Indians Sweep Harrison County Meet; Boys Finish First at North Marion, Girls Place Second
By Chris Johnson on April 21, 2024
It was a busy yet successful week for the Bridgeport High School track and field teams as the Indians swept the team titles at the Harrison County championship meet on Tuesday and they came back at Friday’s UMWA/Husky Invitational at North Marion High School and the boys picked up another team win and the girls finished second.
In the two meets combined, BHS came away with 30 first-place finishes.
Giana Cox captured the county titles in the 100 and 200 with respective times of 12.71 and 25.82.
Myleigh Smell won the 300 hurdles at 50.83.
Lyza Halterman swept the throws, winning the shot put at 33-07.50 and the discus at 107-07.
Another field event win for the BHS girls came in the high jump as Abigale Stewart cleared 4-10 for the county title.
Two relay teams won county titles. Eliza Perine, Savannah Courtney, Lee Ann Gaskins and Ava Holen took first place in the 4x100 with a time of 52.68.
Myleigh Smell was joined by her sister, Bria Smell, Hollen and Carley Lattea on the first-place shuttles team that ran a first-place time of 1:13.51.
Bria Smell teamed with Gabriella Townsend, Ashley McBrayer and Alea Matthis to place second in the 4x400 with a time of 4:37.61.
Cox added a third-place finish in the 400 at 1:02.75. Courtney was third in the 100 at 13.25. Matthis came in third in the 800 at 2:33.25. Kennedy Marsh had a third-place throw of 30-11.50 in the shot put.
Lattea placed fourth in both open hurdle events, running an 18.83 in the 100s and 52.42 in the 300s. Gaskins was fourth in the 200 with a time of 27.75. McBrayer was fourth in the 800 at 2:40.55.
Isabella McCullough placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 30-11.
In the 4x200, Courtney and Stewart were joined by Delaney Dotson and Lyla Kelley in running a fourth-place time of 2:03.11.
Picking up fifth-place finishes at the county meet for the BHS girls were Dotson in the 400 at 1:09.64, Victoria Vash in the 1,600 at 7:08.87, Bria Smell in the 300 hurdles at 52.76, Matthis in the high jump at 4-04, Gaskins in the long jump at 13-05.50 and Mackenzie Courtney in the shot put at 27-08.
Rounding things out for the BHS girls at the county meter were sixth-place finishes for Perine in the 200 at 28.43, Kelley in the 100 hurdles at 19.76 and McCullough in the discus at 73-01.
Other county champions on the girls side were: Lincoln’s Hannah Rowan in the 400 (1:00.62), South Harrison’s Reyna Headley in the 800 (2:28.55), Robert C. Byrd’s Cianna McKenna in the 1,600 (6:04.68), South Harrison’s Savannah Holden in the 3,200 (14:52.50) and pole vault (8-00), Lincoln’s Keely Stire in the 100 hurdles (17.53), RCB’s team of Brea Lathon, Madison Harnett, Brookelynn Washington and Kyla Sutherlin in the 4x200 (1:52.82), RCB’s team of Sutherlin, Harnett, Lathon and Gracie Weaver in the 4x400 (4:34.15), South Harrison’s team of Headley, Holden, Alyssa Clutter and Ela Kirksey in the 4x800 (11:40.39), and South Harrison’s Emma Sharpe in the long jump (15-02).
The BHS girls finished with 149 points. South Harrison was the runner-up at 134 and was followed by RCB with 109, Lincoln with 73, Liberty with 62 and Notre Dame with eight.
The BHS boys won 13 of the 18 events at the county meet.
Cale Culicerto led the way by sweeping the open hurdle events, winning the 110s with a time of 16.57 and the 300s with a time of 42.07. He was also part of the first-place shuttles team along with Gabe Martin, Parker Blount and Came Martin that ran a time of 1:02.90.
Grayson Church gave the Indians a win the 400, crossing the finish line with a time of 54.77.
Troy Zorick won the county title in the 800 with a time of 2:04.33.
In addition to the shuttles, the BHS boys won three other relay races. Jon Bender, Tannery Hathaway, Austin Harbert and Cam Martin teamed to win the 4x100 at 45.87. Harbert and Hathaway were joined by Donte Pierre and Colton Miller in winning the 4x200 with a time of 1:36.24.
The camera wasn’t working during the boys 4x400 so no official times were recorded, however the Tribe’s unit of Alex Moses, Sam Dodson, Timmy Jeffress and Church finished in first place.
The BHS boys took first place in all five field events.
Parker Blount won the high jump, clearing 5-10. Noah Kintz leared 11-06 to take first in the pole vault. Jeffress won the long jump at 20-00.25. Wes Brown had a throw of 44-01 to win the shot put and Ryan Jones had a throw of 121-06 to win the discus.
Seven different BHS boys earned runner-up finishes at the county meet: Dodson in the 800 at 2:05.12, Donte Pierre in the 100 at 11.58, Jeffress in the 200 at 23.01, Cam Martin in the 110H at 16.73, Parker Blount in the 300H at 45.01, Jared Rhodes in the pole vault at 8-00 and Aidan Sparks in the discus at 117-09.
