Stuart Vaughn
Staff Writer

Chandler Welsh

Chandler Welsh is a senior at R.J. Reynolds High School who is a talented runner in girls’ cross country, track and field, and indoor track. She has been a top runner for RJR in all of her four years. This year at NCHSAA 4A Indoor Track States Welsh had an outstanding performance, finishing in third place in the 3200-meter event.

“My opponents ran super well,” Welsh said. “The runners who placed second and first were insanely talented as well as the runners who placed fourth and fifth.”

This year, states for indoor track were very competitive with multiple runners committed to running next year at division-one schools. Despite this, Welsh pulled through and achieved her personal goal of placing in the top three in her race.

“Lots of girls in my class of 2024 are committed to run at a division one level next year,” Welsh said. “Lots of my teammates came to support me at states, which was also encouraging for me to do my best.”

This year, states had a very supportive and competitive environment, pushing all of the runners to do their best and set a new personal record to round up their season.

Andrew York

Andrew York is a senior and four-year runner for R.J. Reynolds High School. Both him and his sister, Adrian are year-round runners and have trained almost daily for the past four years. This year, York had another chance to run in NCHSAA 4A Indoor Track States, the hardest league in the state.

“I was sick the week before so my expectations on my performance weren’t crazy high,” York said.

Despite being sick and still not 100% healthy, York still gave his all at states. This year, the long-distance events in North Carolina were some of the most competitive and hardest regions in the country.

“4A competition, especially in distance running, is very strong so it takes fast times to get into states and even faster times to get a high placement,” York said.

With all of the competition and coming off of being sick York ran well under the circumstances but still placed four spots away from his goal. Although he didn’t reach his goal it was impressive to be able to compete with top-tier runners while coming off being sick.

Filip Helmus

Filip Helmus is a senior at R.J. Reynolds High School, who competed in the high jump and long jump throughout the season. He has also played basketball for RJR throughout his time as a high schooler, applying his athletic ability to the field portion of indoor track. Despite this being his first year doing track, Helmus competed in the high jump at NCHSAA 4A Indoor Track States, with his brother Jakub Helmus.

“The rest of the team did pretty well,” F. Helmus said. “We had a few podium finishers and I placed seventh.”

Overall RJR did well in states this year, with Chandler Welsh placing third in her event and Xavier Ratliff placing 4th in the hurdles. Helmus overperformed past his goal and finished second in the high jump, exceeding his expectations.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect at states because this was my first year doing track,” F. Helmus said. “I had a lot of fun and it was really exciting.”

For this being his first year running track Helmus was outstanding in the high jump. In his first three years at RJR, he played basketball, getting minutes on varsity toward the back end. Helmus had outstanding athleticism in the paint, being able to dunk. This helped him with experimenting with indoor track’s high jump this season.

“My opponents did pretty well and I was glad to see my teammates and friends perform to the best of their ability,” Helmus said.

Overall the competition at states this year was very strong, especially considering RJR was competing in the 4A states. Everybody gave it their all to show their best performance and wrap up the season on a good note.

Cedar Nicholas-Barnhart

Cedar Nicholas-Barnhart is an outstanding runner for R.J. Reynolds High School. He has run for RJR for three years and has been a top-five runner every year for cross country. During his freshman year, he earned the new balance bag, which is awarded to every runner who made it to states. This year, he is a junior and his talent hasn’t faded at all, qualifying for nationals all three years in a row.

“The team performed great at states,” Nicholas-Barnhart said, “I didn’t live up to my expectations but I was still pretty settled with my performance,”.

Nicholas-Barnhart ran a 9:39 in the 3200-meter event averaging a 4:49 mile. Despite this impressive time, the insanely talented competition at states this year made his time blend in with the rest of the pack.

“The races were very competitive,” Nicholas-Barnhart said. “There were 19 of the best long-distance runners in North Carolina competing with me.”

Despite Nationals being the true final race, North Carolina is arguably the most competitive state in long-distance track. North Carolina 4A states for indoor track are harder to qualify for than nationals. This is because nationals are harder to travel to, so some of the top runners (many of them located in NC) don’t think that nationals are worth running in. Nicholas-Barnhart was competing in one of the hardest high school indoor track races in the nation.

“Although I didn’t live up to my expectations, I’m excited to see what I can do next year,” Nicholas-Barnhart said.

Jakub Helmus

Jakub Helmus is a junior and competes in the high jump for R.J. Reynolds High School. This is his second year doing indoor track following his sophomore year where he did the long jump. Helmus didn’t perform well in the long jump event, but this year he found his niche with the high jump. After the switch of events, he improved throughout the season, qualifying for states.

“The competition was insane,” Helmus said. “Especially considering this was my first year doing the high jump and my first year qualifying for states.”

For Helmus’s first year at states, the environment was very competitive. All of the most athletic high jumpers in the state including his brother, Filip Helmus, were out there to give it their all. Despite this Jakub Helmus went out there and gave it his all.

“This was my first time competing in states so going into this I was a little nervous,” Helmus said. “But I gave it my all and exceeded my expectations by a good bit.”

Helmus ended up placing seventh with a five-foot ten-inch high jump, which was only two inches from his personal record. This was very impressive considering this was his first year at states and first year doing the high jump in general. The entire team is excited to see what he turns into this coming year.

“This was a very exciting experience for me,” Helmus said. “I’m just super excited to see what I can do next year.”