Triangle high school track and field enthusiasts were left awestruck after Saturday's N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A state championship meet on N.C. A&T's track in Greensboro.

Even Roy Cooper of Apex, who has seen a track meet or two in 22 years of coaching, said he was floored by the accomplishments of athletes from Wake and Orange counties, Durham and New Bern.

There were 20 first-place medalists among area boys and girls participants. There were also 19 second-place medalists and 19 third-place medalists.

Southeast Raleigh won the girls championship with a whopping 136 points, and New Bern edged Charlotte Vance for the boys title.

There were off-the-charts, state record-breaking performances by Southeast's Gabby Mayo, Clayton's Johnny Dutch and Chapel Hill's Jack Bolas, as well as noteworthy efforts by Sanderson's runner-up 4x400 girls relay team.

Of the 10 state records that were broken, five were rewritten by athletes from the area.

The athletes were expected to excel, but not like this.

Among the top 10 girls teams, six were from the Triangle, including four teams from the Tri-Seven Conference. Five Triangle boys teams and New Bern were in the top 10.

"It's just impressive," Cooper said. "The number of people who excelled stood out."

There was no greater example of the Triangle's dominating presence meet than when area athletes finished first, second, third and fourth. It happened in the girls 1,600 meters.

Athens Drive's Callan Fike finished in 5:06.15 and defeated Apex's Andie Cozzarelli (5:10.69), Green Hope's Brittany Johnson (5:11.70) and Durham Jordan's Michelle Lutz (5:12.38).

They were the top four qualifiers out of the Mideast Regional meet.

"We have a hard regional," Cozzarelli said."It makes everyone who didn't qualify [for states] look good, too."

Cozzarelli came back later in the day and won the 3,200 meters in 11:01.35, outlasting Johnson (11:03.97) and Chapel Hill's Becky Johnson (11:18.99). Cozzarelli set a personal-best time that was 10 seconds faster than her previous best, set in the regional.

Then there was Southeast's masterful team effort. The Bulldogs became the first team from Raleigh to win a girls track and field title and the first from the Triangle since Northern Durham in 1983 to win the state 4-A title.

The Bulldogs also won the 2006 indoor state championship.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs displayed their diverse talents, distancing themselves from runner-up Charlotte Harding (107) and third-place Apex (37).

"Everyone played their part," Southeast senior Jasmine Burch said. "We put a lot of effort into what we do, nothing less. We wanted to prove that we were good."

Mayo won the 100 and 200 meters and 100 and 300 hurdles events and collected 40 points for the Bulldogs. Junior Ebonie Cunningham repeated as the 400-meter champion. High jumper Danielle Brown finished second.

"That's just the beauty of track," Southeast coach Eddie Harden said, "when you have all types of athletes put it together."

Broughton's Sandy Roberts became a three-time champion in the boys 3,200-meter race, although his 9:08.65 performance was slightly overshadowed by the fact he didn't set a state record. Roberts clearly was making a run at the record (9:08.24) but fell just short.

His near-miss took nothing away from a legendary high school career.

"It wasn't meant to be," he said.

Still, it was exhilarating watching him and all the other area athletes represent the area with stellar, "all-you-got" performances.

Well done.