GREENSBORO - High School track and field athletes from the Triangle, in what for many will be their last varsity meet, competed among some of the nation's elite at the Nike Outdoor Nationals on Friday.

In the girls 100-meter dash, Southeast Raleigh graduate and multiple state champion Gabby Mayo was just two-hundreths of a second slower than Chalonda Goodman of Newman, Ga., who won the finals in 11.56 seconds.

Mayo, defending champion and one of the favorites with the fastest final heat qualifying time, finished second (11.58).

Mayo said she stumbled three steps out of the starting block, but recovered in the last 50 meters to run a strong race, nearly catching Goodman running in lane two.

"I executed my race except for that stumble," Mayo said. "I'm happy. ... [Goodman] did a good job. She ran her [personal best]. I can't hate."

Southern Durham graduate Patience Coleman took second place in the high jump event, clearing 5-feet-8 3/4 inches. In her signature event, the state champion could not reach the height she has been searching for all season.

Last year Coleman was the only female jumper to clear 6-feet, yet she has not been able to pull her 6-foot-2 frame back there.

On Friday, she failed to clear 5-10.

"I'm stuck," Coleman said, who will attend North Carolina.

"I think it's a mind thing. Because I haven't done it, I think I'm stuck on 'I'm not going to be able to do it.' I have to get over that mind-set. I'll make up for it."

Wakefield rising junior Trevor Graham finished third in the boys 100-meter dash behind winner Trenton Guy from Charlotte (10.4).

"After the race, I was like 'All right I can deal with that,' " Graham said. "Third place in a national event is not what I was aiming for, but it's OK."

Today Clayton's Johnny Dutch and Southeast Raleigh's Wayne Davis Jr. will represent the Triangle in the 110-meter hurdles finals in the third and final day of the event.