By Erica Singleton
The Charlotte Weekly
May 22-29, 2009 Issue
After a third-place finish at this year’s Charlotte Independent Schools Athletic Association girls track and field championships, Charlotte Latin coach Larry McNulty wasn’t sure how his team would fare at the state meet.
“(The coaching staff) thought if we really had a great day, we could be in the top three,” McNulty said. “(That) would have been a great accomplishment after losing all those spectacular athletes we had last year.”
Midway through the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association 3A championships on May 16, McNulty noticed that several of his athletes were piling up points.
By the end of the day, the Hawks (100.5 points) had edged Durham Academy (96) and claimed their fourth consecutive state title.
Senior Genny Ward won the pole vault title (8 feet, 7 inches), with Katy Dumas taking third (7-6). Nnenna Okwara won both the discus (107-11) and the shot put (37-10). The 4x800-meter relay team of Haylee Dawe, Hillary Dawe, Kameron Spence and Ashley Miess earned the state title in 9 minutes, 44:20 seconds. Sophomore Farrell Murphy finished second in the 300 hurdles (49.08).
“Coaches from the other teams came up to us and said, ‘You know, we didn’t even think about you guys. We didn’t even think you guys were in the hunt. I don’t know how you did it, but congratulations.’
“We’re not sure how we did it, either, except the girls prepared well and competed like demons. Four in a row – that’s pretty special."
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