Lady Eagles, Eagles combine for five event titles

Cumberland County High School’s varsity boys indoor track and field team was limited by injury last week and was a Class 1 program facing Class 2 competition, but it overcame the obstacles to win the team title at the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Region 2B championships in Richmond.

Also taking place at the Arthur Ashe Center were the VHSL Region 2A championships where Prince Edward County High School earned regional titles in five different events, including the girls 4×200-meter and 4×400-meter relays, girls high jump, girls long jump and boys long jump.

Out of nine teams earning points, the Cumberland Dukes won Region 2B with a score of 94 points, with East Rockingham High School placing second with 83 points.

“Those guys, they did a great job, fantastic job,” Cumberland Head Coach Kenneth Jasey said of his team’s athletes. “We knew that they were capable of it.”

Dukes senior Muhammad Fulani won the boys 300-meter dash with a time of 39.97 seconds, and senior Keyshawn Diming earned first in the boys long jump with a 20-foot-6.75-inch leap.

Jasey praised the overall strength of his team, noting it received key contributions from many sources — from its long-distance runners to Fulani, Diming, junior Devon Rivera-Reed and more.

“We had a little something,” Jasey said. “It was kind of spread out pretty decently too. And the shot putters came through and scored a big runner-up position.”

Cumberland senior Jonathan Langhorne placed second in the boys shot put with a 40-foot-9.5-inch throw.

Fulani also placed second in the boys 500-meter dash with a time of one minute, 14.09 seconds. Diming placed second in the boys triple jump with a 39-foot-11-inch leap.

Jasey said that for indoor track, there is merging of Class 1 and 2 at the regional and state levels, which pits schools like Cumberland against Class 2 schools, those that have more students from which to form their teams.

Reflecting on his team’s win, Jasey said, “It just proves that if you train, and they believe in themselves, the numbers don’t matter.”

The Dukes also competed last week without senior long-distance standout Hunter Cochran, who was injured, and without members of their 4×200-meter relay team, who are also part of Cumberland’s basketball program and were prepping for the regional playoffs.

“We went in there kind of missing about 30 points,” Jasey said. “So we sat in the room and talked, and the kids realized that, ‘Hey, listen, you’ve got to pull together real tight, and some things are going to happen in the meet that you can’t control, but what you can control — control it.’ And they were able to. And so it (was) a reflection of their mindset and some of their training.”

After being represented by a trio of regional titles Feb. 13, Prince Edward became associated with two more by the end of Feb. 14 thanks to its girls 4×200 and 4×400 relay teams.

The 4×200 squad of junior Salma Muhammad, sophomore Mia Seay, sophomore Makayla Morris and junior Jordan Booker won with a time of 2:00.57. The 4×400 team of Booker, junior Nia Lee, Seay and sophomore Naomi Jones won with a time of 4:42.14.

Morris ended up earning a total of three regional titles last week. On Feb. 13, she won the girls high jump with a 5-foot leap and the girls long jump with a 16-foot-2-inch jump.

Eagles senior Jalil Robinson leapt 20 feet 6 inches to win the boys long jump.

As a team, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School scored 206 points, winning among nine Region 2A girls squads earning points. The Lady Eagles were second with 98 points.

Among the 11 Region 2A boys teams to score points, Maggie Walker won with 196, Bluestone High School was second with 57 and Prince Edward was third with 54.

“This was a good team performance for both groups,” Prince Edward Head Coach James Baker said of his boys and girls squads. “We have a few kids doing quite a few things. The surprise of the meet was Jalil Robinson winning the long jump. This was only his second competition. In fact Makayla Morris and Abdul Johnson also set personal records in the long jump. Makayla has been improving in the long jump. She did not long jump last year.”

Both Cumberland and Prince Edward will compete at the VHSL Class 2 state championships Wednesday and Thursday at Roanoke College.