Tucker County invaded Keyser slashing the finish line through the intense heat for the Potomac Valley Conference Boys and Girls Track Championships, while the Cougars attacked for the silver medal and Moorefield buzzed into the bronze medal last Wednesday.
The Lady Mountain Lions pounced for a team title winning 266 points, followed by East Hardy in second place with 74 points, Moorefield took third place with 71 points, Pendleton County and Union tied for fourth place at 35 points and Paw Paw rounded out the competition with two points.
Tucker County Boys Track commandeered 234 points in the PVC victory, while the Cougars were the runner-up with 124 points, Moorefield placed third at 62 points, the Wildcats were fourth at 53 points and Paw Paw garnered fifth place with 51 points.
The Hardy County Boys Track and Field teams combined for 36 place winners as the top six competitors earned points in the PVC Track Meet and the Hardy County Girls collected 31 total.
Hardy County collected a handful of individual and team relay championships at the PVC Track Meet.
Individually, Moorefield’s Hope Aristidou won top honors in the girls 100 meter high hurdles in a time of 18.59 and Paul Peters swept the shot put and discus championships with distance throws of 41’10” and 122’9.5”, respectively.
For the PVC team championships, Moorefield Girls claimed the 4×100 meter relay title and the East Hardy Boys garnered the gold medals for the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×800 meter relay races.
The Moorefield Girls 4×100 relay team of Rachel Shaffer, Desirae Morris, Taylor Swisher and Cassie Mooney set a personal record with a time of 55.92 in the gold medal win.
“I am really proud of our girls. They put in a lot of hard work and it is exciting to see them win the 4×100 relay. We hope to continue improving, so we can send more to the state tournament. It was a really hot day, but a great clear day for a track meet,” Moorefield Girls Track coach Vivian Carr stated.
The Cougars 4×100 relay squad of Phillip Mullin, Chance Dove, Jesse Dove and Aden Funkhouser secured first place in a time of 46.91 which was fractions of a second away from the all-time East Hardy school record which was held since 2009 involving coach Devon Orndorff.
East Hardy Boys 4×200 relay team finished in a time of 1:37.58 starting with Mullin, Adam Larson, Funkhouser and anchored by Jesse Dove.
East Hardy Boys 4×800 relay quartet of Nathan Phillips, Christian Robinson, Bryce Tharp and Jesse Dove took the gold medal in a time of 9:10.01.
“I’m really excited about our performance today. We won three relay races and our 4×100 team nearly broke the school record which I was a part of in high school,” East Hardy Boys Track coach Devon Orndorff remarked.
“We still need to work on our handoffs for the relays, but other than that we were doing well. I am impressed by our freshmen’s times today and that comes from the benefit of having a middle school program. You can see how much faster they are now with that experience starting in sixth grade.”
Union Girls Track sprinter Lexi Sirk won the 100 and 200 meter dash races in times of 13.49 and 27.10, respectively.
Moorefield Girls Track placed three in the top six during the 100 meter dash, while East Hardy placed two in the top six of the 200 meter dash.
Moorefield’s Cassie Mooney was third overall in the 100 meter dash at 14.78, followed by teammates Rachel Shaffer in fourth place at 14.93 and Taylor Swisher was sixth place at 15.49.
East Hardy’s SierraMarie Miller placed third in the 200 meter dash in a time of 28.62 and teammate Marina Stotelmyer was in sixth place at 31.59.
The Lady Cougars notched a place winner in the 400 meter run as Emili Flynn took the bronze medal in a time of 1:07.14.
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In the 800 meter run, Moorefield’s Shyanne Whetzel placed fifth with a time of 3:10.14.
Tucker County Girls Track won all the mid-distance and long distance championship runs: 400 Emily Crosten, 800 Mackenzie Zirk, 1600 Riley Evans and 3200 Resi Anderson.
Aristidou was the gold medal winner in the 100 meter high hurdles, while teammate Allyson Loften secured the bronze medal in a time of 19.56 and East Hardy’s Rayne Metzer finished in fourth place at 20.45 and teammate Jaden Fleshman placed sixth overall in 20.89.
In the girls 300 meter low hurdles, East Hardy’s Rayne Metzer placed fourth in a time of 59.47 and Moorefield’s Lexi Helman took fifth place at 1:07.62.
Hardy County did quite well in the relay races overall, including the Moorefield Girls placing first in the 4×100 as East Hardy finished in 57.29 for the bronze medal with the team of Emili Flynn, Jaden Fleshman, Holly Williams and Emma Lutz.
The Lady Mountain Lions 4×200 team won the PVC title in a time of 1:58.71 including Sydney Nestor, Mckinley Murphy, Cecily Strawderman and Addie Buckley.
East Hardy Girls 4×200 team placed second in 2:01.80 with Marina Stotelmyer, Jaden Fleshman, Holly Williams and Emma Lutz; followed by the Lady Yellow Jackettes at 2:04.86 with Laila Spitzer, Allyson Loften, Rachel Shaffer and Cassie Mooney.
Tucker County Girls took top honors in the 4×400, 4×800 and shuttle hurdles.
East Hardy Girls 4×400 team placed second at 4:40.54 with Flynn, Lutz, Stotelmyer and SierraMarie Miller; while Moorefield took third in 5:31.98 with Isabelle Nesbit, Shyanne Whetzel, Spitzer and Makenzie Wratchford.
Moorefield Girls 4×800 relay squad finished in second place in 12:53.30 with Morgan Armentrout, Desirae Morris, Whetzel and Brooke Ketterman; followed by East Hardy at 14:39.98 with Stotelmyer, Jasmine Abrell, Liz Dove and Mariah Payne.
