Although Bridgeport’s boys and girls didn’t win the recent Morgantown Invitational at Mylan Park, both squads managed to finish as the highest ranked Class AA team in the 14-team field.

 

The boys finished fourth in the standings, while the girls were sixth. The boys finished with 58 points, while the girls managed to capture 48 on the day.

 

For the boys, the host school Morgantown won with 98 points. The Mohigans were followed by Parkersburg with 79 points and Canon McMillan (Pa.) with 63.

 

“It was a fairly strong field, so 4th isn't too bad.  I would have liked to see us finish a little higher though,” said Griffith.

 

Bridgeport got another strong day from Austin Massey. Massey won the 400 meter dash with a time of 51.41 seconds and was third in the 200 meters with a time of 23.1 seconds.

 

“Austin ran very well in the 400. He will continue to improve in the 100 and 200 as we work to improve his starting mechanics,” said Griffith. “This was the first meet of the season where he had to run prelims and finals all on the same day.  That's a total of six races for him.  That takes some getting used to.  He will get more comfortable with it as time goes by.”

 

Junior Jackson Jacobs is likely comfortable in the 3200 meter event and it showed. Jacobs, a cross country standout, finished second with a time of 10 minutes, 22.46 seconds and he did so while not at the top of his game.

 

“Jackson has been sick the last couple of weeks. He missed our last meet and this week was struggling with random coughing fits as he raced. His time showed that,” said Griffith. “To finish second was a great accomplishment. He will improve dramatically as his health improves.” 

 

While Jacobs dealt with some health issues, Hayden Hess had to overcome a difficult start in the 300 meter hurdles. And he still managed to finish third with a time of 43.23 seconds.

 

“Hayden had one bad hurdle at the start of the race.  He landed awkwardly and that slowed him considerably,” said Griffith. “His time was still good, but I know he will run much better times over the next few weeks.”

 

The Indians managed another top three finish individually – this one a runner-up – in the shot put. Micah Swann’s toss of 47 feet, 10 inches earned him second place.

 

“Micah improved again this week; only a couple of inches, but still improving. His rotation technique continues to improve, and he will continue to get better,” said Griffith. “We hope to see him over 50 feet by the end of the season.”

 

The Indians had one top three finish in the relays. The 4x400 team of Massey, Sean Wilfong, Hess and Cayden Robinson posted a third-place time of 3 minutes, 43.73 seconds.

 

“Kyle McCarthy had a slight incident at the end of the open 400, which required us to pull him for the rest of the meet. That meant having to rearrange three relays.  Justin Wright stepped into the 4x100 and 4x200 relays and Sean Wilfong took his spot in the 4x400 relay. Both are new to the team this year,” said Griffith. “I applaud both of those young men for stepping up and filling in when we needed them.  

 

“As for the 4x400, the first three members (Massey, Hess and Robinson) ran very well and gave us a nice lead. Sean had never run the 400 or in the relay before,” Griffith continued. “He did a great job against the field's best 400 meter runners to hold on for third place.  It was a gutsy run.”

 

Griffith also praised the new facility at Mylan Park.

 

“The new Mylan Park facility is very nice; great running surface and field event venues. They are still getting their feet wet in terms of running meets, but it looks like it will eventually be a first class meet site,” said Griffith. “Parking was an issue, but that should be corrected once the adjacent aquatic center is finished. The only other issue was limited seating, which I hope they correct eventually.  Current capacity is about 1,500.  If they can add bleachers to increase the seating capacity up to say 6000 or more, it could someday be the host site for the West Virginia State Meet.”

 

The girls’ division was won by the host school as well. Morgantown finished with 98 points, Canon McMillan was second at 83, Buckhannon-Upshur third with 60, Parkersburg fourth at 56 and University fifth with 53.

 

“This meet was another tough competition for us.  We did pretty well considering we were short quite a few of our top runners,” said Coach Emilee Yurish. “We have yet to run a meet where we have everyone there and 100 percent healthy.”

 

The Indians managed to get a big individual win in high jump. Kristen Crowder had a strong showing as she cleared 5 feet, 4 inches to win the event.

 

“Kristen's win in high jump is honestly no surprise to me.  She is very determined at practice and meets, so it's only telling of her everyday efforts on the track,” said Yurish.

 

The Indians got a pair of relays to finish in the top three. The 4x200 team of Payton Merica, Juliet Hart, Crowder and Shae Hefner finished with a time of 1 minute, 53.15 seconds. The 4x100 team of Emily Meade, Merica, Hart and Crowder was third with a time of 51.98 seconds.

 

“Once again, we are still working with several girls to see who will actually run these relays.  It's been a toss-up between a handful of girls, so they are getting their opportunity to run and practice good handoffs,” said Yurish. “They've all done a great job filling in and their times are right where we expect them to be. 

 

Meade got a solo third place finish as well. She posted a time of 49.41 seconds in the 300 meter hurdles.

 

“Emily ran an excellent race in the 300s.  I knew she was capable of running sub 50, and I'm sure she will continue dropping her time the more she runs the event,” said Yurish.

 

In the field events, Madya McCullough picked up a pair of third place finishes for the Indians. In the shot put, Madya managed to place thanks to throwing it 32 feet, .5 inches. She came back with a toss of 102 feet, 3 inches in the discus to help provide 12 points total for the Indians.

 

Yurish said the Indians meet at Winfield was scrapped due to travel complications.

 

Although Bridgeport will be off this weekend, the Indians have a huge meet the following weekend. The Tribe will host the annual Harry Green Statewide Invitational on April 20 at 11 a.m. at Wayne Jamison Field. 

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Hayden Hess, while Emily Meade and Claire Lohmann are shown in the second and third photos, respectively. Photos courtesy of David Robinson of David Robinson Photography.