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School Sports
Southern Nash's Langley defends NCHSAA 3-A high jump title By Michael Lindsay | Daily Times Staff Writer It wasn't easy, but Southern Nash senior high jumper Laura Langley did it again. Langley gutted through the pain of ankle injury and the high expectations of defending last year's high jump title to capture her second straight state title during Friday's N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A Track & Field State Championship Meet at Irwin Belk Track on the campus of N.C. A&T State University. "It feels great -- defending state champion," Langley said with a big grin, after completing her title-winning jump of 5 feet, 4 inches. But as pain radiated from her shins down through her ankle, she was worried about how long she might be able to last. "I knew it wasn't good," said Langley, who competed in the triple jump but didn't reach the finals and scratched out of the pole vault to concentrate on the high jump. "So I was like, 'I hope she misses this because if she misses it I win.' She missed it and I won, so I was like, 'Yeah.'" Langley, who has signed to compete for Western Carolina University, reached the final four with Reagan's Kaitlyn Pierce, Ragsdale's Amy Wenner and Nash Central's Jasmine Williams, who all cleared 5-2 to reach the final round. Langley proudly admitted to helping Williams with some pointers during the NEW 6 Conference season, but once Williams began pulling out wins, including the conference championship and last Saturday's regional, Langley had to take it up another notch. With the bar set to 5-4, none of the girls cleared it on the first try, which gave Langley one more chance at the title. "I was thinking, 'This is going to be my last time jumping, let's make it count,'" she said. When she cleared it, and when nobody else followed suite, the title was again hers. But with her late season injury plaguing her throughout the postseason, there were concerns that she'd be able to reach that moment. But still Langley didn't lose confidence, nor did her coach. "I wasn't worried," Joyner said. "I knew Laura would do whatever she could do to try to defend her title. That was her focus today. Even though her ankle was a bit iffy, I knew she was going to do the best she could." But her biggest challenge might not have even been physical. After last years championship-winning jump of 5-8 and thoughts of eventually 6-0, the expectations were a heavy burden this year. "Everybody was like, 'You won it last year, so you have to win it this year. You have to defend your title,'" Langley said. "It was a lot of stress on me, but I practice hard on it." But now that she reached her goal of another state title, "The world has lifted off my shoulders," Langley said, laughing. mlindsay@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807
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