Marietta's Brady Dickinson placed third in the discus during Saturday's Russ Parsons Invitational at Parkersburg High School. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Albeit a smaller field than usual, host Parkersburg swept the team titles here Saturday at the Russ Parsons Invitational.

The PHS girls amassed 203 points to easily outdistance runner-up Wheeling Park (111) and Elkins (107), which got high-point honors from Marissa Brenwalt after the Tiger won the 100 hurdles (n/a) and the long jump (16-9.25) while finishing runner-up in the 300 hurdles (47.58) and the high jump (5-4).

Parkersburg’s Mya Baruwa cleared 5-4 first to take the win in the high jump while Park’s Molly Brinker won the 300 hurdles (47.34) and was runner-up in the 100 hurdles (n/a). She also finished behind Brenwalt in the long jump (16-9).

The only other double-winner for the girls was Wheeling Park sprinter Rianna Farrow, who ran a 13.33 to capture the 100 ahead of Marietta’s Maya Diki (13.69). In the 400, the Patriot finished in 1:01.48 to edge Big Red Kelina Utietiang’s 1:02.93 clocking.

The PHS girls also had first-place finishes from Morgan Metz in the 3200 (12:11.24), Karma Hedges in the shot put (31-11) and Bella Bowman in the discus (95-3).

Marietta's Kipplyn McNeal takes her mark prior to the gun in the 400 during Saturday's Russ Parsons Invitational at Parkersburg High School. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Hedges edged out teammate Sophia Corbin (31-9.5) and Parkersburg Catholic’s Bryley Starkey (28-0). Starkey also was runner-up in the discus (92-6) ahead of third-place Estella Styler’s 89-5 from Marietta.

Parkersburg’s other two wins for head girls coach Lia Fleek came in the shuttles (Daysha Hastings, Utietiang, Avery Matthews, Makayla House: 1:06.84) and the 4×2 (Hastings, Adilynn Deuley, Brenan Harvey, Addison Mosso: 1:52.10).

“Things are starting to come together,” Fleek said. “We’re starting to create those relays that we’re going to kind of be using moving forward. A lot of kids did a great job and had some good times despite the weather. I will have to say some of my kids after experiencing a week of this hot kind of temperature and then competing at the end of that week, I think they kind of understand how important it is, your nutrition and your hydration and things like that.

“We’ve had up and down weather so I kind of feel like a couple of them were like ‘ooh’, but overall, they competed. I had a lot of kids do a lot of good things today. I had some freshmen make finals which is exciting for them and it builds confidence. I like that and they work hard every day. We’re moving forward. It feels like we just started and it’s about to end. I’ll be missing 11 girls (at Doddridge) with the choir trip. I’ve got a little bit of depth here and there and I like that I can rely on different people at different times to fill in when we need them.”

Boys head coach Rod O’Donnell had double-winners thanks to AJ Payne (200, 23:07; 400, 50.18) and Javel Chandler (110H, n/a; 300H, 41.62) as the Big Reds finished with 181 points and were followed by WPHS (128) and Elkins (111).

Marietta's Ezekiel Minard takes the baton from teammate Reid Sloter for the final leg of the 4x8 during Saturday's Russ Parsons Invitational at Parkersburg High School. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Chandler, who cleared 6 feet to finish runner-up in the high jump to Park’s JT Pockl (6-2), also ran the anchor leg on the victorious shuttles (1:02.26) with teammates James Lewis, Tyler Shahan and Santana Jones en route to earning high-point honors with 30.5.

Parkersburg’s boys also managed three other wins on a day that turned into a rain-soaked afternoon thanks to Rogan Mincks (800, 2:02.42), Carter Thorpe (3200, 9:54.61) and Drey Grinter (shot put, 48-7). Grinter also had a best discus effort of 136 feet, 10 inches, but had to settle for runner-up behind Elkins’ Donovan Howes (137-6) as Marietta’s Brady Dickinson finished third (123-7).

Parkersburg South, which got a 2-3 effort in the long jump thanks to Ja’Qwae Brown (19-0) and Wyatt Bartley (18-9.75) finishing behind Park’s Jordan Beck-James (20-3), also watched Gatlin McLain place second in the 3200 (10:15.77). Patriot Jordan Foster was runner-up to Chandler in the 110 (n/a) and 300 (43.19) hurdles.

