West Union’s Asha McElroy (right) passes the baton to teammate Makenna Armstrong in action from last week’s North Adams Invitational in which the WU girls team placed second overall. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
$6,000 raised for Aralyn’s Alliance
It was a big day for North Adams junior Cody Hesler at the North Adams Invitational as he was the winner of three track events. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Manchester teammates Madison Dunn and Abby Lucas compete on the 100 meter hurdles at the April 18 North Adams Invitational. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Peebles’ Cory Reed placed third in the Boys Long Jump event at last week’s North Adams Invitational. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Eleven high school girls and boys track squads came together to compete on April 18 at the second annual North Adams Invitational Track Meet. The athletes came to compete, but they and the assembled crows also came together for a more important cause.
During the afternoon’s events and fund raising efforts, over $6,00 was raised for Aralyn’s Alliance. Aralyn is a 10-year old girl from the Lynchburg area who was recently diagnosed with DIPG, a very aggressive and inoperable brain tumor, the same diagnosis that Lauren Hill had a decade ago. Aralyn has put together a bucket list of things she wants to do and see and the proceeds from last week’s meet will go toward those plans.
“The North Adams community is one of the most giving communities I’ve ever been a part of,” said NAHS track coach Kelly Boerger.” “Once word got out that Molly, Tatum and Hunter Grooms were organizing an event to be held in conjunction with our track meet to raise money for Aralyn’s Alliance, people jumped at the chance to help out. Then it spread to Whiteoak and Peebles and so many other communities as more and more people stepped up to donate baskets and baked goods and everyone unselfishly gave of their time and money.”
As far as the track meet itself, it was another day of impressive performances by the athletes from Adams County, with locals picking up numerous first place finished and the boys overall team champion was the Peebles Indians, who had also won the West Union Invitational the previous week. Second place for the boys teams went to the North Adams Green Devils. On the girls side, the West Union Lady Dragons took home second place, as Leesburg Fairfield took the girls’ title.
The county also had multiple winners in North Adams’ Cody Hesler and Peebles teammates Samantha Seas and Payton Johnson.
Following is a list of the meet events and athletes from the four Adams County schools who finished in the top five of their particular event (first place winners and meet champions in bold).
Boys 100 M Dash: 1. Cory Reed (Peebles, 11.94); 2. Jayce West (Peebles, 12.07); 3. Mason Williams (Manchester, 12.37); Kris Saunders (Manchester, 12.49)
Boys 200 M Dash: 1. Cody Hesler (North Adams, 23.40); 3. Jayce West (Peebles, 25.16); 4, Dallas Wilkinson (Peebles, 25.39); 5. Trey Bracken (West Union, 25.75)
Boys 400 M Dash: 1. Cody Hesler (North Adams, 51.67); 2. Carter Vogler (Peebles, 58.43); 3. James Smith (West Union, 1:00.25); 4. Hayden Browning (Peebles, 1:00.68)
Boys 800 M Run: 1. Cody Hesler (North Adams, 2:15.07); Ryan Reed (North Adams, 2:19.73); 5. Hayden Crum (Peebles, 2:25.25)
Boys 1600 M Run: 2. Beau Hesler (North Adams, 5:04.91)
Boys 3200 M Run: 1. Connor Darnell (Manchester, 11:03.23); 4. Ryan Shelton (North Adams, 12:51.29)
Boys 110M Hurdles: 4. Christian Gerth (Peebles, 20.57); 5. Tyler Richendollar (North Adams, 20.63)
Boys 300 Meter Hurdles: 2. Gage White (North Adams, 47.13); 5. Damian McCann (Peebles, 50.90)
Boys 4 x 100 Relay: 1. Peebles (47.21); 3. North Adams (50.60)
Boys 4 x 200 Relay: 1. Peebles (1:41.61): 4. West Union (1:48.64); 5. North Adams (1:50.63)
Boys 4 x 400 Relay: 1. North Adams (3:49.47); 3. Peebles (4:03.82)
Boys 4 x 800 Relay: 1. Peebles (9:41.25); 4. North Adams (10:20.64)
Boys High Jump: 1. Christopher Oldfield (Peebles, 5’8”); 2. Lane Martin (North Adams, 5’6”); 4. Grady Knechtly (Peebles, 5’4”)
Boys Long Jump: 2. Christopher Oldfield (Peebles, 17’11”); 3. Cory Reed (Peebles, 17’3”); 5. Trey Bracken (West Union, 16’8”)
Boys Discus: 2. Caleb DeAtley (North Adams, 122’8”); 3. Cameron McCann (North Adams, 106’1”); 5. Mason Gillam (Manchester, 91.8”)
Boys Shot Put: 2. Nathaniel Cummings (Peebles, 39’3”); 5. Brylee Mills (West Union, 32’8”)
Girls 100 M Dash: 1. Payton Johnson (Peebles, 12.75); 3. Jo Teeter (West Union, 14.41); 4. Kylynn Zornes (Manchester, 14.55)
Girls 200 M Dash: 1. Payton Johnson (Peebles, 27.02); 3. Madison Dunn (Manchester, 29.00); 4. Taylor Ralston (Manchester, 29.53)
Girls 400 M Dash: 3. Payton Johnson (Peebles, 1:10.19); 4. Tatum Grooms (North Adams, 1:07.09)
Girls 800 M Run: 1. Samantha Seas (Peebles, 2:35.67); 2. McKenna Shelton (North Adams, 2:44.79); 3. Allie McCarty (West Union, 2:50.63)
Girls 1600 M Run: 1. Samantha Seas (Peebles, 5:38.71); 2. McKenna Shelton (North Adams, 6:17.08); 3. Sadie Armstrong (West Union, 6:25.87); 4. Emma Hurst (Manchester, 6:33.94)
Girls 3200 M Run: 5. Maisy Yeager (West Union, 20:14.64)
Girls 100 M Hurdles: 3, Madison Dunn (Manchester, 19.47); 4. Abby Lucas (Manchester, 20.34); 5. Kiera Scott (Peebles, 20.98)
Girls 300 Meter Hurdles: 2. Hunter Grooms (North Adams, 55.21); 3. Katelynn Boerger (North Adams, 55.58)
Girls 4 x 100 Relay: 5. West Union (59.28)
Girls 4 x 200 Relay: 3. West Union (2:02.26)
Girls 4 x 400 Relay: 2. North Adams (4:39.86); 4. West Union (4:48.93)
Girls 4 x 800 Relay: 1. West Union (11:42.45)
Girls High Jump: 3. Katelynn Boerger (North Adams, 4’8”)
Girls Long Jump: 5. Angel Gray (Peebles, 12’10”)
Girls Discus: 2. Eden Bosko (North Adams, 89’1”); 3. Kiera Scott (Peebles, 76’7”); 4. Alexis Cowan (West Union, 73’9”)
Girls Shot Put: 4. Shelbi Weakley (West Union, 25’7”)
2023 North Adams Invitational Team Standings
Girls: Leesburg Fairfield- 109, West Union- 71.5, Eastern Brown- 65.5, Northwest- 64, Peebles- 60.5, Portsmouth Notre Dame- 59, North Adams- 57.5, Manchester- 49, Lynchburg- 43, Whiteoak- 32
Boys: Peebles- 141, North Adams- 122, Northwest- 80, Whiteoak- 74, Manchester- 42, Leesburg Fairfield- 37, Eastern Brown- 32, West Union- 30, Portsmouth Notre Dame- 30, Lynchburg- 26, Ripley 7
