First Flight shines at State Track and Field 3A Championships

By Submitted Story on May 21, 2023

First Flight's Tatum Dermatas, left, and Morgan Miller in the girls 3200-meter run. (Photo courtesy of Dan Loughlin)

Tatum Dermatas finished first in the Girls 3200 meter run. Dermatas' winning time of 10:59.01 is the fastest in the state this year, and a new First Flight school record. Miller was right behind her in 11:03.85. (Photo courtesy of Dan Loughlin)

First Flight girls 4 x 800-meter relay team, left to right: Tatum Dermatas, Morgan Miller, Moira Furr and Lucy Stecher. (Photo courtesy of Daniel Murray)

Liam Minnich carries the baton in the First Flight 4 x 800-meter relay. (Photo courtesy of Dan Loughlin)

 

The First Flight High School Track and Field teams had very strong showings at the State 3A Championships held on May 19 in Greensboro. The Nighthawks returned with an Individual State Champion, and Individual Runner-Up, a silver-medal winning relay team, two-school records and a number of personal bests.

In the girls 3200-meter run, Tatum Dermatas and Morgan Miller battled cross-country state champion Macy Parks and number one seed Bella Wood from North Lincoln for eight laps and closed a seven second gap over the last mile. Dermatas’ winning time of 10:59.01 is the fastest in the state this year, and a new First Flight school record. Miller was right behind her in 11:03.85.

First Flight’s girls 4 x 800-meter relay team of Lucy Stecher, Miller, Moira Furr, and Dermatas took on number one seed North Buncombe. The team obliterated First Flight’s 4 x 800-meter relay record by 19 seconds and finished as runner-up 9:32.36 to 9:33.66. And after running a 2:21 personal best on her relay split, Furr came back in the individual 800-meter run and took ninth in 2:24.98.

On the strength of these five athletes in merely three events, First Flight’s girls squad finished seventh out of 53 teams from across the state.

On the boys side, the First Flight 4 x 800-meter relay squad of Judah LaCroix, Chase Matis, Liam Minnich, and Jackson Hannon came in seeded 15th. Their goal was to outstrip their seeding and place in the top 12 teams, and they achieved it. All of them ran personal bests or near-bests, and logged their best performance of the season, at 8:38.30.

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