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Williamstown track dominates regional

JOSH HUGHES The Marietta Times Williamstown’s Jillian Leo competes in the long jump at the W.Va. Class A, Region IV track meet Thursday at Erickson All-Sports Facility in Parkersburg.

PARKERSBURG –The Class A state track and field championships in Charleston are almost afoot, but there was one last meet to be held before that. The Class A, Region IV championship meet was held Thursday evening at the Erickson All-Sports Facility, and that decided the qualifiers for the state meet next weekend. Several local placers punched their tickets to Charleston, as Williamstown cruised throughout the night.

The Williamstown girls won the team competition over second place Buffalo, 228.5-109. The lopsided score was thanks to strong individual and team efforts that made it difficult for the rest of the field to catch up.

Wirt County and Saint Joesph Central’s 4×400 relay teams found their way to the top three, but the Williamstown team of Camryn Irvin, Sofia Calvet, Emma Berman and Tori Combs claimed victory in the event.

More Williamstown qualifiers came through in field events, and they include include the likes of Carsen Hesson (third in high jump), Bethany Arnold (second in discus and first in shot put) and the duo of Emma Berman (first in pole vault) and Madelyn Anderson (third in pole vault). Other local qualifiers in field events were Parkersburg Catholic’s Aaliyah Brunny (second in long jump and fourth in high jump) and Alexis Petrovsky of Wirt County (first in discus and second in shot put).

Combs, Calvet and Berman qualified with Chloe Lightfritz in the 4×800.

They beat Calhoun County and Wirt County for another 10 points. Two more relay wins took place for WHS’ girls, as Natalie Chambers, Irvin, Ella McMullen and Lilly McMullen won in the 4×200.

The shuttle hurdles were more of the same. Hesson, Tara Fleming, Kenzie Hill and Jillian Modesitt bested Buffalo and Ravenswood in the event. Irvin, Chambers and Ella McMullen qualified with Lydia Conner in the 4×100. Ravenswood qualified in third place.

Ella Hesson and Ella McMullen finished 1-2 over Parkersburg Catholic’s Grace Wojcik in the 200 to qualify in that event. Hesson’s winning ways continued, as she also won in the 1600.

The 400 was full of ‘Jackets when Lilly McMullen topped teammates Ella McMullen and Calvet to win. A couple more Catholic qualifiers found their way to Charleston, as Wojcik finished right behind Lilly McMullen to place second in the 100. Brunny won in the 100 hurdles over Williamstown’s Modesitt to move on to another event at the state meet. The 800 saw Ella Hesson and Combs finish 2-3 to qualify in that event.

Ravenswood made things a bit tighter for Williamstown on the boys side, 166-134. Still, the Yellowjacket boys followed suit with their female counterparts and seized victory.

Zach Burrell, Ashton Wasmer and Caden Tallman all qualified 2-3-4 for the ‘Jackets in the pole vault. Joel Bindley and Mikey Bell continued the trend for WHS and finished second and third in the long jump. Bindley and Ravenswood’s Deshone Cooper finished at the top of the high jump to qualify in that event. Jalen Brunny represents Catholic in the discus at the state meet, as he finished in third.

Ravenswood tried to keep pace with Williamstown when Austin Garrett outlasted the duo of Colin Hunkele and Kole Sutton in the 400, but the Yellowjacket boys were too much to handle. Despite Garrett’s win in the 100, Williamstown’s Samuel Thompson was right behind him. One more Garrett victory in the 200 was met with Hunkele in second.

In a lone display of Red Devil dominance, Blake Jarrell, Bryce Jarrell and Cooper swept the 1600. Bryce and Blake traded places in the 3200, as they qualified in another event for Ravenswood. They also finished 1-2 in the 800. Through all that, Williamstown didn’t give them much of a chance to close the gap.

Bryce Jarrell teamed with Colton Clark, Noah Freeman and Seth Marra to win the 4×800, but the Yellowjackets finished second.

The WHS team of Thompson, Bell, Dawson Reynolds and Hunkele bested the field in the 4×200, and the team wins kept coming.

Wins in the 4×100 (Donathan Taylor, Bell Reynolds and Thompson) and shuttle hurdles (Ty Moore, Sutton, Reynolds and Hunkele over Wirt County and Ravenswood) closed the door on a comeback.

Joey Schmidt had two individual wins for Wirt over Williamstown’s Brady Fayad in both the 110 and 300 hurdle events, as he makes it back to the state meet.

With plenty of local qualifiers making the trip to Charleston, plenty of them look to perform at the highest level on that biggest stage. The state championship meet takes place on May 17-18.

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