Berkeley Springs Girls Track Team wins quad
by Horace Blankenship
On the strength of ten first place finishes, Berkeley Springs easily defeated Mercersburg Academy, Southern Fulton and McConnelsburg to win a quadrangular meet in Mercersburg, Pa.
Meghan Mock led the way, winning four individual events. Mock won the 100 meter hurdles in a time of 15.9 seconds, the high jump (5-4), the long jump (16-11 ) and the 300 meter hurdles (48.3).
"Meghan had a good meet," said Berkeley Springs coach David Mundey. She is having a very good year. Her times and distances have been pretty good, but the weather hasn't been much of an ally. Sooner or later we are going to get some warm weather and when that happens I expect her to challenge some of her own school records."
Both the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams also brought home gold. The 4x100 team of Megan Risinger, Corrie Riffle, Jordan Reedy and Rebecca Trump won in a season-best time of 55.3, while Rachel Buser, Breanna Henry, Trump and Riffle teamed up to win the 4x400 in a time of 4:33.6.
Buser won the 1600 meter run in an impressive time of 5:23.5, Katie Whittington tossed the shot put 30 feet 2 inches to win one throwing event, while Brittany Nail won the discus with a throw of 84 feet 10 inches. Risinger won the 100 meter dash (13.5) and the 4 x 800 meter relay team of Buser, Kari Mundey, Ardath Osborne and Henry won the distance relay in a time of 10:56.
Booher finished second in both the high jump and long jump, Riffle finished second in the 400, Buser took second in the 800, Trump in the 200, Mundey in the 3200, Maddy Parrill in the shot put and Kelsey McCoy in the discus.
Finishing third was Henry in both the 1600 and 800, Osborne in the 3200, Morgan Young in the long jump and Reedy in the 100.
Risinger and McCoy rounded out the scoring with fourth place finishes in the 200 and shot put, respectively.
The Lady Indians totaled 116.5 points to 67.5 for Mercersburg academy, 41 for Southern Fulton and 25 for McConnelsburg.
The boys team finished third behind McConnellsburg and Mercersburg Academy. McConnellsburg scored 117 points, Mercersburg Academy 70, Berkeley Springs 64 and Southern Fulton eight.
Both the 4x100 (Cody Hess, Sam Byrne, Cody Reed and Brian Ness) and 4x800 (Denny Golden, Lenny Roach, John Mundey and Eric Duckwall) meter relay teams won in respective times of 9:04.7 and 45.1. Roach won the 3200 (10:47.5), Foster Sirbaugh the high jump (6-4) and Reed the shot put with a throw of 42 feet 6.5 inches.
Ness and Byrne each had a pair of second place finishes. Ness was second in both the 110 meter high hurdles and high jump, while Byrne was runner-up in both the 200 and shot put.
Hess was third in the 100, Sirbaugh finished third in the long jump, Roach placed fourth in the 1600, Brandon Costello was fourth in the 300 meter hurdles and Ness finished fourth in the long jump. Rounding out the scoring with fifth place finishes were Sean Gibson in the 400, Cody Riffle in the 3200 and Devin Walsh in the long jump.
"We've been coming to this meet for years and this is the first time we've won, so obviously I am very pleased with the result," Mundey said. "The boys did a pretty good job too, but were a little shorthanded."
On Saturday, April 14, Berkeley Springs traveled to Clarksburg for the Harry Green Invitational. Neither team had their best day, with the girls finishing fifth and the boys ninth.
Neither team brought home a champion with Mock's three, second-place finishes in the 300 meter hurdles, long jump and high jump, the best finishes of the day for Berkeley Springs.
McCoy highlighted the four third place finishes as she set a new school record of 97 feet 10 inches to place third in the discus. Buser finished third in the 3200, with a season best time of 11:27.63. Ness placed third in the long jump and Byrne was third in the discus.
Earning fourth place finishes were Buser in the 1600, Booher in the high jump, Whittington in the girls shot put and Reed in the boys shot put.
Roach was fifth in the 3200, despite a season best time of 10:17.8, Sirbaugh in the high jump, Byrne in the shot put, Mock on the 100 meter hurdles, along with the boys shuttle hurdle team of Costello, Ness, Truitt and Walsh and both the girls 4x100 and 4x200 meter relay teams of Reedy, Riffle, Risinger and Trump.
Both the girls and boys 4x800 meter relay teams finished sixth. Running for the girls was Buser, Henry, Mundey and Osborne and for the boys, Duckwall, Mundey, Golden and Roach.
"This was one of those days where if something could go wrong it did," said a dejected Mundey. "We dropped a baton, were disqualified in another relay and had people fall in races. It just wasn't our day."
Both teams will compete Wednesday, April 18, at Jefferson County for the Apple Valley League title and will then head to Morgantown on Saturday, April 21, for the WVU Invitational.
Harry Green Invitational Team Scores:
Girls
1. Buckhannon-Upshur 104
2. Winfield 88
3. Preston County 67
4. Hurricane 64
5. Berkeley Springs 55
6. Lincoln 36
7. Bridgeport 34
8. Jefferson County 32
9. University 27
10. Hedgesville 15.5
11. Logan 10
12. Grafton 7
12. Fairmont Senior 7
14. Keyser 4
15. South Harrison 2
15. Liberty 2
17. University – B 1
Boys
1. Jefferson County 80
2. Winfield 73
3. Bridgeport 59
4. Hedgesville 55
5. Keyser 43
6. South Harrison 42
7. Buckhannon-Upshur 41
8. University 29
9. Berkeley Springs 25
10. Robert C. Byrd 23
11. Preston County 20
11. Grafton 20
13. Liberty 16
13. Fairmont Senior 16
15. Lincoln 11