“I am very happy with our performance. We were in second place finishing as the runner-up against Tucker County. I will take that any day. We had some good times and we will continue to practice hard for regionals,” East Hardy Girls Track coach Monica Combs noted.
The Lady Mountain Lions won the shuttle hurdles, while both Moorefield and East Hardy squads were disqualified.
Tucker County’s Sydney Moore won the high jump clearing the 5’0” bar, followed by East Hardy’s Miller at 4’8” and Flynn at 4’6”.
Moore took top honors in the long jump at 15’9”, while Miller was fourth overall at 13’6.5” and Moorefield’s Desirae Morris placed fifth at 13’1”.
Tucker County Girls thrower Carleigh Bolyard garnered the gold medal in the shot put at 31’1” and discus at 89’10”.
East Hardy’s Emma Lutz placed fourth in the shot put at 26’4”, followed by Moorefield’s Kaitlin Orndorff at 25’10” and East Hardy’s Summer Funkhouser at 25’2”.
In the girls discus, Moorefield’s Brooke Ketterman took fourth place at 70’4”, followed by Orndorff at 69’5” and East Hardy’s Funkhouser was sixth overall at 69’3”.
Tucker County Boys Track sprinter Jacob Davis won the PVC championship in the 100 meter dash in a time of 11.88.
East Hardy’s Phillip Mullin took the silver medal in the 100 meter dash with a time of 12.13.
The Mountain Lions were atop the 200 meter run as Will White won in 24.13.
East Hardy finished with the silver and bronze medals as Aden Funkhouser was in second place with a time of 24.30 and Drew Kelican had a time of 24.81.
Moorefield’s Jon Paugh was a place winner with a sixth place time of 25.11.
Tucker County’s Jack Melnick grabbed the 400 meter run title in a time of 52.85 and East Hardy’s Aaron Fishel picked up fourth place points in a time of 56.49.
Pendleton County’s Dawson Apple claimed the gold medals in the 800 meter run at 2:06.28 and the one-miler at 4:51.04.
East Hardy’s Nathan Phillips placed fourth in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:15.66 and teammate Christian Robinson was fifth overall at 2:28.99.
Phillips garnered the bronze medal in the one-miler finishing at 5:00.08 and teammate Dylan White was sixth place at 5:27.95.
Paw Paw’s Dominic Taneuye won the 3200 meter run in a time of 11:19.62 and White finished in fifth place for the Cougars at 12:01.91.
Tucker County’s Ben Callaway took top honors in the 110 high hurdles at 16.57 and 300 intermediate hurdles at 42.19.
East Hardy’s Adam Larson snatched the silver medal in the 110HH in a time of 17.19 and placed sixth in the 300IH at 47.25.
Drew Kelican took fourth place in the 110HH for the Cougars with a time of 17.53 and Moorefield’s Luis Rodriguez was sixth overall at 19.69.
East Hardy’s Bryce Tharp earned the bronze medal in the 300IH race with a time of 43.06, followed by Moorefield’s Jon Paugh at 44.97.
Moorefield Boys 4×100 relay team placed third in a time of 47.67 with Seth Snyder, Matt Wright, Eric McCausley and Jackson Weese.
The Yellow Jackets 4×200 relay squad garnered the bronze medal in a time of 1:41.74 with Snyder, Paugh, Ben Pyles and Weese.
Tucker County Boys 4×400 relay team won the gold medal with a time of 3:42.91, followed by East Hardy with a silver medal time of 3:46.86 featuring Jesse Dove, Nathan Phillips, Aaron Fishel and Aden Funkhouser.
Moorefield Boys 4×400 squad placed fourth overall at 4:01.32 with Wright, Pyles, Matthew Weatherholt and Weese.
East Hardy Boys 4×800 relay team won, while the Yellow Jackets placed third at 9:56.38 with Wright, Weatherholt, Weese and Pyles.
Tucker County Boys secured a top finish in the shuttle hurdles with a time of 1:03.29, followed in second place by East Hardy at 1:04.53 with Larson, Kelican, Tharp and Chance Dove.
Moorefield Boys team took third place at 1:10.08 with Skyler Ratcliff, Eric McCausley, Paxton Coby and Pyles.
The Mountain Lions won the top three spots in the boys high jump led Will White clearing the 5’8” bar, while Moorefield’s Seth Wilson placed fifth at 5’4” and Riley Hedrick was sixth overall at 5’0”.
Tucker County was the only team to compete in the pole vault competition for boys and girls with the winners being Zoe Nestor at 6’6” and Josh Callaway at 8’6”.
Tucker County’s Ethan Pacella won the long jump with a leap of 18’8”, while Moorefield’s Matt Wright had a personal best distance of 16’8.5” for fifth place and teammate Seth Wilson was sixth overall at 15’9”.
As mentioned earlier, Moorefield’s Paul Peters took top honors in the shot put and discus.
East Hardy’s Phillip Mullin earned the silver medal in the shot put with a throw of 41.7.5” and Moorefield’s Seth Wilson placed fifth at 36’8.5”.
East Hardy’s Alex Vance garnered the bronze medal in the discus with a distance of 103’9.5” and teammate Logan Neff took fourth place at 102’3”.
It was an impressive outing for the Hardy County teams at the PVC Track & Field Championship.
The Region II Track Championship will be held in Lewis County on May 11 with an opportunity for our local student-athletes to earn a trip to the State Track Meet in Charleston on May 18-19.
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