COLUMBIA — The Blythewood High School track and field team dominated the mid-April circuit, following up a strong showing in North Carolina with a sweeping performance at the Richland Northeast home meet Wednesday.
The Bengals’ recent stretch was highlighted by a standout performance from Olivia Taylor, who claimed three individual titles at the RNE meet. Taylor swept the sprinting events, taking first place in the 100-meter dash (11.90 seconds), the 200-meter dash (24.01) and the 400-meter dash (53.26).
Blythewood’s girls’ team nearly swept the top spots in the 400-meter at Richland Northeast, with Peyton Hightower, Hayley Hightower, Cailyn Dawson and Madison Ross finishing second through fifth behind Taylor.
In the hurdles, Brooke Bramlett continued her winning streak. After taking first place at the Need 4 Speed meet in Charlotte on April 18 with a time of 14.41 seconds, she improved her mark to 14.09 seconds to win at Richland Northeast.
The Bengals’ field athletes were equally dominant on Wednesday. Alexis Jones secured two first-place finishes in the high jump (1.67 meters) and long jump (5.25 meters), while Romell Garway took the top spot in the triple jump (11.37 meters). In the throwing events, Sophie Unangst won the discus with a 28.45-meter toss, and James Veasey took first in the boys’ javelin (35.66 meters).
The boys’ team also saw strong results from Larry Davis and Solomon Cobbs. Davis took first in the 400-meter dash at RNE (48.20 seconds) after a third-place finish in Charlotte. Cobbs claimed the 200-meter title on Wednesday with a time of 21.69 seconds and finished second in the 400-meter.
Other winners at the RNE meet included:
- Randy Peters: Second place, 100-meter dash (10.97)
- Elijah Major: First place, high jump (1.88 meters)
- Ean Wright: First place, long jump (6.24 meters)
- Dillon Hutcherson: First place, discus (42.27 meters)
- Girls 4×100 Relay: First place (46.80 seconds)
- Boys 4×100 Relay: First place (42.05 seconds)
Blythewood’s distance runners also tested themselves against elite regional competition at the ASICS Carolina Distance Carnival in Matthews, North Carolina, on April 17. Hayley Hightower placed 16th out of 316 runners in the girls’ 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.94. In the boys’ 3200-meter run, Jacob Powell finished 68th in a massive field of 210, clocking in at 9:27.66, while Anthony Knight finished in 9:48.91.
The Bengals look to carry this momentum into the final weeks of the regular season as they prepare for region and state qualifiers.