Peebles’ Christopher Oldfield finished second overall in the Boys High Jump event at last week’s West Union Invitational. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
West Union’s Josh Chitwood carries the baton during the Boys 4 x 200 Relay at the April 11 West Union Invitational. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester’s Emma Hurst finished fourth in the Girls 1600 Meter Run with a time of 6:29.04 at last week’s West Union Invitational. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
It was a perfect afternoon for a high school track meet as 13 girls and boys teams from southern Ohio gathered at West Union High School for the April 11 West Union High School Invitational. It turned out to be a good day for Coach Stone Crothers and his Peebles boys track squad as they took home the first place hardware, but by the slimmest of margins, topping Whiteoak by just more than a single point in the final team standings.
In her entire high school career, Peebles’ Payton Johnson has dominated the Girls 100 Meter Dash and last week at WUHS, she triumphed again, winning first place with her time of 12.90. Manchester’s Kylynn Zorenes was fifth at 14.56.
If the 100 wasn’t enough, Johnson also took the top spot in the 200 Meter Dash, crossing the finish line in a winning time of 27.00. In fifth place was Manchester’s Madison Dunn with her time of 29.61 with the Lady Hounds’ Taylor Ralston sixth at 30.01. West Union’s Emma Crawford placed sixth in the Girls 400 Meter Dash (1:10.83).
In the Girls 800 Meter Run, West Union’s Makenna Armstrong placed fourth in a time of 2:54.10 with Manchester’s Madison Lejzerowicz seventh at 3:00.70. Manchester’s Emma Hurst finished fourth in the Girls 1600 Meter Run with her finish time of 6:29.04 with West Union’s Sadie Armstrong sixth at 6:36.86. In the grueling 3200 Meter Run, West Union’s Maisy Yeager was fifth with a time of 18:55.39.
Madison Dunn from MHS placed fourth overall in the Girls 100 Meter Hurdles (19.26) while teammate AddieMae Padgett was sixth (1:00.93).
West Union was fifth and Manchester sixth in the Girls 4 x 100 Relay and the Lady Hounds and Lady Dragons were fourth and fifth respectively in the 4 x 200 Relay. West Union was third in the 4 x 400 Relay and second in the 4 x 800 Relay.
In the girls field events, West Union’s Emma Crawford was fifth in the High Jump, her best jump coming at 4’2”. Manchester’s Raegan Wikoff placed third in the Long Jump with her effort of 14’3.5”.
On the boys side, Peebles Cory Reed was the champion of the 100 Meter Dash with a time of 11.83 with teammate Jayce West fifth at 12.21. West placed third in the 200 Meter Dash (25.01) with fellow Indian Dallas Wilkinson right behind in fourth place (25.39). In the 400 Meter Dash, Peebles’ Carter Vogler finished third with his time of 56.83 with teammate Hayden Browning sixth at 59.89. The Boys 800 Meter Run, Peebles’ Hayden Crum was fifth with his time of 2:24.34 with West Union’s Arbutus Wuest right behind in sixth (2:27.24). Crum placed fourth overall in the 1600 Meters with a time of 5:32.03 with Manchester’s Ryan Butcher-Raines fifth at 5:34.97. Manchester’s Connor Darnell was the champion of the 3200 Meters. crossing the line with a time of 10:57.43.
West Union’s Josh Chitwood placed second in the Boys 110 Meter Hurdles with a time of 19.43 with Peebles’ Christian Gerth sixth at 21.24.
In the Boys 4 x 100 Relay, Peebles was the winner (46.97) and the Indians repeated that top finish in the 3 x 200 Relay (1:39.45). The Indians placed fourth in the 4 x 400 Relay (4:04.49) and third in the 4 x 800 Relay (9:39.30).
Christopher Oldfield from Peebles finished second in the Boys High Jump, his best effort clearing the bar at 5’8”. Oldfield was the champion of the Boys Long Jump, landing at a distance of 20’1.5” with teammate Cory Reed second at 18’8’ and West Union’s Trey Bracken third (18’5”).
Manchester’s Mason Gillam was the champion of the Boys Discus Throw with a toss of 98’9” with Peebles’ John Nichols coming in third with a throw of 86’3”. Peebles’ Nathaniel Cummings placed second overall in the Boys Shot Put with a throw of 39’9.75”.
The next big meet in the county was held on Tuesday, April 18 at North Adams High School. Look for a report on that event in a future edition of The People’s Defender.
2023 West Union Invitational
Girls Team Standings: 1. Eastern Brown; 2. Leesburg Fairfield; 3. Georgetown; 4. Portsmouth Notre Dame; 5. Whiteoak; 6. Felicity-Franklin; 7. West Union; 8. Fayetteville; 9. Manchester; 10. Lynchburg; 11. Peebles
Boys Team Standings: 1. Peebles; 2. Whiteoak; 3. Georgetown; 4. Eastern Brown; 5. Manchester; 6. Fayeteville; 7. West Union; 8. Felicity-Franklin; 9. Lynchburg-Clay; 10. Portsmouth Notre Dame; 11. Ripley
