said Ragsdale's head coach Ronnie Smith. "I thought that we might finish in second. To fall all the way to fourth, with it being just that close, was tough - but our kids did a great job. This was the most successful season in the history of Ragsdale track as far as we can tell."
Despite finishing 24 points behind eventual champion Durham Hillside, the Ragsdale women actually finished ahead of their male counterparts. They recorded 50 points to Hillside's 74 to finish in second place overall, the best finish in the history of Ragsdale women's track. The finish came on the heels of the Tigers' first-ever regional title, which the men's shared in (Ragsdale was the only school to win both the men's and women's regional titles this season).
The men's team could also have tied for first place on a rule enforcement that was not to be. The 4 x 400-meter relay event, the final event of the day, was marred by Durham Hillside partially impacting High Point Central's run - which could have seen them disqualified. Had that happened, Ragsdale would have finished in seventh place as opposed to eighth. That extra point would have been enough to earn a share of the state title.
Other top-five finishes included Caitlin Thornley taking second place in the pole vault with a height of 11 feet. She held the state record with that mark for less than an hour before another competitor broke her record and claimed the state title. Kiara Crutchfield finished fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.80, Laura Brentnell finished fourth in both the mile (where she broke the school record with a time of 5:16.44 and the two-mile with a time of 11:51.87). Zack Smith took third place in the men's pole vault with a cleared height of 13'-6" while Adam Gray finished in third place in the discus with a long throw of 158'8". Gray was in second place with that distance until Baker's final throw.
"Adam Gray had a great day, he just ran into a few people who threw extremely well. He has been an important part of our team all season, as he and Baker just scored points all the time over in the throwing events. Every point counts, and I know that he and Baker pushed each other throughout the year to levels they wouldn't have gotten to alone."
Relay teams that finished in the points (the first eight slots earn team points) included: women's 4 x 200-meters (Kiara Crutchfield, Nadya Crutchfield, Jessica McCray and Tay Jackson) and men's 4 x 100-meters (Baker, Ibe Bellows, Simeon Platt and Jarvis Siler), 4 x 200-meters (Anthony Waters, Platt, Siler and Bellows), 4 x 400-meters (Mike Riland, Jarrett Johnson, Michael Gulledge and Waters), 4 x 800-meters (Cord Cowans, Gulledge, Justin Gray and Jeremy Williams).
Smith points to the effort put forth during summer and winter track as one of the primary reasons that the women's team was able to do so well. Both Crutchfields, Brentnell and Thornley participated in summer track activities. The success of both teams was also aided by the high turnout for the winter track and their successes at that level of competition.
"I think that the combination of winter and summer track activities has really helped move us up to this next level of track in the state," Smith said. "I couldn't be more proud of the time that these kids have put in and the goals that they have reached. To have both the men's and women's teams in the top five in the state is a great honor for the school and for the coaching staff."
While the men's team loses much of their scoring punch heading into next season to the college ranks, only one senior scored points for the women's team - Anna Bays, who finished in sixth place in the triple jump.
"It is going to be a challenge to compete at this level again next season on the men's side of the equation, but that is something that we will work on," Smith said. "It is hard not to be excited about what we have coming back on the women's side. It is going to be very challenging to dethrone Durham Hillside, who has one of the dominant programs in any sport in this state. They put tons of girls into summer track and track at the next level. With enough hard work, anything is possible."
