Girls track team wins Tri-State Invitational

After just missing titles in each of the past two Tri-State Invitational Track and Field Meets, the Berkeley Springs girls team wouldn't be denied, winning their first-ever Tri-State title in the 21-year history of the event, on Wednesday, April 25 in Hancock, Maryland.

Leading the way was Meghan Mock, voted the most outstanding female track athlete of the meet. Mock won all four events she entered. The 400 meter run in a time 1:01.5, the high jump (5-0), the long jump (15-6.5) and the 100 meter hurdles (16.1).

"It was a really good victory for our girls, one well deserved," said Berkeley Springs coach David Mundey. This was a total team effort and I couldn't be prouder. The conditions were tough, but our kids still performed pretty well."

The weather was nasty, with temperatures hovering around 50 degrees, with occasional wind and rain. But the weather did not deter the Indians who posted ten wins in the eighteen-event Invitational.

Also earning first place finishes for Berkeley Springs was the 4x800 meter relay team of Rachel Buser, Kari Mundey, Breanna Henry and Ardath Osborne. The quartet ran a 10:27.3 to establish a new meet record.

Megan Risinger won the 100 meter dash in a time of 13.3 and ran the lead leg of the winning 4x200 meter relay team, that also included Rebecca Trump, Jordan Reedy and Mara Hutchinson, who were timed in 1:58.7.

Buser won the 3200 (11:40.5), Henry the 1600 (5:50.1) and Brittany Nail the discus (82-5).

Kati Whittington and Kelsey McCoy finished second in the shot put and discus, respectively. Mundey placed third in the 1600, Trump finished third in the 200 and the 4x400 meter relay team also recorded at third. Finishing fourth was Osborne in the 3200, Risinger in the 200 and Amber Booher in the high jump. Maddy Parrill placed fifth in the shot put and Reedy was sixth in the 100.

The boys won five events on their way to a second place finish.

Leading the way was Brian Ness. Ness won both the high jump (6-4) and the 300 meter hurdles (42-2) and was on the winning 4x100 meter relay team that included Cody Hess, Cody Reed and Sam Byrne which ran an impressive 44.9. He also had a fourth place finish in the 100 meter dash.

Paul Truitt set a personal best of 15.6 to win the 110 meter high hurdles and anchored the 4x200 meter relay team to a winning time of 1:35.9. Joining Truitt on the team were Hess, Reed and Byrne.

Truitt placed second in the 300 meter hurdles, Byrne was second in the discus and Foster Sirbaugh placed second in the long jump. Lenny Roach placed third in the 1600 and fourth in the 800.

Hess finished fifth in the 100 and 200 as did the 4x400 meter relay team, John Mundey in the 3200 and Byrne in the discus. Finishing sixth was Brandon Costello in the 110 meter high hurdles, Reed in the shot put and Devin Walsh in the long jump.

"I thought we did pretty well," said Mundey. McConnellsburg has a good team and more depth than we do."

Girls team scores

     Berkeley Springs     160

     North Bedford, Pa.     152

     Clear Spring, Md.     80

     McConnellsburg, Pa.     71

     Hancock, Md.     69

     Southern Fulton, Pa.     58

     Tussey Mountain, Pa.     40

     Faith Christian, Pa.     37

     East Hardy      21

Boys team scores

     McConnellsburg     158.5

     Berkeley Springs     137

     North Bedford     118.5

     Clear Spring     111

     Tussey Mountain     52

     Hancock     48

     East Hardy     46

     Southern Fulton     12

     Faith Christian     8

Both the girls and boys teams placed second in the Class AA division at the Gazette Relays, held at Laidley Field in Charleston West Virginia on April 27 and 28.

Winfield won both the girls and boys meets, with the Indians finishing a distant second in the girls meet and close second in the boys meet.

The highlight of the two-day event for the Indians was Rachel Buser's record-setting performance in the 3200 meter run. Buser established a new Class AA record with a time of 11:17.96, breaking the old mark of 11:22.94, set in 1999 by Jessica Taylor of Fayetteville.

The only other first place Berkeley Spring could manage was in the 300 meter hurdles, where defending state champion Meghan Mock ran a 45.98, her best time of the year.

Mock also placed second in three other events. The talented junior was second in the 100 meter hurdles, the high jump and the long jump. It took record-setting performances in each of the two jumping events to beat Mock. Sandy Cummings of Sissonsville set a new record in the high jump with a leap of 5-7.5, while Sara Lee of South Point, Ohio set a new standard in the long jump with a leap of 17-8.5.

Buser was second in the 1600 and was joined by Trump, Corrie Riffle and Henry on the second place 4x400 meter relay team. She also anchored the second place 4x800 meter relay team that included Mundey, Henry and Osborne.

Henry placed third in the 1600 as did Katie Whittington in the shot put.

The foursome of Reedy, Trump, Riffle and Hutchinson placed fifth in the 4x200 meter relay and sixth in the 4x100 meter relay. Trump, Hutchinson, Booher and Reedy finished sixth in the shuttle hurdle relay and Mundey was sixth in the 3200 meter run.

The quartet of Hess, Reed, Byrne and Ness claimed the only first place finishes in the boys meet for Berkeley Springs. They won both the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relays in respective times of 44.94 and 1:34.13.

Byrne was second in the 100, while Roach picked up second place finishes in both the 1600 and 3200 meter runs. Truitt joined Walsh, Costello and Ness to finish third in the shuttle hurdle relay, and placed third in the 300 meter hurdles and fourth in the 110 meter high hurdles. Also placing fourth was Ness in the 300 meter hurdles, while he rounded out the scoring with a sixth place finish in the long jump.

"I am really happy overall and especially happy for the kids," Mundey said. "This was a very good experience for them. They got to run at Laidley Field where the state meet will be held against some of the top teams in the state. Our attention is now focused on the Regional Tournament. I know the kids are really looking forward to it and so am I."'

The Region II Class AA Tournament will be held a Lewis County High School on May 10.

Women - AA - team rankings

18 events scored

1) WINFIELD HS      146

2) BERKELEY SPRINGS HS       97

3) LINCOLN HS      55.25

4) Ironton HS       44

5) OAK HILL HS      36

6) ROANE COUNTY HS      32

7) Philip Barbour HS      28.25

8) LOGAN HS      26

9) South Point, OH      23

10) SISSONVILLE HS      21

11) POINT PLEASANT HS      19

12) LIBERTY (HARRISON) HS       15

13) GRAFTON HS      8

14) LIBERTY (RALEIGH) HS      4.50

15) WAYNE HS      2

Men - AA - Team Rankings

18 Events Scored

1) WINFIELD HS      77

2) BERKELEY SPRINGS HS      65

3) RAVENSWOOD HS      64

4) Philip Barbour HS      58

5) South Point, OH      48

6) SISSONVILLE HS      42

7) LINCOLN HS      28

8) Fairland HS      27

9) Ironton HS      26

10) GRAFTON HS       25

11) WAYNE HS      20

12) OAK HILL HS      18

13) ROANE COUNTY HS      16

14) POINT PLEASANT HS      12

15) INDEPENDENCE SENIOR HS      10

15) LIBERTY (HARRISON) HS      10

17) WEBSTER COUNTY HS      8

18) LIBERTY (RALEIGH) HS      4