During the course of the championship race, Slatter did her best to adjust to running 800 meters inside (like she did at UNC Chapel Hill in the indoor finals in February) and running 800 meters outside (at an Olympic-quality track like the Irwin Belk Track at N.C. A&T) but those are two entirely different things.

“It was really different with the stagger start and adjusting to that was really weird,” Slatter said. “And I’m not sure why you can run faster in the 4x8 [relay] than you can in the open 8.”

Still, the West Johnston junior managed to adjust better than anyone else, edging Charlotte Myers Park sophomore Becca Deloache at the line to win her second NCHSAA state championship.

Slatter was one of seven Johnston County athletes to bring home medals from the 4-A state finals. Clayton thrower Kyle Barbour finished second in the discus, as did West’s Dakota Peachee in the boys 3200. The Comets’ Melody McGee picked up the bronze in the 300 hurdles.

Slatter finished in 2:17.83 to Deloache’s 2:17.9 to take the 800 title.

“It was a battle the entire time,” Slatter said. “It was just back and forth; I expected it to be that way.

“In the 4x8 [relay] we both ran about 2:15, so I knew it would be between me and her.”

Adjusting to the long turns at the Belk Track also forced Slatter to adjust her strategy during the race.

“It’s tough to tell when you need to sprint on a track like this,” Slatter said. “The way the turns are makes it look a whole lot shorter than it actually is.”

West Johnston coach Patrick Shaw said Slatter’s determination to finish the race strong made the difference.

“The only thing I told her before the 800 was to have confidence in herself and make sure she picks out a spot about five meters past the line and treat that as her finish line, because I felt like it would be really close,” Shaw said.

“It was really fitting that she won the race [800] in the last meter because of the way she finished and ran through the line. She ran a intelligent race and showed a great deal of maturity in her ability to race.”

The past few months have seen Slatter go from a decent sprinter to one of the top middle-distance runners in the Southeast.

“I was surprised to do so well in the 800 at indoors since it was my first season running long distances,” Slatter said. “I was a sprinter before this season. But having won states indoor, it changed my outlook for the outdoor season.”

Slatter also ran on West Johnston’s fourth place 4x800 relay team with Lilly Beamon, Ashley Matthews and Kelly Montague.

The group took nine seconds off of their previous school record finishing in 9:40.18.

“Maraya ran a great leg in the 4x800 [2:16.1], moved us from 5th up to third up until the last meter,” Shaw said. “But one teams that she passed came back and outleaned her at line and we got fourth.”

Peachee, like Slatter took gold at the indoor championships earlier this season, and waged one of the best battles of the day with Chapel Hill’s Taylor Gilland for the outdoor crown on Saturday.

The two ran side-by-side for the seventh of eight laps with Peachee grabbing a slight lead on the backstretch.

“I knew that Dakota really wanted that race, and he certainly gave it all he had and truly ran his heart out,” Shaw said. “From a coaching standpoint, I wish he would of ran a bit differently, but he wanted to run fast.

“Unfortunately, these types of races are many times strategic. You have to give alot of credit to Taylor. He ran intelligently and showed why he has won mutiple state titles.”

Gilland, the state individual cross country champion, went to the outside, around Peachee and took the lead in the middle of the turn with about 2600 meters behind them.

“Dakota ran a heck of a race. I expected it to be very close,” Gilland said. “I knew I had to be patient and I talked strategy with coach [Ron] Olsen and we decided that I should make my move with 600 meters to go and try to get away from him.”

Half a lap after making his big move, Gilland turned as he crossed the start-finish line, taking the bell lap, and was surprised to see Peachee still tight on his heels.

“I worked hard to get away but he fought really hard and stayed right with me,” Gilland said. “At that point, it’s just all mental but he wouldn’t give up.”

Peachee stayed stride-for-stride a step behind Gilland until Gilland finally pulled a couple of more steps away coming out of the final turn.

“I thought I was going to be able to break him,” Gilland said. “But there was no break in him. He fought me until the end. It was an amazing race.”

Gilland finished in 9:28.14, while Peachee ran 9:29.01.

“I know this will really motivate him for next year and the near future,” Shaw said. “He wants to be in that position again and he wants to win, and he will push himself to get better and he will work harder. I know he gained a great deal of experience that will benefit him enormously in future.”

Barbour’s effort in the discus came despite a bad first round of throws. Seeded 10th in both the discus and shot competitions, the Clayton junior wasn’t expected to be much of a factor in the medal count, but he quickly became one.

“I just had a bad first heat,” Barbour said. “I just tried to write it off and give it to God. I was able to go out on the second time and put up a great throw to start.

“I think it threw some people off and I just relaxed after that throw.”

Barbour’s throw of 145 feet, six inches shot him up the standings. His previous best in competition this year was 139 feet.

“I came in just trying to do the best I could,” Barbour said. “There were some guys here with some pretty impressive numbers, some 150s, so I just concentrated on seeing where my best effort today would end up.”

He finished 14th in the shot competition.

McGee came up with two big efforts of her own en route to her third place finish in the girls 300-meter hurdles. In the prelims, she finished second in her heat with a season’s best time of 45.71 seconds.

“I just came out and gave it everything I had,” she said. “I knew there’d be good competition.” She came back with another solid run of 46.06 in the finals.

“During the season I had run 47, so when I was able to get in the 45s in the prelims, I felt good,” McGee said.

“I was coming to get the championship. I’m happy to finish where I did, but winning is always what you shoot for.”

Clayton’s Tori Rivers, the state indoor pole vault champion, finished sixth in the outdoor meet. Rivers was one of five competitors who were unable to clear 11 feet in three attempts. She placed sixth with her clearance of 10-6, based on total number of misses.

Freshmen Emily and Catie Simmons both matched their qualifying marks, clearing nine feet at the state meet. Emily was 13th in the state, while Catie took 14th.

In the boys vault competition, Clayton juniors Trevor Shattuck and Shane Swick both placed in the top-11. Shattuck cleared 13-6 to take seventh, while Swick finished 11th at 12 feet even.

West’s Montague and Matthews also ran in the 1600 individual race; Montague finished 13th, while Matthews ran 15th.

Clayton’s boys 4x8 relay team finished 13th. Ryan Rudisill, Jeremy Shapiro, Hunter Crocker and Jeff Hemric ran for the Comets.

Smithfield-Selma junior Alonna Wilkes finished 14th in the discus, with a throw of 84-11.