Competition stays tough with Mercer and Boyle track teams

Published 12:43 pm Monday, April 24, 2017

Mercer County’s 4×400 meter boys relay at Friday’s Boyle County Invitational showcased just how scary the Titans track team can be.

The event is the last one of the day and coach Terry Yeast’s favorite. He says he sets that relay before anything else.

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But on Friday, Yeast said they had to change two legs of the relay, even after his team was already short some athletes due to a soccer tournament in Indianapolis.

“I’ve always got to figure out a way, the first relay I set is the 4×4, then we work from there,” Yeast said. “And we ended up changing two legs tonight, kids were sore or struggling from other events. So kids came in and stepped up. It’s always fun to finish with a win in the 4×4.”

The race ended in familiar fashion for the Titans — Chase Edwards held off North Laurel to win by less than a second.

With that win, the event ended the way many expected: a Mercer County title. The Titans have been dominant on the track since last season’s Class 2A state title.

“I was a little worried, being shorthanded, but I think it just proves the depth that we have,” Yeast said. “We have some kids that we moved around, and we had kids that stepped up. I was really proud of them.”

Yeast noted a trio of athletes — all winners in more than one event — who stood out to him.

“Ty Divine had a big day, he ran a great 800 and came back and ran a phenomenal 4×400 leg,” the coach said. “I was really proud of him. Aaron Johnson and Chase Edwards had big days for us. I was really, really proud.”

Mercer expected to have some tougher competition Friday against Paducah Tilghman, but the Blue Tornado brought only their girls track team to Boyle County.

On the girls side, the invitational boasted the top four teams in 2A: Boyle, Mercer, Paducah Tilghman and John Hardin.

And the Rebels won handily.

Boyle coach Brent Wagner said teams like Paducah Tilghman and John Hardin likely came to the event to see how they matched up against the top teams in the class.

The Rebels got some of that themselves in the boys’ events, going up against Mercer.

“From the boys standpoint, we had a lot of great performances,” Wagner said. “Our 4×2 had a great time, our 4×1 broke our school record from the state champions back in 2012. We jumped up in the state rankings in both of those events and a lot of other performances. Mitchell Paycheck had a great throw in the discus, Will Imfeld had his best jump in the triple jump, Landen Bartleson won the 100 and the 200. We had a lot of great things happen. We’re taking it meet by meet. It’s all about May.”

Mercer boys beat Boyle by 30.5 points, while Boyle girls placed first by 29.5 points. Mercer girls placed third with 102 points, just two points ahead of John Hardin.

For both Boyle and Mercer, the best competition might be what they face in practice: 18 of Friday’s individual events had at least two athletes from Boyle and/or Mercer in the top five.

“What helps us is what we do in practice,” Wagner said. “The state meet will be interesting because where we’re strong, Paducah’s strong, John Hardin is strong. We’ll be battling back and forth. We got to see a lot of that today, we learned a lot about them and I’m sure they learned a lot about us. At the end of the day, we’ll go back to practice, compete against each other and keep reminding ourselves that it’s all about May.”

Follow Matt Overing on Twitter @MOvering

Boyle County Invitational

Friday, April 21

Winners and top area results

Girls team rankings

  1. Boyle County, 140.70
  2. Paducah Tilghman, 111.20
  3. Mercer County, 102
  4. John Hardin, 100
  5. East Jessamine, 57

