Girls track team second, boys fourth at Jim Taylor Relays

Berkeley Springs High School opened its track and field season on Saturday, March 24, at the 13-team Jim Taylor Relays held in Shenandoah Junction. The girls team placed second, while the boys team finished fourth.

It was an opportunity for the athletes to taste competition and for the coaches to start putting pieces of the puzzle together.

"We were eager to see what some of the younger kids could do and how much improvement, if any, the veterans would show," said Berkeley Springs coach Dave Mundey. "For the most part we are pleased with the effort, but realize that there is a lot of work to be done. We were the smallest school in the field, so we can't be disappointed with where our teams placed. This was a great opportunity for us to look at some of the younger kids and to see where some of the athletes best fit."

The girls captured first in the high jump and discus relays on their way to scoring 52 points and finishing in second place. Meghan Mock, Courtney Kesecker and Amber Booher combined to win the high jump, while Brittany Nail, Maddy Parrill and Kelsey McCoy combined to capture the shot put.

Earning silver medals was the 4x1600 meter relay team of Kari Mundey, Breanna Henry, Ardath Osborne and Rachel Buser along with Katie Whittington, McCoy and Parrill in the shot put, and the high jump relay team of Mock, Booher and Kesecker.

The Lady Indians rounded out their scoring with a third place finish in the distance medley relay. Once again it was the quartet of Mundey, Henry, Osborne and Buser that got the job done.

The boys also had a strong showing, scoring 38 points to finish in fourth place.

Brian Ness, Foster Sirbaugh and Devin Walsh joined forces to win first place in both the high jump and long jump relays, while establishing a new meet record of a combined 59 feet 6 inches in the long jump.

Both the shuttle hurdle and 4x100 relay teams managed to earn second place honors.

Sammy Trump, Walsh, Ness and Paul Truitt combined time of 1:03.08 in the shuttle hurdles, while Trump, Cody Hess, Sam Byrne and Cody Reed combined for a second place finish in the 4x100.

Rounding out the scoring for the boys team, with a fifth place finish, was the 4x1600 meter relay team of Lenny Roach, Denny Golden, Cory Yarrington and John Mundey.

"This was a nice event to begin the year with," said Mundey. "This week we have two invitational meets. These will give us a better opportunity to see how we stack up individually in a few events. We started out okay, but we really need to work hard at practice so many of the individual and team goals can be achieved."

Berkeley Springs travels to Clear Spring, Md. this evening, March 28, for the Clear Spring Invitational and will host its own invitational this Saturday, March 31, with field events scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.

Jim Taylor Team Scores

Boys

      1.     Stone Bridge, Va.     73

      2.     Loudoun Valley, Va.     48

     3.     Martinsburg     43

     4.     Berkeley Springs     38

     5.     James Wood, Va.     36

     6.     Millbrook, Va.      32

     7.     Broad Run, Va.     31

     8.     Jefferson     24

     9.     Hedgesville     18

     10.     Briar Woods, Va.     9

     11.     Clarke County, Va.     8

     12.     Musselman     7

     13.     North Hagerstown, Md.     4

Girls

     1.     Loudoun Valley, Va.     70

     2.     Berkeley Springs     52

     3.     Millbrook, Va.     51

     4.     Jefferson     50

     5.     Broad Run, Va.     29

      6.     Stone Bridge, Va.     25

     7.     North Hagerstown, Md.     20

     8.     Briar Woods, Va.     19

      8.     Musselman     19

     10.     Hedgesville     12

     10.     James Wood, Va.     12

     12.     Clarke County, Va.     9

     13.     Martinsburg      3