Bridgeport didn’t walk away with a win on either side of Saturday’s Harry Green Invitational, but that doesn’t meant either coach was dismayed with what transpired. Instead, girls Coach Emilee Stout was pleased with her team’s second place finish and boys Coach Jon Griffith wasn’t upset with the fourth place showing by his squad.

 

The girls finished with 118.5 points, which was behind the 138 points of Winfield. The Generals and BHS are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the state.

 

Bridgeport ended the day with 57 points on the boys’ side of the ledger. Northwest High out of Maryland won the meet with 108 points, while Winfield was second with 79. Reservoir, also out of Maryland, was third with 61 points.

 

For Stout and the Indian girls – the defending Class AA champions – they know they have their work cut out in order to repeat. And Stout knows it is likely Winfield standing in their way.

 

“We keep looking at all of our options when facing Winfield. We're still moving some girls around and trying to figure it all out. It will come, and hopefully right when we need it most,” said Stout. “Our girls did a nice job on Saturday. Weather aside, we had several with personal bests, and that's what I asked of them for this meet.”

 

BHS got something it’s come to expect at every meet – high point honors by senior McKenna Smith. Smith won the 100 (12.09 seconds), 200 (25.44 seconds) and 400 meter (56.85 seconds) dashes in the event.

 

The Indians also saw something they haven’t seen since 2015. And that was Smith actually not finishing first in an event.

 

Smith finished runner-up in the 300 meter hurdles. She was edged by Northwest junior Editta Pessima who posted a time of 44.18 seconds to 44.57 seconds.

 

“I told McKenna beforehand that there were a few girls from Northwest that would push her, and they did. McKenna ran her best time this year in the 300s, but her competitor ran just a little better. It was a fun race to watch, down to the last hurdle,” said Stout. “I'm happy for McKenna to run as well as she did.”

 

For those concerned that Smith is slipping, they shouldn’t. Her time of 44.57 seconds is still the best time this year by a West Virginia athlete.

 

Bridgeport’s only other win came in the 4x400 relay. The team of Kirstin George, Catie Wilson, McKenna Eddy, and Kristen Crowder finished with a time of 4 minutes, 16.31 seconds.

 

“The 4x4 relay was fun to watch,” said Stout. “Our girls ran extremely well against a couple other great teams.”

Despite not winning other events, Stout saw strong showings elsewhere. In fact, the Tribe placed throughout the top six in several other events.

 

“I’m very happy to see results from Ashley Wojciechowicz and Abby Strait in discus; Kristen Crowder in her running events; Isabella Bowen breaking under one minute in the open 400; and several others who improved too,” said Stout.

 

Julia Muller also had a strong day. Muller finished second in the 1600 meters and third in the 800 meters. Her time in the 800, which was a little more than two seconds off the winning pace, broke the school record, said Stout.

 

“We had a lot of competitive teams there. It was definitely one of our harder meets this year. I like having that for the girls, and for them to see some unfamiliar faces when competing. It is good practice for them,” said Stout.

 

For Griffith, although not upset, he did think there was room for improvement. However, he thinks his team will grow from the event.

 

“I think we should have done a little better.  We had some mental letdowns in a few places that really cost us points.  Fortunately these type of meets are learning experiences for the athletes and the coaches,” said Griffith. “We get a clear picture of where we need to work and improve both out athletic performance and mental toughness.”

 

Like the girls, Winfield is currently considered the favorite to win it on the boys’ side of things and the Indians are listed as the second team in Class AA. The race Saturday lived up to the rankings, but it also gave Griffith a view of what’s needed to help close the gap.   

 

“The competition between us and Winfield on the boys’ side is fairly close.  We will need to execute well and stay focused to win against them.  They will need to do the same thing to beat us,” said Griffith. “The last two weeks they have done that across all of their events and we have not.” 

 

Bridgeport managed to get the fourth place finish despite not winning an event. The team did manage a pair of second place finishes behind Northwest.

 

Jimmy Lacaria was second in the 800 meter run with a time of 2 minutes, 3.18 seconds. The 4x800 team of Lacaria, Mark Duez, Coleton Marsh, and Tristan Shaw were the runners-up in the 4x800 relay with a time of 8 minutes, 22.77 seconds.

 

“Both (second place finishers) looked pretty good on Saturday. In both cases, we finished behind the athletes from Northwest in Maryland,” said Griffith. “Fortunately for us they won’t be at the West Virginia State Meet.”

 

The Maryland teams that attended added punch to the meet, Griffith said. However, he didn’t discount how the state squads fared against some of the top units from the Old Line State.

 

“The teams from Maryland were very good, but I felt that the West Virginia schools held our own against them.  They have some tremendous athletes, but so do we,” said Griffith. “ … We would love to have some more first places, but I am just as content with any points we can get to accumulate enough points to win.  The way the point scoring works in track and field, sometimes depth can allow you to win without finishing first in any events.  We just need to finish as high as we can in each and every event.  We can only control what we do.” 

 

The teams return to action for a two-day event Friday and Saturday. The Indians will take part in the annual Gazette Relays at Charleston’s Laidley Field.

 

Editor's Note: Photos by Theo Frick of www.benqueenphotography.com.