THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996                   TAG: 9605170249
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST           PAGE: 33   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   44 lines

ACES FINISH CONFERENCE PLAY UNDEFEATED

The Edenton-Holmes boys track team won its fourth Northeastern Conference championship in the last five years last week, and they did it in style.

The Aces finished the regular season at 19-0 and headed to the 2A Eastern Regional with hopes of gaining more fame.

``This is the first time I can remember doing anything like that,'' said head coach Jay Swicegood. ``We had some outstanding track teams in the '60s, but it kind of got put on the back burner.''

The Aces, who finished eighth out of 28 teams last year in the Eastern Regionals, sent 14 athletes to the meet this year, as opposed to six in 1995.

Edenton's strength has been its field events. The Aces, who won the conference meet with 122 points, scored 58 of them on field events. Edenton took first, second and fourth in the triple jump; first and second in the high jump; and first, second and fifth in the long jump.

The relay teams also came through at the conference meet. The 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relay teams all won championships.

Individually, Marlon Trafton was first in the high jump at 6-4, first in the triple jump at 44-11, took second place in the long jump, and ran a leg on the 4x200 relay team.

Frankie Anthony was first in the 100 meters, third in the 200 meters and ran legs on the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams.

Kendrick Armstead was first in the long jump, second in the triple jump, third in the 100 meters and fourth in the 200 meters.

Reggie Harrell was third in the 800 and ran a leg on the 4x400 relay. Garfield Gilliam ran a leg on the 4x100 and 4x200 relays. He was also captain of those relay teams.

``We had 27 kids on the track team, and we were able to spread a lot of kids out in a lot of events,'' Swicegood said. ``A lot of other teams didn't have a lot of runners.''

``We have good all-around athletes,'' Swicegood said. ``The key to track is finding kids to do more than one event.'' by CNB