BHS Boys Claim Another Title as 4x100 Relay Team Wins Class AAA State Championship
By Chris Johnson on May 20, 2023 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
The Bridgeport High School boys 4x100 team captured the team’s second state championship in as many days on Saturday at Laidley Field at the University of Charleston Stadium in Charleston.
Tanner Hathaway, Timmy Jeffress, Ty Martin and Lucas Anderson joined forces to take the Class AAA title with a time of 43.13.
It also marked the second championship in as many days for Martin and Anderson, both of whom were on the shuttle hurdle relay team that won the championship on Friday with a time of 56.61. They were joined by Cam Hess and Cale Culicerto.
More on the shuttles team and other Day 1 results HERE
“Senior year, we got to go out with a bang,” Martin said in regard to the two relay state titles.
Anderson, one of the premier sprinters in the state, ran the anchor leg for the 4x100 squad and pulled away from the field in the last 50 meters or so.
“I was just ready to go,” Anderson said. “I wanted another first place and that’s what we got.”
Hathaway, a junior, and Jeffress, a sophomore, were both thrilled to pick up a state championship as well.
“It was great for me because this was my first year of track,” Hathaway said. “It was good to have a team like this on my side, I will be sad to see them (Martin and Anderson) go next year.
Jeffress added, “I’ve been pushing to run the 4x100 since I was a freshman so I’m glad I got to do it my sophomore year with these guys.”
Anderson added a pair of runner-up finishes on Saturday in the 100 and 200, two races that as expected came down to him and Jefferson’s Keyshawn Robinson. Anderson ran a 10.83 in the 100, while Robinson won at 10.70.
The 200 was even closer as Robinson finished at 21.52 and Anderson was right on his heels at 21.68.
Jeffress and Martin teamed with Jon Bender and Alex Moses to give the Indians a seventh-place finish in the 4x200 at 1:33.40.
Hess and Culicerto both placed in the 300 hurdles with Hess running a fourth-place time of 41.68 and Culicerto finishing eighth at 42.62. Later in the day, Hess would add a sixth-place finish in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 15.88.
Jeffress, Hess and Culicerto closed out the event on the 4x400 team along with Sam Dodson and they ran a 10th place time of 3:37.87.
The Indians finished fifth overall in the boys team standings with 49 points. Huntington won with 98.50, while Jefferson was second at 87.
Also on Saturday for the BHS girls, Sallyanna Hamrick picked up a runner-up finish in the pole vault by clearing 10-06. That’s the same height the Morgantown’s Morgan Ryan cleared but she gets the state title after doing it in less attempts.
Another runner-up finish for the BHS girls went to Giana Cox in the 200 as she ran a 25.66. She also picked up an eighth-place finish in the 400 with a time of 1:00.37.
Kaitlin Pappas finished sixth in the 1,600 with a time of 5:16.76.
Gabby Reep placed sixth in the 100, crossing the finish line at 12.72.
The girls 4x200 team of Brea Holt, Eliza Perine, Lee Ann Gaskins and Reep placed eighth with a time of 1:47.78.
Hamrick, Reep and Cox were joined by Savannah Courtney on the 4x100 team that gave BHS a fourth-place finish with a time of 50.34.
In the 4x400, Holt, Alea Matthis, Abigale Stewart and Gaskins finished 12th with a time of 4:20.75.
Myleigh Smell and Abigale Stewart both competed in the Class AAA girls high jump finals but neither cleared a height in their first three attempts. Likewise in the boys pole vault, Noah Kintz competed but didn’t clear a height in his three attempts.
In the girls team standings, Bridgeport finished seventh. Jefferson and Morgantown tied for first with each school scoring 111 points.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows from left to right: Hathaway, Jeffress, Anderson and Martin after winning the 4x100. Second photo is of Anderson pulling away on the last leg of the 4x100. Third photo shows Cox awaiting one of her events and bottom photo shows Hamrick preparing for a vault attempt.