Mincks didn’t have it easy during his 800 victory as Elkins’ Bobby Valentine crossed in 2:02.56. Tiger Jaden Hatfield had just enough to outlast Big Red Landen Deuley in the 200 (23.50 to 23.84) as the Big Red was runner-up in the 400 (50.89) just ahead of Marietta’s Reid Sloter (51.61).

“We changed some people in some events because we are getting ready for the big ones here pretty soon. We saw some good things,” admitted coach O’Donnell. “For these conditions we had a lot of season-bests today. I thought they competed well. We still have a long way to go. We got to fix the little things.

Marietta's Darby Cartmell placed fifth in the shot put during Saturday's Russ Parsons Invitational at Parkersburg High School. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“There’s no doubt about it. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that. We go to a very good meet at Doddridge (Friday’s Cline Stansberry Invitational). I thought, considering everything, it was a pretty good performance. We got a couple dings so we’ll have to work that out.”

Also winning individual events for the boys were Wheeling Park’s Brennan Wack (100, n/a) and Jacob Carman (pole vault, 11-6) along with Elkins’ Trevor George (1600, 4:22.76). George finished ahead of Marietta’s Ian Putnam (4:27.93) while Carman cleared the 11-6 before runner-up Big Red Alex Greer and third-place Drake Laughery of South did.

PHS won three of the five relay events as the red and white also captured the 4×4 (Deuley, Gavin Bowman, Anthony Herrera, Payne: 3:31.90) and the 4×8 (Caden Moat, Ricardo Salazar, Herrera, Mincks: 8:22.47).

Wheeling Park’s speed led them to first-place efforts in the 4×1 (Wack, Beck-James, Michael Neider, Owen Dobrzynski Hines: 46.17) and the 4×2 (Wack, Eikey, Hines, Neider: 1:32.94).

In the pole vault, three thinclads each cleared 7 feet, 6 inches, but Park’s Lillith Smith did it before the Big Red House and fellow teammate Lucy Cartwright. Hastings also cleared 5-4 in the high jump, but had to settle for third.

Parkersburg's AJ Payne, middle, won the 400 during Saturday's Russ Parsons Invitational while teammate Landen Deuley finished second with Marietta's Reid Sloter placing third. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

In the 800, Elkins’ Emilia Teney (2:26.53) had just enough to outlast South’s Alyssa McCrady (2:34.34) and Big Red Olivia Carpenter (2:35.06). Elkins’ Julia Biola also had a dominating win in the 1600 with a time of 5:06.18.

The only other individual champion for the girls was in the 200 where Park’s Katherine Schnacke ran a 28.27 to top Deuley (28.67) and Mosso (29.10).

With Biola at anchor, Elkins had a winning effort of 4:26.02 in the 4×4 that also featured Alyssa White, Lilly Irons and Mencia Gomez.

Parkersburg South had 10-point showings in the 4×1 (Jaclynne Welch, Lilly Dye, Sophia Shamblin, Kymani Prince: 53.29) and the 4×8 (Lexi McKinney, Haley Raper, McCrady, Jalyn Eddy: 10:16.39).

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Russ Parsons Invitational

BOYS TEAM SCORES: Parkersburg 181, Wheeling Park 128, Elkins 111, Parkersburg South 78, Marietta 49

HIGH-POINT: Javel Chandler (PHS) 30.5

100: Brennan Wack (WP) n/a, Jaden Hatfield (E) n/a, Gavin Bowman (PHS) n/a, Austin Eikey (WP) n/a, Cayson Posey (PS) n/a, Randal Marks (E) n/a

200: AJ Payne (PHS) 23.07, Jaden Hatfield (E) 23.50, Landen Deuley (PHS) 23.84, Lucian Breault (E) 24.78, Jonah Hardway (WP) 25.24, Randal Marks (E) 26.33

400: AJ Payne (PHS) 50.18, Landen Deuley (PHS) 50.89, Reid Sloter (M) 51.61, Logan Wilson (WP) 53.70, Tyler Bishop (WP) 54.58, Ezekiel Minard (M) 54.84

800: Rogan Mincks (PHS) 2:02.42, Bobby Valentine (E) 2:02.56, Trevor George (E) 2:02.87, Carter Thorpe (PHS) 2:04.17, Ricardo Salazar (PHS) 2:04.30, Connor George (PHS) 2:07.75x, Preston Nixon (E) 2:09.76