Boys team rankings

  1. Mercer County, 160.50
  2. Boyle County, 130
  3. East Jessamine, 87
  4. Lexington Christian, 72

8. Burgin, 23

Girls 4×800 meter relay

  1. Mercer County (Haley Blevins, Hailey Stinnett, Faith Lake, Lexy Lake), 10:19.26

5. Boyle County (Emma Jackson, Loren Ladd, Valerie Fieberg, Amelia Fogle), 10:51.70

Boys 4×800 meter relay

  1. Boyle County (Malik Allahham, Jackson Cox, Trey Gilliland, Taylor Whitsell), 8:27.07

6. Burgin (Drew Hatfield, Hunter Preston, Trevor Lay, Wesley Qualls), 9:03.85

11. Mercer County (Andrew Turpin, Gavin Murphy, Brennen Walton, Luke Dean), 9:40.87

Girls 100 meter hurdles

  1. Emmie Harris, Boyle County, 16.55
  2. Kaylee Lanigan, Boyle County, 16.66

9. Sheridan Stigall, Mercer County, 19.42

Boys 110 meter hurdles

  1. Aaron Johnson, Mercer County, 15.16
  2. Lukas Jones, Mercer County, 16.30

5. Peter Shipley, Boyle County, 17.51

Girls 100 meter dash

  1. Valesha Watson, Paducah Tilghman, 13.02

3. Daneezia Patton, Boyle County, 13.25

3. Kylie Thompson, Boyle County, 13.25

Boys 100 meter dash

  1. Landen Bartleson, Boyle County, 11.29

5. D Smith, Mercer County, 11.94

6. Chris Duffy, Boyle County, 11.96

Girls 4×200 meter relay

  1. Boyle County (Chelsea Elmore, Daneezia Patton, Kylie Thompson, Kaylee Lanigan), 1:46.44

5. Mercer County (Calicia Smith, Zhunai Yeast, Emma Davis, Maegan Sallee), 1:57.38

13. Burgin (Shelby Beasley, Abigale Church, Sarah Coots, Jayden Watkins), 2:30.40

Boys 4×200 meter relay

  1. Boyle County (Landen Bartleson, Chris Duffy, Marquise Kinley, Reese Smith), 1:32.68
  2. Mercer County (Rhyan Lanham, Mishi Easterling, Chase Edwards, Lukas Jones), 1:34.47

