Meet director and Apex coach Roy Cooper was pleased with the athletes, the teams, the level of competition, and definitely the 80-degree sunny weather. Forty-five teams participated in the second longest-running outdoor track and field relay in the state. Only the Queens City Relays in Charlotte is older.

Several meet records were broken Saturday. The most bittersweet involved the Cary girls 3,200 meter relay, which eclipsed last year’s Bojangle’s record of 9:43.60. The team of Deanna Foshee, Erin Foshee, Jenna Christensen and Sheridan Jordan ran the 3,200 in 9:35.40 this year, but were edged by one second to a quartet of West Johnston runners (9:34.10).

Still, Cary coach Jerry Dotson was very happy with the effort his girls displayed.

“It was a very competitive race, and we knew ahead of time that the West Johnston team was going to also run very well,” said Dotson, whose team finished the meet in seventh place with 25.33 points. “I’m still very pleased, and we have run this event in 9:32 this year.”

The same Cary foursome also finished second behind West Johnston in the women’s distance medley. The Imps raced in 12:48.40, with both teams finishing under the previous meet record established last year by Pinecrest (12:50.20).

A Green Hope girls 6,400 meter relay team consisting of Lauren Colberg, Olivia Enright, Carly Roos and Jessica Rossabi outdistanced all competitors in 22:22.00.

Panther Creek was strong in the field events, as both Cassie Crawford and Chaunda Wilson captured the pole vault and shot put respectively. Crawford tied the previous meet record of 11 feet set by Cary’s Kinsey Batts in 2002, while Wilson bested the competition with a shot put throw of 33-07.50.

The Panther Creek girls finished in ninth place with 20 points. Southeast Raleigh (86) won the girls.

In the boys action Apex edged Cary for seventh place 22.16 to 20. The nationally-ranked New Bern Bears (58.16) won the event.

The Cougars 1,600 meter sprint medley relay team also edged the Imps squad by less than a second.

Josh Powell, Corey Carr, Kevin Fogg, and Matthias Montgomery finished in 3:34.20, while Cary’s Andrew Hill, Derrick Hudson, James Wilson and Bryan Wilson posted a 3:34.80. Both groups finished only five seconds behind New Bern’s relay team, which owns the national record (3:19.58) set a few weeks ago.

“We ran a school record today in the sprint medley,” said Apex coach Cooper. “Those guys are seniors, and I think that record can keep coming down before the year is over with. They’ve been doing a great job for four years and now they are bearing the fruits of their labors.”

The Cougars also ran a school record in the 400 meter relay (42.6 seconds), led by Josh and Joey Powell, Fogg and Carr.

Green Hope finished tops in the 6,400 meter relay (17:47), also a new meet record. Doug Black, Scott Hefner, Zak Roshdy and Bryan Spreitzer led the Falcons.

Phillip Barren of Athens Drive placed in two events. Barren finished the 100 meter dash in 10.8 seconds and then came in third in the long jump (21-06.25), just behind Holly Springs’ Josh McClam (21-07.25).

The Cary Academy team of David Dement, Dorian Crawford, Nick Kisley and Thomas Graham finished the distance medley (10:38) in third place.