This year marks the 100-year anniversary that Bridgeport High School placed at the state track and field meet.

 

The Indians are poised to celebrate that anniversary in a big way at the two-day state meet that will once again take place at Laidley Field at the University of Charleston Stadium on Friday and Saturday in Charleston.

 

BHS will have at least one competitor in 25 of the combined 36 events in the Class AAA field (18 for girls, 18 for boys) including one relay team, the boys shuttles, that is the pre-meet favorite to win a state title.

 

The shuttles team of Lucas Anderson, Ty Martin, Cam Hess and Cale Culicerto has been on a roll as of late, dating back to the Tudor’s Biscuit World Charleston Relays (also at Laidley Field) where they took first place with a time of 57.24 that not only set a school record but is the best time in the state this year.

 

They followed with convincing wins at the Big 10 Conference meet and the Class AAA Region I meet and will be the top seed in one of only three running events that will have finals on Friday. The AAA boys shuttles are tentatively scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

 

The state meet as a whole will start at 2 p.m. with the first of three sessions of field events as well as the 4x800 relay.

 

After two years of breaking the state meet up by different classes on different days (a move heavily influenced by COVID protocol) this year’s meet is back to the traditional format of all three classes competing over the same time frame Friday and Saturday. Field events rotate between classes while each running event will go in this order – Class A girls, Class AA girls, Class AAA girls, Class A Boys, Class AA boys, Class AAA boys.

 

“This is the first time anybody on our team has been to a state meet with the normal format,” BHS girls coach Ali Burton said. “That is exciting in its own right.”

 

The girls 4x800 team of Brea Holt, Alea Matthis, Presley Veltri and Kaitlin Pappas enters the state meet with the state’s 10^th best time at 10:23.26. The boys team of Troy Zorick, Quentin Collier, Ethan Smell and Sam Dodson will also take part in the 4x800 after coming in fifth in the regional with an at-large time of 8:42.74.

 

In the final running event of Day 1, Pappas will bring the state’s third best two-mile time of 10:59.60 in the 3,200 field. Pappas has also had a strong finish to the season as she has recently set new school records in the 3,200 and 1,600, which she will compete in on Saturday with the state’s seventh best time at 5:11.42.

 

On the boys side, Zorick will compete in the 3,200 finals after posting a time of 9:48.88 at the regionals that earned him an at-large spot for states.

 

In Friday field events, Oliva Goldizen will be part of the AAA girls discus field. She’s coming off a regional throw of 102-04.

 

Also, Martin will compete in the AAA boys high jump and Gabby Reep will be part of the AAA girls long jump.

 

Martin has the state’s third best height at 6-04, while Reep has the state’s eighth-best jump at 16-11.

 

The Indians are also expected to have a strong presence in Friday’s qualifying trials for the 100, 200 and 100/110 hurdles – the finals for those events will take place on Saturday.

 

Anderson will be heavily favored to qualify for both the 100 and 200 finals. He has set the new school record in both sprints and has the state’s second-best 100 time at 10.68 and best 200 time at 21.37.

 

Both of those races are shaping up to be a showdown between Anderson and Jefferson’s Keyshawn Robinson who is just ahead of Anderson in the 100 at 10.65 and just behind in the 200 at 21.41.

 

For the girls, Giana Cox will be in both the 100 and 200 trials. She has the state’s eighth-best 100 time at 12.60 and the state’s fourth-best 200 time at 25.69.

 

Reep will also compete in the 100 finals following her third-place time of 12.94 at the regional meet.

 

In the 110 hurdles, Hess enters the trials with the state’s seventh-best time at 15.78.

 

Saturday’s action will get started with three BHS athletes, Abigale Stewart, Myleigh Smell and Noah Kintz, competing in field events at 9 a.m.

 

Stewart has the state’s second-best height in the high jump at 5-02, while Smell finished right behind Stewart at regionals by clearing 5-00. Kintz will take part in the pole vault, coming off a regional height of 10-00.

 

The first running event on Day 2 will be the 400 finals and Cox will be in the AAA girls field. She enters with the state’s sixth-best time at 59.44.

 

Hess and Culicerto will both be part of the boys AAA 300 hurdles field. Hess has the state’s second-best time at 41.60 and Culicerto has the state’s eighth-best time at 41.97.

 

The final BHS competitor in a field event will be Sallyanna Hamrick in the pole vault. She cleared 10-06 at the regional which is the state’s second-best height.

 

BHS will be represented in both the girls and boys 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relays.

 

Timmy Jeffress, Tanner Hathaway, Martin and Anderson have the state’s third-best time of 43.15. Their odds for winning a state title where helped when Jefferson (owner of the top time at 42.04) were disqualified at the Region II meet for a dropped baton. Huntington has the state’s second-best time at 42.95.

 

The BHS girls 4x100 team of Reep, Hamrick, Savannah Courtney and Cox head to the state meet with the state’s eight-best time at 50.69.

 

In the 4x200, the boys unit of Jon Bender, Alex Moses, Jeffress and Martin have the state’s seventh-best time at 1:32.32 and the girls team of Brea Holt, Eliza Perine, Lee Ann Gaskins and Reep have the state’s fourth-best time at 1:47.02.

 

For the 4x400, the BHS team of Jeffress, Dodson, Moses and Culicerto have the state’s 10th-best time at 3:36.52. Holt, Matthis, Stewart and Gaskins will compete in the girls 4x400 finals and are coming off a time of 4:16.81 at the regional.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Culicerto, middle photo is of Pappas and bottom photo features Hess.