Lindsay Lane track & field and XC coaches, Kareem Cannon (far left) and Adam Wilburn (far right), pose for a photo with their new state championship trophy for Class 1A.

The Lindsay Lane track and field team brought home the state title this past weekend, after dominating the competition in 1A, posting an overall score of 97, almost 20 points higher than the second place Winterboro, who posted a score of 78.5.

The two coaches of the team, Kareem Cannon (head of track & field) and Adam Wilburn (head of cross-country), were proud of Lindsay Lane’s efforts to bring home the title and continue their recent run of success.

“It was a lot of hard work,” Cannon said. “I see the potential of every individual that walks in the parking lot. We use what we have and we make ourselves better. I love all the sports…track has the same assignment and winning the state championship proves it.”

Henry Woodall scored 28 points in the competition for Lindsay Lane, winning the 1,600 meter, 3,200 meter races and coming in second in the 800 meter race.

Joe Quez Keith also scored 28 points, placing first in the 110 hurdles, second in the 300 hurdles and first in the 400 meter race.

Roderick Watkins scored 10 points for placing 5th in 100 meters, 4th in 200 meters and 8th in high jump.

The team picked up another 10 points in the 4×800 meter relay – consisting of Woodall, Xander Morrow, Adam Rich and Eli Ward – coming in first place.

Andrew Davis picked up nine points in for coming in 5th in the 300 hurdles and 4th in the 110 hurdles.

They picked up an additional six points for Morrow’s individual efforts, as well as six points their efforts in the 4×400 relay – consisting of Keith, Demond Cook, Grant King and Kade Kirkpatrick.

“We instill keeping God first in everything and not being defined by circumstances,” Wilburn said. “These guys and girls work their tails off every day to be the best.”

A pivotal moment in the competition was in the 4×800 relay. Ward was feeling ill, but still decided to compete, with Wilburn saying the other three stepped up their game to help Ward push through. They ended up not only getting first place, but breaking the school record by five seconds.

The team found success all season and was fueled by a mixture of senior leadership and young talent.

According to Cannon, there were multiple players who stepped up this season.

“We had amazing success all season, starting with senior leadership like Henry Woodall,” he said. “We also had other great senior leadership throughout the year from guys like Roderick Watkins. He gave us key points and motivated this team not to give up. We also had amazing freshmen like Joe Quez Keith. We had amazing runners like Andrew Davis that Coach Adam and I could go to and let him know he has to run the race of his life and he looks you in the eyes and says ‘I got you.’ Coaching such an amazing track team makes you a family, and family sticks out for each other.”

Cannon also called the state title a “great historical moment” for Lindsay Lane.