6. Burgin (Michael Mckenzie, Hunter Preston, Cade Shearer, Wesley Stewart), 1:42.14

Girls 1600 meter run

  1. Kendall Hayes, Lexington Christian, 5:29.07

3. Haley Blevins, Mercer County, 5:47.69

4. Amelia Fogle, Boyle County, 5:50.01

Boys 1600 meter run

  1. Jackson Cox, Boyle County, 4:49.17

4. Wesley Qualls, Burgin, 4:53.30

8. Malik Allahham, Boyle County, 5:00.12

Girls 4×100 meter relay

  1. Paducah Tilghman (Nautica Beasley, Tanaisha Jordan, Brantarius Millikan, Valesha Watson), 50.41

4. Mercer County (Alexis Bridgewaters, Annie Compton, Zhunai Yeast, Hannah Yulee), 55.07

11. Burgin (Shelby Beasley, Jayden Watkins, Sarah Coots, Lilly Essex), 1:10.68

Boys 4×100 meter relay

  1. Boyle County (Landen Bartleson, Chris Duffy, Marquise Kinley, Reese Smith), 43.68

4. Mercer County (Grayson Blevins, D Smith, Malachi Yulee, Rhyan Lanham), 46.36

9. Burgin (Cade Shearer, Wesley Stewart,  Daylan Hodges, Ethan Kestler), 53.74

Girls 400 meter dash

  1. Valesha Watson, Paducah Tilghman, 59.19
  2. Chelsea Elmore, Boyle County, 1:00.24

12. Lexy Lake, Mercer County, 1:07.08

Boys 400 meter dash

  1. Chase Edwards, Mercer County, 52.08

4. Camden Martin, Mercer County, 52.77

8. Wesley Qualls, Burgin, 55.86

Girls 300 meter hurdles

  1. Alexis Witherspoon, John Hardin, 47.58

3. Emmie Harris, Boyle County, 48.11

4. Kaylee Lanigan, Boyle County, 48.71

Boys 300 meter hurdles

  1. Aaron Johnson, Mercer County, 39.90
  2. Lukas Jones, Mercer County, 42.12
  3. Peter Shipley, Boyle County, 42.57

Girls 800 meter run

  1. Phoebe McCowan, South Laurel, 2:28.80

3. Hailey Stinnett, Mercer County, 2:31.93

4. Faith Lake, Mercer County, 2:36.00

Boys 800 meter run

  1. Ty Divine, Mercer County, 2:01.8
  2. Jackson Cox, Boyle County, 2:05.7

5. Trey Gilliland, Boyle County, 2:07.7

Girls 200 meter dash

  1. Valesha Watson, Paducah Tilghman, 26.09
  2. Daneezia Patton, Boyle County, 26.37

4. Kylie Thompson, Boyle County, 27.88

Boys 200 meter dash

  1. Landen Bartleson, Boyle County, 23.08

3. Chase Edwards, Mercer County, 23.27

5. Mishi Easterling, Mercer County, 24.04

Girls 3200 meter run

  1. Haley Blevins, Mercer County, 12:06.26

5. Naia Hutchins, Boyle County, 13:00.58

Boys 3200 meter run

  1. Will Brittain, Lexington Christian, 10:25.52

5. Malik Allahham, Boyle County, 10:42.49

7. Trevor Lay, Burgin, 10:57.38

Girls 4×400 meter relay

  1. Boyle County (Chelsea Elmore, Emmie Harris, Kaylee Lanigan, Kylie Thompson), 4:17.17

3. Mercer County (Lexy Lake, Hailey Stinnett, Aubrey Jones, Faith Lake), 4:30.49

10. Burgin (Abigale Church, Ellie Jenkins, Lilly Essex, Keira Propes), 6:36.96

Boys 4×400 meter relay

  1. Mercer County (Lukas Jones, Ty Divine, Aaron Johnson, Chase Edwards), 3:33.67

8. Burgin (Michael Mckenzie, Drew Hatfield, Hunter Preston, Wesley Qualls), 3:53.84

9. Boyle County (Trey Gilliland, Peter Shipley, Reese Smith, Fisher Evans), 3:58.91

Girls shot put

  1. Zoe Yeast, Mercer County, 33-09.50
  2. Dawn Rameri, Boyle County, 30-10.00
  3. Zharia Yeast, Mercer County, 30-09.00

Boys shot put

  1. Zack Phillips, Mercer County, 43-06.00
  2. Mitchell Paycheck, Boyle County, 41-05.00
  3. Cade Shearer, Burgin, 40-01.00

Girls discus throw

  1. Zoe Yeast, Mercer County, 118-00

3. Emmie Harris, Boyle County, 96-05

5. Aleeah Rawlings, Mercer County, 94-05

Boys discus throw

  1. Mitchell Paycheck, Boyle County, 133-05
  2. Tyus Short, Mercer County, 126-00
  3. Ezarious Roller, Boyle County, 118-00

Girls long jump

  1. Mya Muschette, John Hardin, 16-01.00

3. Becca Tarter, Boyle County, 15-11.00

7. Jasmine Bridgewater, Mercer County, 15-01

Boys long jump

  1. Jamesy Swentzel, West Jessamine, 21-09.00
  2. Camden Martin, Mercer County, 19-11.00
  3. Mishi Easterling, Mercer County, 19-11.00

Girls triple jump

  1. Mya Muschette, John Hardin, 34-05.00
  2. Becca Tarter, Boyle County, 34-02.00

4. Haley Sheperson, Boyle County, 31-03.00

Boys triple jump

  1. Will Imfeld, Boyle County, 39-07.50
  2. Camden Marten, Mercer County, 38-04.00

8. Andrew Bray, Mercer County, 34-10.00

Girls high jump

  1. Taliyah Colone, East Jessamine, 5-00.00

4. Emma Davis, Mercer County, 4-04.00

5. Riley Cerqueira, Boyle County, 4-02.00

Boys high jump

  1. De’Anta Sanon, East Jessamine, 6-04.00
  2. Aaron Johnson, Mercer County, 6-02.00
  3. John Perkins, Mercer County, 5-08.00

Girls pole vault

  1. Brianna Wagner, Paducah Tilghman, 9-06.00

4. Ashley Smith, Boyle County, 8-00.00

5. Kim Ramirez, Mercer County, 7-06.00

Boys pole vault

  1. Gary Wood, Boyle County, 9-06

4. John Perkins, Mercer County, 9-00

6. Johnny Johnston, Mercer County, 8-00