Eight different BHS boys placed third in individual events: Moses in the 200 at 23.70, William Northey in the 800 at 2:07.88, Daniel Yearego in the 1,600 at 5:17.71, Quentin Collier in the 3,200 at 10:58.18, Aiden Gorby in the 300 hurdles at 45.64, Ian Blount in the high jump at 5-08, Ryan Jones in the shot put at 40-06 and Bear Metheney in the discus at 107-10.
Hathaway ran a fourth-place 100 time of 11.70. Ethan Smell placed fourth in the 800 (2:08.38) Church cleared 5-04 for fourth place in the high jump. Patrick Aucremanne was fourth in the pole vault at 8-00. Gorby had a leap of 18-00 for fourth place in the long jump. Jaylen Brown was fourth in the shot put at 40-00 and the team of Luke Murray, Ian Scroggs, Jackson Holtz and Aiden Shipley was fourth in the 4x800 at 10:24.78.
Picking up fifth-place finishes for the BHS boys were Moses in the 100 at 11.71, Rhodes in the 400 at 1:00.89, Diego Perez in the 3,200 at 11:16.81, Sawyer Culicerto in the 300H at 47.56 and Gabe Martin in the long jump at 17-08.50.
Bender was sixth in the 100 with a time of 11.82 and sixth in the 200 at 24.58. Murray added a sixth-place finish in the 400 at 1:02.40 and Sparks was sixth in the shot put at 38-00.
Other county champions for the boys were South Harrison’s Jaden Hatfield in the 100 (11.16) and 200 (22.67), Notre Dame’s David Urso in the 1,600 (4:59.32), Notre Dame’s Evan McElwayne in the 3,200 (10:48.37) and Lincoln’s team of Kaden Carder, Sam Flint, Gerald Parado and Max Myers in the 4x800 (9:14.03).
The BHS boys finished with 267 points. Lincoln was the runner-up at 84 and was followed by South Harrison with 52, RCB with 48, Notre Dame with 40 and Liberty with 33.
Cox won the 100 at 13.08 and 200 with a time of 26.72 at the Husky Invitational and took high-point honors. The other first-place finish for girls came from the 4x100 team of Courtney, Gaskins, Hollen and Perine as they ran a time of 53.01.
Cox was third in the 400 at 1:00.99, as was Stewart in the high jump at 4-08, Halterman in the shot put at 30-04 and the team of Perine, Courtney, Hollen and Gaskins in the 4x200 at 1:54.05.
Myleigh Smell picked up a fourth-place finish in the 300 hurdles at 52-03. Also placing fourth were Gaskins in the long 200 at 28.49 and the shuttles team of Jackson, Brian Smell, Myleigh Smell and Lattea in the shuttles at 1:12.47.
McCullough finished fifth in the shot put with a throw of 29-01.25.
Finishing sixth were Jackson in the 100H at 17.72, Halterman in the discus at 87-11 and the team of Brian Smell, Matthis, Dotson and Hollen in the 4x400 at 4:30.27.
Smell added a seventh-place height of 4-04, Gaskins was seventh in the long jump at 14-06 and Matthis was eighth in the 800 at 2:33.93.
The University girls finished first in the team standings at 128. Bridgeport had 87 and was followed by Preston with 64, John Marshall with 63, East Fairmont with 62, Fairmont Senior with 60, Buckhannon-Upshur with 49, RCB with 39, Liberty with 38, North Marion with 37, Lincoln with 30, Elkins with 20 and Philip Barbour with 19.
On the boys side, the Indians won a pair of open events and took first place in four relays.
Jeffress won the 200 at 23.09 and Culicerto took first in the 300 hurdles at 41.53.
Hathaway, Pierre, Moses and Bender comprised the 4x100 team that won with a time of 45.62 as well as the 4x200 team that won with a time of 1:33.44.
In the 4x400 , Moses along with Dodson, Church and Jeffress won with a time of 3:39.01.
Culicerto, Cam Martin, Gabe Martin and Parker Blount won the shuttles at 1:02.56.
Jeffress added runner-up finishes in the 100 at 11.47 and long jump at 20-02 on the way to earning high-point honors. Culicerto placed second in the 110 hurdles with a time of 16.00. Ian Blount cleared 5-08 for second place in the high jump.
Parker Blount was fourth in the high jump at 5-06. Kinz cleared 9-06 for fourth place in the pole vault and Wes Brown’s throw of 42-09.25 was good for fourth place.
Finishing fifth were Dodson in the 3,200 at 10:16.64, Cam Martin in the 110H at 17.47 and Jones in the discus at 125-01.
Sixth-place finishes went to Church in the 400 at 54.70 and Jones in the shot put at 42-05.25.
Pierre was seventh in the 100 at 11.84 and Rhodes was seventh in the pole vault at 8-00.
The Indians finished with 129.5 points and were followed by B-U with 71, Fairmont Senior with 68, University with 65, Elkins with 63.5, Philip Barbour with 58.5, East Fairmont with 58, John Marshall with 44, Preston with 43, Grafton with 38, Lincoln with 28.5, North Marion with 24, RCB with 6 and Liberty with 5.
Bridgeport returns to action on April 26-27 at the Tudor’s Biscuit World Charleston Relays at Laidley Field in Charleston.
Editor’s Note:Top photo shows Cox, second photo is of Jeffress, third photo features Stewart, fourth photo is of Culicerto and Church is featured in bottom photo.
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