Williamstown won the Throwers Relay and earned them a free pizza during Tuesday’s Fenton Relays at Williamstown High School. PIctured from left are: Christian Lockhart, Christian Hoosier, Williamstown coach Zach Hall, Jackson Melonas and Colin Jones. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

On one hand, opportunities to set school records in isolated events don’t come around often under the format of the Fenton Relays.

Secondly, sometimes school records occur when you least expect it.

For example, take the Williamstown foursome of Chase Pickering, Jimmy Erlandson, Gavin Wilburn and Vincent Zegres.

Their ultimate sights are set on a possible state title in the 4×800. They would have an opportunity to compete in the event at the mid-point of Tuesday’s Fenton Relays, and use the opening event of the afternoon – the rarely seen 4×1600 – as a tune-up.

A tad under 20 minutes from the time the gun fired for the start of the race, these same four individuals achieved something no Yellowjacket boys entry managed to accomplish in nearly years. Break the school standard of 20:07.

“Honestly, I was kind of trying to take it a little bit easy knowing that we had the 48 later,” said Wilburn, who ran the opening leg. “I came through about eight seconds off my regular PR, so it felt like a really controlled effort. We knew what we had to do.”

Williamstown wasn’t in the clear until Pickering running as the second man passed a Wood County Christian runner and took the lead to stay.

“I just kind of paced the pass within the first lap, lap-and-a-half,” Pickering said. “The rest of the way, I’m just kind of by myself, but I was going with a good effort. I was like 20 seconds off my PR – we were kind of just pacing so we would be ready for the next event.”

Next up, Jimmy Erlandson, who ran a similar pace to Wilburn. The Yellowjackets’ margin of victory eventually clocked out at a smidge above a minute and a half, but there was one individual left to close the deal – Vincent Zegres.

“Going into this race, we knew what we were capable of,” Zegres said. “This is a great team of boys and we’ve all trained really hard in the offseason.”

As seniors new to the system, Erlandson and Zegres credited Cliff Taylor for an upgrade on the track.Taylor is a long-time contributor to Williamstown cross country and track.

“We came into this one dedicating this for coach Cliff – we really put it all in there for him,” Zegres said. “He knew this wasn’t an all-out effort for any of us, but he would be proud.”

Basically, the Fenton Relays is the one rare shot runners can break records in the 4×1600 during the course of a season. The majority of meets use a traditional format.

The meet is also widely-known for the throwers 4×100 – an event not scored which allows only throwers from field events to compete.

On Tuesday, several entries brought unique approaches to the race. Wahama originally planned to bring a football helmet into the equation and slide the apparatus on for each of the exchanges in place of a baton.

Race officials’ concern for possible injury nixed that idea, but they did show the White Falcon contingent the reward for winning the event – a large pizza.

As runners walked onto the track, Parkersburg South’s leadoff entrant, Ryland Nichols, held a cell phone to serve as a dual purpose – their baton to hand off to each of the four runners and video the race from their perspective.

In the end, the Williamstown runners – Christian Lockhart, Christian Hoosier, Jackson Melonas and Colin Jones – wearing ski-masks claimed victory.

“Because we are not used to running all relays, it’s a fun meet to be at,” Parkersburg South coach Megan Jones said. “It was fun to get everybody involved, everybody doing something they didn’t do before.

“There is a different feel to the meet, so the kids get more excited about it. And then to see the throwers 4×100 – everybody gets excited about that.”

Of course, can’t forget the ingenuity of Marietta runner Ian Putnam, holding a sign which read, “I’ve been training like LeBron to take you to the prom.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com