Furr sprints to 100, 200 victories

GREENSBORO

Bigger, more determined and just as fast, Hunter Furr of Mount Tabor did what he set out to in yesterday's NCHSAA Class 4-A track-and-field championships at N.C. A&T.

Furr, sporting an additional 15 pounds of muscle gained since the end of football season, got his mass moving in the right direction. He won the 100- and 200-meter sprints and anchored a 4x100 team that also won a state championship on the way to winning the MVP award.

Aaron Zakula of East Forsyth and Desmeion Kennedy of High Point Central also won state titles yesterday, with Zakula winning the pole vault and Kennedy winning the triple jump with a distance of 47-2½.

Furr, who won the 100 and 200 at the NCISAA's Class 3-A championships as a freshman and sophomore at Forsyth Country Day, ran his first NCHSAA state meet last season; he false-started in the 100 and finished second in the 200.

But there was no disappointment yesterday. Furr won the 100 in 10.65 seconds and the 200 in 21.37 seconds, and he teamed with Kaleb Johnson, Eric Plummer and Dwane Stokes for a winning time of 41.33 seconds in the 4x100.

"I just tried to cool down and stay relaxed, and my coaches and have been helping me work on my form and my start and my start really helped me today," Furr said. "Getting out quick was the thing because my closing speed, my top-end speed is as good as anyone in the country. The past three or four weekends I have been getting out quick because I have worked on it.

"If I was really going to focus on track I would be about 180 pounds and just focus on being light and quick and not be so top-heavy, but football is my first love and I have to keep (the weight) on for that."

Furr, who has signed a football scholarship with North Carolina, didn't close the door on running track in college.

"The coaches have been e-mailing me and calling me, but if I get up to 235, my thing is how fast am I going to be able to run the 200 meters?"

East Forsyth's Zakula and Stephen Hodapp of Charlotte Butler dueled in the pole vault and spent most of their resting time talking with each other, each wearing one purple sock and one gold sock.

It turns out that Zakula and Hodapp will be college roommates and teammates at East Carolina this fall, and yesterday, it was Zakula who paid his future roommate back.

Zakula was able to clear the bar at 15-feet, 6½-inches in fewer attempts than Hodapp, and therefore walked away with the state championship. Hodapp beat Zakula for the indoor state championship in February.

"He was wearing purple socks and my mom went to Dick's (Sporting Goods) and brought the yellow ones and we swapped, one of each," Zakula said. "And the good thing, he got indoor and I got outdoor."

Lamont Jackson, a senior from Reynolds, didn't win yesterday but he was impressive in finishing second in the 110 hurdles and the 300 hurdles. He ran the 110 hurdles in 14.10 seconds, and the 300 hurdles in 37.04 seconds.

Jackson expressed disappointment in his time in the 300 hurdles.

"I tried to get out early," Jackson said. "I was supposed to win that but I just had the wrong day. I was trying to get at least 36 (seconds) today, I mean it was a rough day starting out.

"I didn't get out at all. I started running too hard too late and (Ben Major of Fayetteville Smith) was already out in front of me. Ten more meters and I may have gotten him."

Mount Tabor might have won the team title, but those chances became bleak when Jared Neely tumbled and suffered a possible broken bone in his hand during the first lap of the 1,600 meters. Neely had his hand splinted and returned to run the 3,200 meters (he finished third in 9:23.35) but the points he didn't score in the 1,600 were costly.

"They were out very fast and Jared said he felt great," Coach Patrick Cromwell of Mount Tabor said. "He just clipped somebody. I think he would have been in the mix there but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. That was just bad luck. I think he would have been in the mix for that.

"That might have cost us the championship, and it was just bad luck."

After Neely's finish in the 3,200 gave the Spartans an additional six points, they held a 40-36 lead against New Bern heading into the last race, the 4x400 relay. New Bern won the relay for 10 points and the team title.

Other area athletes with top-four finishes were: Connor Brooks of Northwest Guilford (second, 400); Margaret Leak of Mount Tabor (third, 1600); Andrea Beck (Mount Tabor, third, high jump); and Ashley Wyatt (West Forsyth, fourth, pole vault).

■ Mason Linker can be reached at 727-7324 or at mlinker@wsjournal.com.