Text and photos by MIKE MARSEE

Contributing Writer

[envira-gallery id=”51316″]

In one of the toughest track and field regions in the state, the Boyle County boys and Mercer County girls rose to the challenge.

Their scores rose to impressive heights, too, as they captured the team titles Tuesday night in the Class 2A, Region 5 championships at Boyle’s track.

The Boyle boys, the defending state champions who scored 165 points to win their team competition by almost 80 points, and the Mercer girls, who scored 180 points to win their first regional title in the post-merger era, will now take dead aim at state team titles next week.

So will the Boyle girls, who have won the past three Class 2A girls state championships and who finished second Tuesday with enough points — 150 — to indicate they won’t give up their throne without a fight.

When the night had ended, Boyle and Mercer athletes had combined to win 28 of the 36 boys and girls events in a regional that in recent years has been as strong as any in the state.

“Our region’s like SEC football,” Boyle coach Brent Wagner said. “We’re tough. A lot of great performances all around: teams, individuals, relays.”

Boyle’s boys won 13 of their 18 events — and set school records in four of them — to repeat as regional champions.

Chris Duffy claimed two of those records in winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Ezarious Roller erased a record that had stood since 2003 by throwing the discus almost 163 feet, and Marquise Kinley broke the long jump record.

Kinley won both the long jump and the triple jump, and Boyle won three of the four relays. Other Boyle boys who won were Grayson Rahbany (400), Jackson Cox (800), Ezekiel Harless (3,200) and Cameron Britton (high jump).

Perhaps more importantly, Wagner said the Rebels are well-positioned for a run at a repeat at the state meet May 31 at the University of Kentucky.

“There were a couple of question marks that we needed to see, and we came through where we needed to come through,” he said. “We did very, very well to set us up for the state meet.”

So did the Mercer girls, who outscored Boyle by 30 points to win their first regional title since Mercer merged with Harrodsburg in 2006 and ended Boyle’s string of seven straight titles.

“It doesn’t get any better than this in this region. Year in and year out it’s one of the toughest in the state, so I am very well pleased with the effort the girls gave tonight,” Mercer coach Terry Yeast said. “When I first looked at the numbers I was hoping for 162 points, so to get to 180 is really, really impressive.”

Mercer’s girls won nine events and Boyle won seven, leaving only two for other schools and underscoring the fact that they are two of the top girls teams in Class 2A. Paducah Tilghman also will be a championship contender at the state meet, but Mercer and Boyle will be battling for points again.

“It’ll be another fight,” Yeast said. “And next week changes things a little bit because you’re going to bring in a lot more strong athletes from around the state. We hope that works to our advantage.”

Yeast said the Mercer girls’ performance sets them up well for state.

“Other than one or two events, everything I asked them to do I think they did, and in those other events I think they’ll (qualify). If we get in in 15 or 16 events, I’ll be excited,” he said.

Wagner said Boyle’s girls won’t concede anything at the state meet, saying he expects them to be in the mix for a fourth straight title.

“They’ll score higher in places and lower in places and we’ll score higher and lower in places at the state meet, and we’ll see how it comes out,” he said.

Clayra Darnell won the 1,600 and 3,200 runs for Mercer, and Jasmine Claunch won the long jump and triple jump. Mercer also got individual wins from Timberlynn Yeast (400) and Zoe Yeast (discus).

Two girls also won two events each for Boyle: Daneezia Patton in the 100 and 200 dashes and Kaylee Lanigan in the 100 and 300 hurdles. Hennessey Ison (shot put) and Ashley Smith (pole vault) also won for Boyle.

Mercer won three of the four relays; Boyle won the other.

Lincoln County was the only other area school to win an event, taking the boys 4×200 relay.

 

CLASS AA, REGION 5 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tuesday at Boyle County

(Area scorers)

 

Boys

Team scores (14 scoring teams) – 1. Boyle County 165; 2. Corbin 86 3/4; 3. East Jessamine 63; 7. Mercer County 29; 8. Lincoln County 25; 10. Garrard County 13; 13. Casey County 10.

