How does someone quantify what Sage Proffitt meant to the North Buncombe track program?
Easy.
Black Hawks coach Dean Duncan said the University of Georgia recruit was part of more school records in high school (11) than he can count on two hands.
But records or no records, Duncan believes that Proffitt's contributions will still be felt for years to come.
"When someone like that comes through, it's such a rarity," Duncan said.
"Sage was so talented and worked so hard. It really inspired a lot of the girls around her. It inspired the whole program and the community. Now we know that we can win state championships here at North Buncombe. And I think it's opened the door for us to become an even better athletic program in general."
Proffitt has been named the Citizen-Times All-WNC Girls Track Athlete of the Year on the heels of a career in which she won seven state championships. Asheville High rising senior Kris Lordman is the winner of the WNC boys award.
Proffitt did plenty as an individual.
Then for an encore, she and the North Buncombe girls became the first sports team in school history to win a NCHSAA title on May 18 in Greensboro. Proffitt was named the 3-A state meet's most valuable performer.
Proffitt won the pole vault at the 3-A state meet and cleared a Western North Carolina-record height of 12 feet, 6 inches in her best event.
That would have been enough for some athletes, but Proffitt showed her versatility by finishing her final season of high school track with WNC's top performances in the 400-meter dash (58.58 seconds) and 800-meter run (2:20.12). Proffitt also ran the area's second-fastest 100-meter dash time (12.51) and the third-fastest 200-meter dash time (25.64).
An untimely hamstring injury kept Lordman from winning a state championship at last month's 3-A state meet.
But up to that point, he dominated sprinting in WNC.
Lordman ran the area's top times in the 100-meter dash (10.68), 200-meter dash (21.85) and 400-meter dash (48.94).
Longtime Cougars coach Chris Stroup believes the best is yet to come from Lordman, who was the Mountain Athletic Conference meet's most valuable performer in track events.
Lordman became a first-time state champion at February's NCHSAA 1-A/2-A/3-A indoor track meet by speeding to a first-place finish in the 500-meter dash (1:07.36).
"He was pretty spectacular in whatever we put him in," Stroup said.
"I don't think Kris really knew his full potential until this season. He's got one more year to do even better and we're all looking forward to it."
