By Mark Carpenter
West Union High School was the place to be on Tuesday, April 13 with high school sports action galore. With softball and baseball going on and sandwiched in between, 12 schools competing in the West Union Invitational Track Meet. The host Dragons welcomed teams from North Adams, Eastern Brown, Lynchburg, Whiteoak, Felicity, Fairfield, Peebles, Portsmouth Notre Dame, Green, Manchester, and Ripley.
Though the county had athletes who performed well in numerous events, the day was a successful one for Coach Ike Wooten and his North Adams girls squad. The Lady Devils, led by the one-two punch of Myla Toole and Karissa Buttelwerth, were the girls team champions of the invite racking up 130 points to outdistance second place Fairfield. Toole was the winner of the 1600 and part of the 4 x 400 relay champion, while Buttelwerth won both the 100 and 200 meter dash events and was the anchor of the winning 4 x 100 relay quartet. The North Adams girls also got first-place finishes from Sierra Kendall in the 300M hurdles and Long Jump and Lizzie Gill in the Discus Throw.
All of the other top finishers from county schools came from Peebles- the boys 4 x 100 relay team of Hunter White, Christopher Oldfield, Jayce West, and Cory Reed, Lilly Gray in the girls 400M, Katy Seas in the girls 3200. It was a good day for the Peebles boys, who finished second overall in the team standings.
The top eight finishers in each event scored points for their team (10,8,6, 5,4,3,2,1) and following is a complete list of Adams County athletes who placed at the Invitational.
Girls 4 x 800 Relay: 2, West Union (McCarty, Shupert, Armstrong, Fulton), 12:33.50
Boys 4 x 800 Relay: 2. Peebles (Willoughby, Crum, Vogler, Asher), 10:08.51; 4. North Adams (Emerson, Jones, Parker, Darnell), 11:17.07
Girls 100M Hurdles: 2, Olivia Wright, North Adams (18.59); 7. Katie Hunter, West Union (19.80)
Boys 110M Hurdles: 4. Josh Chitwood, West Union (19.69); 6. T.J. Holt, North Adams (19.90); 8. Evan Edmisten, West Union (20.71)
Girls 100M Dash: 1. Karissa Buttelwerth, North Adams (13.27); 2, Payton Johnson, Peebles (13.56); 6. Kendra Grooms, West Union (14.73); 7. Kylnn Zornes, Manchester (14.76); 8. Alexis Mason, West Union (14.79)
Boys 100M Dash: Jayce West, Peebles (12.40); 5, Cayse Chamblin, West Union (`1.50); 7, Cameron Campbell, West Union (12.62); 8. Hunter White, Peebles (12.64)
Girls 4 x 200 Relay: 3, North Adams (Campbell, Shupert, Wright, A. Grooms), 2:02.81; 5. West Union (Blanton, Mason, Wolke, L. Grooms), 2:06.47; 6. Manchester (McClanahan, Zornes, Ralston, Freeman), 2:10.45
Boys 4 x 200 Relay: 3. West Union (Chitwood, Chamblin, Blanton, Campbell), 1:43.55; 6. North Adams (Young, White, Brown, Bunn), 1:48.58; 8. Manchester (Smith, Wages, Jones, Young), 1:52.55
Girls 1600M Run: 1. Myla Toole, North Adams (5:17.86); 2. Samantha Seas, Peebles (5:38.18); 3. Katy Seas, Peebles (5:38.42); 7. Kirsten Campbell, North Adams (6:55.01); 8. Makenna Armstrong, West Union (6:56.11)
Boys 1600M Run: 2, Cody Hesler, North Adams (4:57.24)
Girls 4 x 100 Relay: 1. North Adams (Kendall, A. Grooms, H. Grooms, Buttelwerth), 53.82; 3. West Union (Blanton, Mason, K. Grooms, Hunter), 57.25