1600: Trevor George (E) 4:22.76, Ian Putnam (M) 4:27.93, Josh Bodkins (E) 4:28.44, Connor George (PHS) 4:29.54, Bobby Valentine (E) 4:35.59, Benjamin Tenney (E) 4:37.98x, Dylan Fortney (E) 4:44.29x, Drake Rollins (PHS) 5:06.24

3200: Carter Thorpe (PHS) 9:54.61, Gatlin McLain (PS) 10:15.77, Calvin Lantz (PHS) 10:19.21, Ian Putnam (M) 10:27.73, Asher Deal (WP) 11:06.94, Maksim Ernst (PHS) 11:53.82

110H: Javel Chandler (PHS) n/a, Jordan Foster (PS) n/a, Sean Barnhart (M) n/a, Trenton Foster (PS) n/a, Tanner Ferguson (PS) n/a, Josh Huffman (WP) n/a

300H: Javel Chandler (PHS) 41.62, Jordan Foster (PS) 43.19, Jordan Beck-James (WP) 43.75, Wade Barbour (WP) 44.97, Tanner Ferguson (PS) 45.51, Josh Huffman (WP) 45.67

4×1: WPHS (Brennan Wack, Jordan Beck-James, Michael Neider, Owen Dobrzynski Hines) 46.17, Elkins 46.31, PHS 48.11, South 48.21

4×2: WPHS (Brennan Wack, Austin Eikey, Owen Dobrzynski Hines, Michael Neider) 1:32.94, Elkins 1:33.25, South 1:36.06, PHS 1:36.97, Marietta 1:43.65

4×4: PHS (Landen Deuley, Gavin Bowman, Anthony Herrera, AJ Payne) 3:31.90, Elkins 3:40.73, WPHS 3:45.16, South 3:48.79, Marietta 3:54.61

4×8: PHS (Caden Moat, Ricardo Salazar, Anthony Herrera, Rogan Mincks) 8:22.47, Elkins 8:57.80, Marietta 9:25.74, WPHS 9:36.52

Shuttles: PHS (James Lewis, Tyler Shahan, Santana Jones, Javel Chandler) 1:02.26, WPHS 1:02.67, South 1:06.38, Elkins 1:10.18

High jump: JT Pockl (WP) 6-2, Javel Chandler (PHS) 6-0, Teigan Watson (WP) 5-8, Blake Becker (M) 5-6, Kellen Miller (M) 5-4, Jordan Foster (PS) 5-2

Long jump: Jordan Beck-James (WP) 20-3, Ja’Qwae Brown (PS) 19-0, Wyatt Bartley (PS) 18-9.75, Wade Barbour (WP) 18-8.75, Josh Huffman (WP) 18-7, Brent Freels (PS) 18-3.75

Pole vault: Jacob Carman (WP) 11-6, Alex Greer (PHS) 11-6, Drake Laughery (PS) 11-6, Preston Nixon (E) 10-6, Jonah Hardway (WP) 10-6, Shawn Thornhill (PS) 10-0

Shot put: Drey Grinter (PHS) 48-7, Akeem Davis (WP) 47-1.5, Donovan Howes (E) 43-11.5, Ben Eakins (PHS) 42-2, Brady Dickinson (M) 36-10.5, Easton Parsons (PS) 36-7

Discus: Donovan Howes (E) 137-6, Drey Grinter (PHS) 136-10, Brady Dickinson (M) 123-7, Nate Ross (PHS) 122-4, Andrew Evans (WP) 121-4, Eli Cheuvront (PHS) 115-0

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: Parkersburg 203, Wheeling Park 111, Elkins 107, Parkersburg South 63, Marietta 47, Parkersburg Catholic 14

HIGH-POINT: Marissa Brenwalt (Elkins) 36

100: Rianna Farrow (WP) 13.33, Maya Diki (M) 13.69, Mya Baruwa (PHS) 13.79, Addison Mosso (PHS) 13.96, Lilly Irons (E) 14.02, Addison Reineke (WP) 14.04

200: Katherine Schnacke (WP) 28.27, Adilynn Deuley (PHS) 28.67, Addison Mosso (PHS) 29.10, Jenna Corley (E) 30.69, Savannah Rowan (E) 31.28, Ariella Brown (E) 31.32

