* Shawnti Jackson clocked a state record of 22.70 at the NCHSAA 2A Championships on Saturday.
- - -
State Records Go Down At North Carolina State Championships
Some familiar faces shined in the spotlight at North Carolina A&T this weekend.
Prominent names like Shawnti Jackson, Akala Garrett and Cuthbertson took control of the show across the 1A through 4A classifications at the NCHSAA State Championships, leading the way with broken records, and multiple title wins.
Begin first with Friday's biggest highlight and one of the best performances ever seen in the 300mH event. Garrett, the 400mH World U20 champion from last summer, brought the crowd to it's feet in the 1A 300mH as she clocked a US No. 7 all-time 40.26 and a new state record en route to the win.
That mark surpassed the previous record of 40.42 set by Olympian Anna Cockrell in 2016.
And Garrett didn't just own the 300mH on Friday. The Albemarle senior and soon-to-be Texas Longhorn also won the 100mH (13.52), 200m (24.25) and helped the team's 4x400m squad to a victory to close out the competition.
Saturday's action at the 2A and 4A levels saw even more national-caliber speed on display.
South Granville senior and Arkansas signee Jackson completed the sprint trifecta at the 2A championships, winning the 100m (11.33), 200m (22.70) and 400m (53.02). All efforts were wind-legal for the day.
Perhaps most impressive was Jackson's 200m effort, which broke Gabrielle Mayo's 22.88 state record held for over a decade and moves her up to US No. 2 this season.
But shifting gears to the distance events, one of the nation's deepest squads contributed huge points to a rounded team effort in the 4A girls competition.
Cuthbertson came away with titles in almost every distance event, winning the 4x800m in 9:01.84 and grabbing titles in the 800m and 1,600m thanks to Charlotte Bell's first-place efforts of 2:08.89 and 4:43.27.
Stella Kermes also added important team points with sensational performances of her own, earning runner-up in the 1,600m in 4:49.06 and third in the 800m in 2:10.44.
In total, 40 of Cuthbertson's 75 team points came from the distance events to help the program to a sweep of the outdoor, indoor and cross country 4A girls titles during the 2022-23 school year.
For more coverage from the NCHSAA State Championships, check out our content on NCRunners.
Page 6: South Carolina Sprint Stars Take Home State Titles
Page 7: Riggs, Morgantown Girls Cruise At West Virginia State Championships