Area 7 Championships see a reduced number of entries

Seemingly every year the Area 7 Track & Field Championships coincides with some school’s prom. In most years, virtually the entire field has a conflict. Saturday was no different. In the meet that includes schools from all of Northeastern Kentucky, some teams did not even show up, others sent just a few athletes and still others had their complete squad for only part of the day. Only a small number of the participating teams showed up in full force.

Of the 24 track and field programs within Area 9 of the Kentucky Track and Cross County Coaches’ Association, 19 entered at least one event on Saturday. Three-quarters of those had depleted rosters because of prom.

One of those schools adversely affected was Mason County, who despite having limited entries still managed to finish second on the girls’ side and seventh among the boys’ teams.

“I was pleasantly surprised that the girls team finished second considering we did very few events due to prom,” Mason County coach Mark Kachler said.

Royal and Lady Royal winners included: the 4x100-meter relay team of Iyanna Johns, Tea King, Marissa Scilley and J’Iona Smith in 53.77; Jordan Frodge in the high jump at 4’10”; Rheagan Sizemore in the pole vault at 8’00”; Brendan Garrison in the 300-meter hurdles in 40.66; and Jay Stanley in the shot put (48’11.25”) and discus (155’07”).

“I was very pleased with Brendan Garrison’s 300m hurdle time,” Kachler added. “It was a ‘pr’ and gives him the fastest 300m time in Kentucky in (Class) AA.”

Bracken County also was a surprise fourth-place finisher in the boys’ standings. The Polar Bears picked up most of their points in the distance races, but also collected eight in the 400-meter dash, courtesy of Nick Parker’s second-place finish (52.42).

Jacob Hamilton won the 3200-meter run in 10:37.47, as did the 4x400-meter relay team of John Bravard, Dalton Highfield, Jacob Hamilton and Nick Parker in 3:44.47. Jared Jefferson, Bravard, Hamilton and Brandon Cox joined forces to finish second in the 4x800-meter relay in 8:57.47.

“I’m extremely pleased how my team performed with the tough competition associated with Area 7. We had many season bests with our boys’ 4x800m and 4x400. Jared Jefferson ran a ‘pr’ mile in 4:52 and Jacob Hamilton cruised to a victory in the 3200m,” Bracken County coach Forrest Hunt said. “Nick Parker claimed second in the 400 and ran a ‘pr’ time. John Bravard in his second 800 (race ever) took third overall. Our girls 4x100(-meter relay) ran a season best and claimed fifth overall.”

Jared Jefferson placing second in the 1600-meter run (4:52.56), Bravard taking third in the 800-meter run (2:13.24) and Brandon Cox finishing fourth in the 3200m (11:04.80) were among the team’s other highlights.

The story was the same for Nicholas County’s power trio of Samantha Sowell, P.J. Wagoner and Shelby Watkins. In the team competition, the Lady Jackets finished sixth and the BlueJackets 13th, despite having just 11 combined entries.

“I’m really proud of a couple of our seniors - J.P. and Shelby. J.P. ran in the 15’s in the 110(m) hurdles and 40.8 in the 300(m) hurdles, both excellent times,” Nicholas County coach Greg Letcher said. “Hopefully, he can continue to improve and continue to run in the low 15’s at region and hopefully break 40 (seconds) in the 300 hurdles by state.”

Wagoner won the 110-meter hurdles by three one-hundredths of a second over West Carter’s Austin Walker, finishing in 15.92. Wagoner also was second in the 300m hurdles to Mason County’s Garrison. Wagoner completed his race in 40.84.

Watkins finished the day by claiming second in the 3200m in 12:38.85 and fourth in the 1600-meter run (5:49.91).

“Shelby is continually working hard to improve on her 1600m and 3200m times and hopefully over the next couple of weeks can get her times down to where they were at the state last year,” Letcher said.

Sowell finished second in the girls’ all-points standings after dominating the horizontal jumps, winning the long jump with a distance of 15’11.25” and the triple jump with a mark of 34’04.00”. The Lady Jacket sophomore also placed third in the 300m hurdles in 53.71, fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.81 and 16th in the 200-meter dash in 31.51.