400: Rianna Farrow (WP) 1:01.48, Kelina Utietiang (PHS) 1:02.93, Kadiatu Kanneh (M) 1:05.44, McKenna Guthoerl (WP) 1:07.11, Kipplyn McNeal (M) 1:07.17, Allison Poole (PHS) 1:07.89

800: Emilia Tenney (E) 2:26.53, Alyssa McCrady (PS) 2:34.34, Olivia Carpenter (PHS) 2:35.06, Audrey Wagoner (PHS) 2:35.14, Hadley Edwards (PHS) 2:37.01, Kelly Nicholas (M) 2:37.45

1600: Julia Biola (E) 5:06.18, Jalyn Eddy (PS) 6:19.58, Jordan Haessly (M) 6:20.32, Lexi McKinney (PS) 6:38.76, Phoebe McPeak (PHS) 7:08.83

3200: Morgan Metz (PHS) 12:11.24, Phoebe McPeak (PHS) 15:39.39, Sarah Lipscomb (E) 16:49.25, Scarlet Poling (PHS) 18:01.54

100H: Marissa Brenwalt (E) n/a, Molly Brinker (WP) n/a, Daysha Hastings (PHS) n/a, K’Lyn Neider (WP) n/a, Avery Matthews (PHS) n/a, Jaclynne Welch (PS) n/a

300H: Molly Brinker (WP) 47.34, Marissa Brenwalt (E) 47.58, K’Lyn Neider (WP) 48.61, Aniya Payne (PHS) 52.00, Kenadi Carte (E) 53.11, Makayla House (PHS) 53.95

4×1: South (Jaclynne Welch, Lilly Dye, Sophia Shamblin, Kymani Prince) 53.29, PHS 54.47, WPHS 54.51, Elkins 54.71, PHS ‘B’ 58.74x, Marietta 1:01.60

4×2: PHS (Daysha Hastings, Adilynn Deuley, Brenan Harvey, Addison Mosso) 1:52.10, Elkins 1:53.70, WPHS 1:55.21, South 1:57.19, Marietta 2:00.40, PHS ‘B’ 2:02.26

4×4: Elkins (Alyssa White, Lilly Irons, Mencia Gomez, Julia Biola) 4:26.02, PHS 4:32.03, Marietta 4:34.82, South 4:36.85, WPHS 4:44.86

4×8: South (Lexi McKinney, Haley Raper, Alyssa McCrady, Jalyn Eddy) 10:16.39, PHS 10:17.90, Elkins 10:50.08, Marietta 11:04.09

Shuttles: PHS (Daysha Hastings, Kelina Utietiang, Avery Matthews, Makayla House) 1:06.84, WPHS 1:08.80, South 1:12.29, Elkins 1:17.07

High jump: Mya Baruwa (PHS) 5-4, Marissa Brenwalt (E) 5-4, Daysha Hastings (PHS) 5-4, Niki Robitaille (WP) 5-0, Nia Cousins (PHS) 4-10, Kenadi Carte (E) 4-8

Long jump: Marissa Brenwalt (E) 16-9.25, Molly Brinker (WP) 16-9, Ava Sayre (PHS) 15-7, TC Allen (PHS) 15-7, Mya Baruwa (PHS) 15-6.75, Chloe Gribble (PHS) 15-3.5x, Maya Diki (M) 14-9

Pole vault: Lillith Smith (WP) 7-6, Makayla House (PHS) 7-6, Lucy Cartwright (PHS) 7-6, Hailey Hastings (WP) 7-0, Madalee Davis (PHS) 6-6, Leah Shockey (PHS) 6-0x, Adeline Haser (E) 6-0

Shot put: Karma Hedges (PHS) 31-11, Sophia Corbin (PHS) 31-9.5, Bryley Starkey (PCHS) 28-0, Morgan Stewart (PS) 27-7, Darby Cartmell (M) 27-2, Bella Bowman (PHS) 26-0

Discus: Bella Bowman (PHS) 95-3, Bryley Starkey (PCHS) 92-6, Estella Styer (M) 89-5, Morgan Stewart (PS) 81-11, Sophia Corbin (PHS) 81-11, Darby Cartmell (M) 78-8