Boys 4 x 100 Relay: 1. Peebles (White, Oldfield, West, reed). 48.89; 4. North Adams (Bunn, Frost, Campbell. C. Hesler), 50.87; 7.West Union (Chitwood, Chamblin, Blanton, Campbell), 53.27
Girls 400M Dash: 1. Lilly Gray, Peebles (1:03.35); 4. Hunter Grooms, North Adams (1:08.07); 8. Allie McCarty, West Union (1:15.76)
Boys 400M Dash: 2. Jonathan MacDowell, West Union (57.60); 5. Hayden Crum, Peebles (58.36)
Girls 300M Hurdles: 1, Sierra Kendall, North Adams (47.41); 4. Olivia Wright, North Adams (57.46); 8. Katie Hunter, West Union (1:00.20)
Boys 300M Hurdles: 5. T.J. Holt,North Adams (50.83); 8. Evan Edmisten, West Union (52.34)
Girls 800M Run: 2. Samantha Seas, Peebles (2:36.85); 3, Lilly Gray, Peebles (2:47.32); 4. Adelyn Shupert, West Union (2:56.01); 6. Abby Freeman, Manchester (2:58.37); 7. Morgan Shupert, North Adams (3:00.64)
Boys 800M Run: 3. Hayden Crum, Peebles (2:17.17)
Girls 200M Dash: 1. Karissa Buttelwerth, North Adams (27.38); 2, Payton Johnson, Peebles (27.99); 3. Hunter Grooms, North Adams (29.78); 5. Kendra Grooms, West Union (30.19)
Boys 200M Dash: 5. Hunter Brown, North Adams (25.61)
Girls 3200M Run: 1. Katy Seas, Peebles (12:20.53); 2. Adelyn Shupert, West Union (14:51.59)
Boys 3200M Run: 2. Connor Darnell, North Adams (11:21.05); 6.Bryce Willoughby, Peebles (12:20.36); 8. Carter Vogler, Peebles (12:30.78)
Girls 4 x 400 Relay: 1. North Adams (Toole, H. Grooms, A. Grooms, Campbell), 4:36.42); 7. West Union (Armstrong, McCarty, Shupert, L. Grooms), 5:19.94; 8. Manchester (Freeman, K. Zornes, Stamm, McClanahan), 5:37.63)
Boys 4 x 400 Relay: 4. North Adams (Brown, C. Hesler, White, Frost), 4:01.17); 8. Peebles (Crum, Reed, White, Vogler), 4:11.24
Girls Discus Throw: 1. Lizzie Gill, North Adams (88’3”); 7. Jaylynn Mason, West Union (61’9”); 8. Chloe Johnson, Manchester (61’7”)
Boys Discus Throw: 3. Tyler McDonald, Peebles (94’3”); 5. Michael Hudgel, Peebles (92’); 7. Eyan Trotter, West Union (86’4”)
Girls High Jump: 1. (Tie) Ainsley Grooms, North Adams (4’6”); 4. Katie Hunter, West Union (4’6”); 5. Kendra Grooms, West Union (4’6”)
Boys High Jump: 2. Jonathan MacDowell, West Union (6’); 3. Jacob Campbell, North Adams (5’8”); 4. Christopher Oldfield, Peebles (5’6”); 5. Lane Martin, North Adams (5’6”); 6. Hunter White, Peebles (5’4”)
Girls Long Jump: 1. Sierra Kendall, North Adams (17’1”); 3. Payton Johnson, Peebles (15’1”): 7. Olivia Wright, North Adams (13’5.25”)
Boys Long Jump: 3. christopher Oldfield, Peebles (18’0.25”); 6. Cayce Chamblin, West Union (17’10”); 8. Cory Reed, Peebles (17’0.5”)
Girls Shot Put: 4. Lizzie Gill, North Adams (29’5”); 6. Jaylynn Mason, West Union (24’8.25”)
Boys Shot Put: 2. Garrett Workman, Peebles (37’6”); 4. Ian Young, Peebles (34’1.25”); 5. Jarren Edgington, North Adams (34’)
Final Girls Team Standings: North Adams 130, Fairfield 106, Eastern Brown 78.5, Peebles 70, West Union 60, Notre Dame 45, Lynchburg 44, Green 28, Whiteoak 20.5, Manchester 10, Felicity 9
Final Boys Team Standings: Whiteoak 135, Peebles 71.5, Notre Dame 60, North Adams 60, Eastern Brown 58, Fairfield 52, Green 53, Lynchburg 47.5, West Union 42, Felicity 27, Ripley 6, Manchester 1