“Samantha has proven to be one of the state’s best triple jumpers. Her 34’4” triple jump and 15’11” long jump are outstanding marks,” Letcher said. “She has gotten her 100m hurdle time into the 17’s and running around a 53 in the 300m hurdles. Hopefully, we can get the 100m hurdle time in the 16’s and the 300m hurdle time down to 51 (seconds) by region and state.”

First-time Area 7 meet host Bath County was sixth in the boys’ scoring, while the girls finished ninth. Both teams were among a cluster of closely packed teams.

“It was a great meet. I think it may have been the largest number of schools in the A-7 to date,” boys’ coach Tim Bailey said. “I thought on a great day, Bath County might have inched up to third, but we didn’t have a great day and finished sixth – but only a few points out of fourth. I thought it was a tight meet, which bodes well for this area with several schools evenly matched for 2016.”

Brandon Smallwood led the way for the Wildcats. He was second in the long jump (18’09.50”), and third in both the triple jump (38’01.50”) and high jump (5’06”).

Sam Barker also fared well, finishing third in both the 100m (11.73) and 200m (24.22) races.

Madelyne English was the girls’ top individual finisher. She took second in the discus with a mark of 81’05”.

As usual, the foursome of Carrie Staviski, Isabella Copher, Hannah Bussell and Abby Henderson continued their dominance in the 4x800-meter relay, winning by more than five seconds in 10:40.32. Staviski also placed fourth in the 3200m in 13:16.87 and fifth in the 800m in 2:40.90, while Henderson was sixth in the 400m in 1:09.83 and seventh in the 800m in 2:48.08.

“I was highly impressed with the effort of Isabella Copher in the 4x800m. She brought the team back to the front and we eventually won the race,” Lady Cat coach Rick Staviski said. “Madelyne English continues to throw well in the shot and discus, and is already a ranked opponent as a first-year freshman. Our girls worked hard today, they competed well and that is all a coach could ask.”

Fleming County was one of the schools impacted by prom and finished 14th on the girls’ side and 15th among the boys.

The Lady Panthers’ best results came in the pole vault as Christen Reid placed third at 7’06” and Ashley Watson seventh at 7’00”. Other notable finishes included Mackenzie Purvis fifth in the 100m hurdles (18.27); and the 4x200m relay quartet of Carley Dunaway, Abby Fearin, Alondra Jackson and Ashley Watson also fifth in 1:59.94.

Jacob Hitch paced the boys. He was fifth in the 400m in 55.28. Robert Applegate was eighth in the 3200m in 11:09.38. The 4x200m relay team of Cole Christianson, Lucas Earlywine, Scotty Griffitt and Ashton McCoy placed eight in 1:50.99.

“We, like several schools, had prom on Saturday, so we weren’t able to field a full team. We did have several athletes run one event,” Fleming County coach Tim Hamm said. “I was pleased with some of the outcomes. There were some good teams there Saturday and most of those teams will be there again this Saturday at regionals. If our kids want to participate at state, they are going to have to get focused and bring their ‘A’ game Saturday.”

Nineteen schools participated in the meet.

On the girls’ side, Ashland dominated the field by scoring 158.5 points. Mason County took second with 78 points, followed by Boyd County (54.5), Raceland (50.67), West Carter (45), Nicholas County and Morgan County tied (44), Montgomery County (38), Bath County (36), Menifee County (31.33), East Carter (30), Greenup County and Rowan County tied (27), Fleming County (18), Russell (12), Bracken County (six) and Elliott County (two). Rose Hill and Wolfe County did not score.

In a tightly grouped boys’ field, Russell pulled out the team title with 84 points. Last year’s champion, Boyd County was second with 80 points, followed closely by West Carter with 76. Bracken County and Raceland tied (57), Bath County (52.50), Mason County (51.50), Rowan County (51), Montgomery County (47), Ashland (41), Morgan County (33), Greenup County (28), Nicholas County (18), Elliott County (14), Fleming County (six), East Carter (three), Wolfe County (one), and Rose Hill and Menifee County (zero) rounded out the standings.

Ashland’s Kaylee Robinson won the 100m, 200m and 400m and was a member of the victorious 4x400-meter relay to claim the high-point award with 32.50 points. Boyd County’s Reese Robinson captured the boys’ honor. He scored 30 points after winning the high jump and triple jump, finishing third in the long jump and fifth in the 200m. Mason County’s Garrison was second in the boys’ competition with 24 points.