Boys team wins inaugural Berkeley Springs Invitational

by Horace Blankenship

Saturday, March 31, was a beautiful day in Berkeley Springs, made all that much nicer with the Berkeley Springs High School boys track team winning the first-ever Berkeley Springs High School Track and Field Invitational.

"This was one the goals the boys' had," said coach David Mundey the victory. "They really wanted to win this meet and they did. It was a total team effort and I think everyone was happy."

The boys scored 160 points to easily outdistance Clear Spring, Md., who finished in second place with 89 points. Keyser was third with 86 points followed by Musselman with 85, and Hampshire County with 72. Hancock and Southern Fulton rounded out the field, scoring nine points each.

The girls had a good day too, but Hampshire County dominated the team race with 207 points. The Indians finished second with 124, followed by Musselman with 88, Keyser with 37, Clear Spring with 33, Hancock with 19 and Southern Fulton with 12.

The boys ran away from the field on the strength of nine first and four second place finishes.

The 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relay team of Cody Hess, Sam Byrne, Sammy Trump and Brian Ness continued their strong early-season success with a first place finish in each event. The quartet was clocked at 45.06 in the 4 x 100 and 1:35.75 in the 4 x 200.

The shuttle hurdle relay team of Ness, Brandon Costello, Paul Truitt and Trump, also took top honors in a winning time of 1:02.75.

Hess, who was the leadoff leg in both the victorious spring relays, won the 100 and 200 meter dashes. His winning time in the 100 was 11.28 and in the 200 24.03.

Ness, too, picked up a fourth first place finish on the day, winning the long jump with a leap of 19 feet 2.25 inches.

Paul Truitt won the 300 meter hurdles, Foster Sirbaugh the high jump and Lenny Roach the 1600 meter run, for the final first place finishes of the day. Truitt was clocked at 43.03 in the 300 hurdles, Sirbaugh cleared 6 feet 2 inches in the high jump and Roach nearly set a new school record with his winning time of 4:34.48 in the 1600.

The 4 x 800 meter relay team of Denny Golden, John Mundey, Roach and Eric Duckwall ran 9:03.53 to finish second, while Sirbaugh placed second in the long jump, Byrne second in the shot put and Truitt second in the 110 meter high hurdles.

Duckwall picked up a third place finish in the 800 meter, running a time of 2:11.47. Byrne finished fourth in the discus as did Devin Walsh in the long jump and Sean Gibson in the 400. The 4 x 400 meter relay team of Truitt, Matt Beadenkopf, Gibson and Costello placed fifth, along with Mundey who did the same in the 3200 meter run.

Trump and Walsh tied for sixth place in the high jump, to round out the scoring.

Meghan Mock and Rachel Buser led the Lady Indians to a second place finish behind Hampshire County.

Mock cleared 5 feet 2 inches to win the high jump, ran 48.25 to win the 300 meter hurdles and leaped 15 feet 4.5 inches to win the long jump, while Buser dominated the 1600 and 3200 meter runs in respective times of 5:32.78 and 11:56.

Amber Booher cleared 4 feet 10 inches in the high jump to earn second place points, Megan Risinger finished second in the 100 meter dash in a time of 13.47, while both the 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 meter relays also finished second. Risinger, Rebecca Trump, Morgan Young and Mara Hutchinson combined in the 4 x 200, while Corrie Riffle, Trump, Breanna Henry and Buser comprised the 4 x 400 meter relay team.

Both the 4 x 800 and shuttle hurdle relay teams finished third. Kari Mundey, Henry, Buser and Sandy Crum ran the 4 x 800 and Young, Trump, Hutchinson and Mock joined forces in the shuttle hurdle relays.

Also placing third was Mundey in the 3200 Henry in the 1600 and the 4 x 100 meter relay team of Risinger, Trump, Young and Hutchinson.

Katie Whittington placed fourth in the shot put, Brittany Nail in the discus and Henry in the 800. Maddy Parrill finished fifth in the shot put, Kelsey McCoy was fifth in the discus, while Courtney Kesecker and Risinger rounded out the scoring with sixth place finishes in the high jump and 200 meters, respectively.

"Hampshire County has a deep and balanced team," Mundey said. I thought we did well in spots, but we have to improve. Both teams are solid, but they must continue working hard if they want to reach their year-end goals."

Earlier in the week, Berkeley Springs traveled to Clear Spring for the Clear Spring Invitational, with both teams finishing second in the seven-team field.

Jefferson County scored 164 points in winning the boys meet. Berkeley Springs finished second with 96, followed by Hedgesville 91.67, Williamsport, 88, Clear Spring, Md. 61, North Hagerstown, Md. 45.33 and Hancock, Md. 11.

The 4 x 200 meter relay team of Hess, Byrne, Trump and Ness ran a 1:34.84 to bring back the only gold medal of the meet for the boys team.

Though they didn't win as many events as they would have liked they still managed a lot of high places, including six second place finishes. Truitt earned two individual seconds in both the 110 meter high hurdles and 300 meter intermediate hurdles. Byrne also had a pair of individual second place finishes, placing second in both the shot put and discus. Sirbaugh and Ness also finished second in the high jump and long jump, respectively.

Roach and Ness placed third in the 3200 and high jump, respectively, while the 4 x 100 meter relay team of Hess, Byrne, Trump and Ness also finished third.

The 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 meter relay teams, along with Costello in the 300 meter hurdles placed fourth. Truitt, Walsh, Gibson and Costello combined to run the 4 x 400, while Beadenkopf, Mundey, Roach and Duckwall teamed up in the 4 x 800.

Hess finished fifth in the 100, Roach was fifth in the 1600 and Sirbaugh placed fifth in the long jump. Trump rounded out the scoring with a sixth place finish in the high jump.

Jefferson County edged Berkeley Springs and Williamsport for the girls' title. The Cougars scored 141 points, Berkeley Springs 130.33 and Williamsport 129.67. North Hagerstown was fourth with 70, followed by Hedgesville 40, Clear Spring 32 and Hancock with 12.

The Lady Indians captured five events on the night including, the 100 meter hurdles, 3200 meter run, 300 meter hurdles, shot put and high jump.

Mock had three of the firsts, winning the 100 meter hurdles in a time of 16.45, clearing 5-4 in the high jump and running a 47.32 in the 300 meter hurdles. Whittington captured the shot put with a throw of 30 feet 5.5 inches and Buser won the 3200 in a time of 11:50.9.

Mock also picked up a second in the long jump as did McCoy in the discus.

Henry placed third in the 1600, Risinger was third in the 200 meter dash and Parrill finished third in the shot put. Also placing third was the 4 x 200 meter team of Risinger, Trump, Riffle and Hutchinson.

Finishing fourth was Risinger in the 100, Osborne in the 1600, Mundey in the 3200, Henry in the 800, Naill in the discus, Booher in the high jump and the 4 x 100 meter relay team of Risinger, Trump, Jordan Reedy and Hutchinson.

Osborne took fifth in the 800, McCoy fifth in the shot put and Booher sixth in the long jump.

"I thought it was a pretty good showing for our second meet of the year," Mundey said. "We are still trying to put people in the best positions to score points and don't have everything worked out yet. But, overall I am pleased with the result."

The Indians are scheduled to run in a triangular meet at Hancock tomorrow, April 5.