Former sprinter was the considerable tale in NC(Photo on Track & Field News) Article from WNC Prep Track XC: Sunday - January 1, 2006 ASHEVILLE - Well today marks the first day of 2006, new season for indoor, outdoor track & field, and cross country. Its also a day we should look back at the top accomplishments in North Carolina. Without a doubt it was emphasize in 2005 for J-Mee Samuels, a year that included world, national and state titles. Samuels a former sprinter at Mount Tabor High in Winston-Salem is the top NC prep running highlight-reel of 2005. Samuels, now under the guidance of Arkansas legendary coach John McDonnell; ranked as the No.1 sprinter in the country in both the 100m and 200m for 2005. Samuels 100-meter time of 10.08 at the Russell East Coast Blunt Invitational, broke the 1986 national High School Record of 10.13 held by Galveston, Texas great Derrick Florence. Samuels is also was the U.S. National Junior Champion in the 100 meters, he went on to win the World title at the Pan American Junior Games in Windsor Ontario, Canada. in this event as well. Samuels also anchor the the 1st place United States 400-meter relay team. Samuels 200-meter time led the nation at 20.32, No. 5 high school all-time in outdoor and indoor. Samuels was the North Carolina Class 4-A State Champion in 2005. He was a double winner at Nike Outdoor Nationals in the 100m and 200m. In the 200m he broke the meet record by .01 (20.76). He complete the 200 meter sweep by capturing Nike Indoor-Outdoor National titles, with fastest ever on a non-banked indoor track of 21.22. Samuels was the North Carolina State Champion in the 55-meters (6.23), double wins at the Simplot games in Idaho. 60m (6.72), 200m (21.47). Samuels led DyeStat.com 2004-2005 champions table with more wins than any other athlete, Samuels had 11 wins. Track & Field News Athlete of the year. Samuels opens his first collegian competition on January 13 at the Arkansas Invitational. Although it could be debatable who had the best high school year in 2005, between Samuels and former Asheville TC Roberson baseball player Cameron Maybin. Maybin was the Major League drafts 10th choice of the first round, chosen by the Detroit Tigers on June 7, 2005. Other headlines of 2005.... Bolas 6th in Foot Locker Nationals Finals; Chapel Hill boys 12th at Nike Team Nationals - Jack Bolas lead the Chapel Hill cross country team to a 12th place finish at the Dec. 3 Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Ore., Bolas flew back to the West Coast week later for his third consecutive weekend of high-profile running. At Foot Locker Nationals, Bolas ran 15:15, more than a minute faster than his time over the same 5 kilometer (3.1-mile) course when he was 31st in this race as a junior. The race was won by A.J. Acosta (15:02) from El Camino High in Oceanside, Cal. -- Patrick ONeill, Chapel Hill News Correspondent WNC Cross country teams haul in six state championships in a year - Six cross country teams ran away with championships, including NCHSAA sweeps by the Roberson (3-A) and Hayesville (1-A) boys and girls. The Hayesville girls won for the third year in a row. Also, the Owen (NCHSAA 2-A) boys took their second consecutive cross country title. The Carolina Day (NCISAA 2-A) boys squad also bested competitors in the independent schools championship. The Rams girls earned distinction with the schools eighth cross country championship, tying Murphy for the most by an NCHSAA girls team. Underclassman sophomore sensations won individual titles, Carolina Kirby (Roberson), Elizabeth Elliot (Polk County, 2nd straight). Roberson first found success in the spring, when the boys track and field squad tied for the NCHSAA 3-A championship with Jacksonville despite using just nine athletes. --Jason McGill, Asheville Citizen-Times Mike Esposito goes to college job - Mt. Tabor NC coach Mike Esposito has accepted a position as track and cross country coach at High Point University. Esposito has coached national stars such as J-Mee Samuels, Matt Debole, Erica Montgomery, Mike Loyd and Carly Matthews, and his boys and girls 4x100 relay teams hold state records. Mt. Tabor won nine state championships since 2001 under Esposito. --George Phillips, NCPrepTrack.com Qualifying times of runners raise questions of accuracy - When Coach Jeff George of RJ Reynolds looked over the qualifying times of entrants for 2005 NCHSAA indoor track-and-field championships, he immediately saw some things that raised his eyebrows. One of the things that stood out was that some runners had hand times as their qualifying standards, even though the NCHSAA asked coaches submitting entries to use a conversion formula that puts hand-held times close to fully automatic times. "This is not about converting," George said. "I think its embarrassing for our sport when J-Mee Samuels (of Mount Tabor) - who is the fastest sprinter in the whole country - is seeded in a tie for fourth in our state meet. --Mason Linker, W-S Journal Now Contributed by David Pickett, Founder and editor of WNC Prep Track XC
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