4×800 relay – 1. Boyle County (Gentry Brummett, Jackson Cox, Ezekiel Harless, Will Lafavers) 8:35.48; 2. Mercer County (Chase Conrad, Noah Davis, Toshi Smith, Jonah Lewis) 8:50.69; 6. Garrard County (Levi Beckett, Nolan Cortes, James Ward, Dylan Houp) 9:09.50.

110 hurdles – 2. Caleb Jackson (Boyle County) 15.58.

100 – 1. Chris Duffy (Boyle County) 10.64; 3. Carlton Randall (Lincoln County) 11.40.

4×200 relay – 1. Lincoln County (Bricen Alcorn, Zack Hazlett, Calvin Randall, Car. Randall) 1:33.01.

1600 – 2. Federico Diaz (Casey County) 4:49.37.

4×100 relay – 1. Boyle County (Marquise Kinley, Duffy, Ryan Henry, Grayson Rahbany) 42.68; 4. Mercer County (Dillon Warren, Malachi Yulee, Jalen Lukitsch, Brady Peavler) 47.65.

400 – 1. Rahbany (Boyle County) 50.93; 5. Dalyn Pope (Lincoln County) 55.25; 6. Lenny Bucher (Casey County) 55.55.

300 hurdles – 2. Jackson (Boyle County) 41.38; 5. Henry (Boyle County) 43.76.

800 – 1. Cox (Boyle County) 2:01.70; 6. Diaz (Casey County) 2:09.04.

200 – 1. Duffy (Boyle County) 21.89; 5. Warren (Mercer County) 24.35; 6. Hazlett (Lincoln County) 24.56.

3200 – 1. Harless (Boyle County) 10:12.99.

4×400 relay – 1. Boyle County (Jackson, Cox, Duffy, Rahbany) 3:29.32; 3. Lincoln County (Hazlett, Pope, Car. Randall, Cal. Randall) 3:34.26; 6. Mercer County (Conrad, Davis, Smith, Lukitsch) 3:52.44.

Shot put – 5. Zachary Glasscock (Boyle County) 41-4; 6. Blake Russell (Mercer County) 41-3.

Discus – 1. Ezarious Roller (Boyle County) 162-10; 5. Glasscock (Boyle County) 114-3.

Long jump – 1. Kinley (Boyle County) 23-9 1/2; 2. Warren (Mercer County) 21-3; 3. Brice Burkhart (Garrard County) 20-10 1/2; 4. Matthew Mays (Mercer County) 19-3 1/2; 5. Will Imfeld (Boyle County) 19-2 1/2.

Triple jump – 1. Kinley (Boyle County) 45-2; 2. Imfeld (Boyle County) 42-6; 3. Burkhart (Garrard County) 41-10 1/2; 6. Mays (Mercer County) 37-6.

High jump – 1. Cameron Britton (Boyle County) 6-4; 3. Cash Logan (Boyle County) 5-6.

Pole vault – 3. Ethan Miller (Boyle County) 10-6; 5. Alex Lockhart (Boyle County) 10-0.

 

Girls

Team scores (11 scoring teams) – 1. Mercer County 180; 2. Boyle County 150; 3. Rockcastle County 50; 5. Casey County 38; 7. Lincoln County 26; 9. Garrard County 16.

4×800 relay – 1. Mercer County (Haley Blevins, Erin Darland, Clayra Darnell, Abby Dean) 10:02.91; 2. Casey County (Jenna Vaughn, Abby Vaughn, Alyssa Sharp, Laura Cuin) 10:17.36; 3. Boyle County (Naia Hutchins, Emma Jackson, Valerie Fieberg, Annabelle Tarter) 10:26.97; 4. Lincoln County (Bailey Story, Alexis Slone, Shayley Reed, McKenzie Settles) 10:35.52.

