Marietta’s Carsen Chavez won the 110 hurdles at Friday’s Parkersburg South Invitational. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PARKERSBURG – Regardless of the venue, Gatlin McLain has a passion to run.

The freshman from Parkersburg South joined his Patriot teammates as host of Friday’s Parkersburg South Invitational at Stadium Field, which is serving as the program’s second home this season because of work being done at their true home facility where a turf field is being installed at Erickson All-Sports Facility.

McLain picked off an array of runners – both male and female – as part of his win in the two-mile race. Both boys and girls competed in the ame heat and watched the backside of McClain, who turned in a personal best time of 10:16.18 – nearly 30 seconds faster than his nearest competitor. As he completed an early lap, he did a double-take and looked behind him to check out the gap.

“I heard people yelling and I was so confused because I thought there were runners next to me,” McLain admitted. “I looked back just to make sure no one was around. I wanted to make sure I had a prominent lead.”

And to think, McLain’s interest in the sport began early in his childhood when his mother ordered McLain and future Patriot Harry Silvis out of the vehicle on the way home because the two boys were misbehaving.

Marietta’s Kipplyn McNeal takes the baton during the final leg of the Tigers’ win in 4x800 at Friday’s Parkersburg South Invitational. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

“Back in kindergarten Harry and carpooled – we were acting up in the car and my mom was like ‘That’s it, get out of the car,'” We were at our mailbox which was at the bottom of the hill to my house. It was about a half mile and we just ran. I thought, this isn’t bad. It’s kind of fun.

“So I just stuck with running after that. Running helps me to calm down. Also, people have their thing like football and basketball. Running is my thing. It’s the thing I’m good at. It just feels good.”

Among the seven schools competing at the Parkersburg South Invitational, East Fairmont left with its share of hardware after sweeping both team titles. On the girls side, East Fairmont’s Lily Larnerd won high-point honors with 33.90 points. A distant second was Marietta sophomore Hailey Powell who won the mile and two-mile.

In the mile, Powell came out of nowhere to pass the frontrunners over the final 400. East Fairmont’s Kaliee Haymond and Parkersburg South’s Lexi McKinney ran 1-2 throughout with barely anyone else in sight..

Powell then stepped on the pedal and picked off the two frontrunners on the final lap.

“I just wanted to run that race as fast as I could to the finish line – it actually felt really good running in these conditions,” Powell said. “I tried to stick close to the lead runners. About the middle of the third lap I started picking up my pace.

“At first, I thought I couldn’t catch them. But I knew I could catch them eventually.”

One outright win – Peyton Louden in the shot put – appeared to be just enough for Parkersburg to place second in the girls division. The Big Reds scored 82.8 points compared to 86.50 for Parkersburg South’s third-place showing.

Marietta was represented in first place in five events and placed fourth with 71.8 points. High jumper Kileah Lieras-Kelley and Estella Styer set the tone with wins in their respective events. Lieras-Kelley did not compete for the Tiger track program last season, but is optimistic about her return for her senior year.

“With the weather this week, I knew tonight I just had to do the best I could,” said Lieras-Kelley, who cleared 4-10 for the win. “I’m hoping to jump 5-4, or 5-6 by the end of the season because our school record is 5-6. Maybe, if I work hard enough I can get that.”

The only meet record broken on Friday occurred in the girls 4×100 where East Fairmont turned in a winning time of 53.57. Wheeling Central from 2019 owned the previous mark at 57.41.

On the boys side, Marietta occupied the top two high-point scorers – Reid Sloter in first place with 24 points followed by teammate Carson Chavez with 21 points. In a photo finish, Sloter edged East Fairmont’s Lucas Messenger by five-hundredths of a second to win the 200. Chavez’s one win occurred in the 110 hurdles.

While the East Fairmont boys piled up 117.5 points, the chase for second place turned into a tight affair between Parkersburg South (87), Parkersburg (86.5) and Magnolia (79.5)

In addition to McLain’s win in the 1600, South claimed a total of four victories. Adding to the list were Jon Ash in the shot put, Navier Hewitt in the high jump and the 4×800.

Hewitt’s winning height of 6-1 was not challenged by two-time defending state champ Dubale Greathouse of Magnolia, who decided it best to call it a day at 5-8.

“I’ve been having arch problems with my feet,” said Greathouse, who set a PR of 6-4 during a national competition last summer. “It’s too early in the season, so I didn’t want to push it today.

Parkersburg checked with three wins – Javel Chandler in the 300 hurdles, Anthony Herrera in the 800 and AJ Payne in the 400.

For a veteran Magnolia outfit, the Blue Eagles received first-place showings from Landen Davis in the 1600, Darin Shimp in the shot put along with the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.

Parkersburg South’s Joshua Gill gave Davis quite a challenge in the 1600 and stayed on the heels of the Blue Eagles throughout. Davis maintained the lead from start to finish but only 1.33 seconds separated the two runners at the finish line.

“Yes, I felt the South kid behind me – I tried to extend my lead as much as I could,” Davis said. “With about 350, 400 to go, I tried to make my kick. It worked out in my favor, so I am pretty happy with my performance. I felt really strong through my first two laps. The third lap for me is usually a little rough, but I felt good throughout.

“I can’t lie, this season I have been off to a bit of a rough start. Ended my winter training with an injury. The knee felt great tonight. I had time off to recover . Finding out the problem has helped a lot.”