100 hurdles – 1. Kaylee Lanigan (Boyle County) 16.03; 2. Love Mays (Mercer County) 16.37; 5. Harlee Settles (Mercer County) 17.50.

100 – 1. Daneezia Patton (Boyle County) 12.55; 2. Timberlynn Yeast (Mercer County) 12.73; 3. Payton Bugg (Boyle County) 12.83; 4. Calicia Smith (Mercer County) 13.11.

4×200 relay – 1. Mercer County (Blevins, Jai Maria Piazza, C. Smith, Abby Steele) 1:45.46; 2. Boyle County (Bugg, Chelsea Elmore, Jackson, Kennedy Kirkland) 1:46.94; 4. Lincoln County (Story, Maddy Slone, Settles, Zaria Napier) 1:52.25.

1600 – 1. Darnell (Mercer County) 5:40.99; 2. J. Vaughn (Casey County) 5:42.66; 3. Fieberg (Boyle County) 6:00.45; 6. Cuin (Casey County) 6:12.19.

4×100 relay – 1. Boyle County (Bugg, Elmore, Patton, Lindsey Warriner) 49.76; 2. Mercer County (Jacey Catlett, Jasmine Claunch, C. Smith, Steele) 50.73; 5. Lincoln County (Macey Rice, Haleigh Ellison, M. Slone, Napier) 55.02.

400 – 1. T. Yeast (Mercer County) 58.34; 2. Piazza (Mercer County) 1:00.14; 5. Settles (Lincoln County) 1:04.04.

300 hurdles – 1. Lanigan (Boyle County) 47.42; 2. Bugg (Boyle County) 47.83; 3. Mays (Mercer County) 49.47.

800 – 2. Blevins (Mercer County) 2:25.10; 3. Dean (Mercer County) 2:30.33; 5. Tarter (Boyle County) 2:41.05; 6. Cuin (Casey County) 2:41.89.

200 – 1. Patton (Boyle County) 26.02; 2. T. Yeast (Mercer County) 26.18; 3. Elmore (Boyle County) 26.63; 4. C. Smith (Mercer County) 27.53.

3200 – 1. Darnell (Mercer County) 12:19.30; 2. Alyssa Sharp (Casey County) 12:24.03; 3. Hutchins (Boyle County) 12:35.15; 4. A. Slone (Lincoln County) 13:29.88.

4×400 relay – 1. Mercer County (Blevins, Piazza, Steele, T. Yeast) 4:00.20; 2. Boyle County (Lanigan, Elmore, Jackson, Patton) 4:17.69; 5. Lincoln County (Ava Morgan, Reed, Settles, Story) 4:32.43.

Shot put – 1. Hennessy Ison (Boyle County) 35-11; 2. Zoe Yeast (Mercer County) 35-2; 3. Brenna Hayes (Casey County) 34-5; 6. Kirkland (Boyle County) 31-7.

Discus – 1. Z. Yeast (Mercer County) 127-4; 3. Hayes (Casey County) 101-11; 4. Ashley Smith (Boyle County) 97-5; 5. Kirkland (Boyle County) 94-4.

Long jump – 1. Claunch (Mercer County) 17-3; 2. Emma Lawrence (Garrard County) 16-11; 5. Napier (Lincoln County) 14-10.

Triple jump – 1. Claunch (Mercer County) 36-10 1/2; 2. Lawrence (Garrard County) 36- 1/2; 3. Warriner (Boyle County) 33-1; 4. Bella Garrett (Mercer County) 32-9.

High jump – 3. Alexa Wesley (Lincoln County) 4-8; 4. Riley Cerqueira (Boyle County) 4-8; 5. Toni McCombs (Mercer County) 4-8.

Pole vault – 1. A. Smith (Boyle County) 10-6; 2. Madison Teague (Boyle County) 7-6; 4. Joselyn Flores (Mercer County) 7-0; 5. Catlett (Mercer County) 6-6.