Prep Track & Field: Danville boys take second, Burgin finishes fourth

The Danville boys came up just short.
The Admirals finished second to Lexington¿Christian in Saturday’s Class A,¿Region 5 championship, but still posted three wins and qualified for state in five other events.
Danville scored 96 points and finished five points behind LCA. Burgin had three wins and placed fourth with 63 points.
The Danville team of Marcus Brown, Max Ray, Tryston Ford and Chase Berry won the 800-meter relay in 1 minutes, 36.83 seconds.
Freshman Ray Bradshaw beat his personal best by nearly 3 feet to win the shot put with a throw of 40 feet on his last throw of the finals.
“I was saving it up for state, just trying to win,” said Bradshaw, who was just throwing around 31 feet before his final throw. “At the beginning of the year, I was throwing 32s, and I set a goal to throw at least 40 feet by the end of the year.”
Berry qualified for state in three events Saturday, also placing second in the 800 and teaming with Karl Hempel, Calvin Steber and Matt Wagner to take second in the 3,200-meter run.
“It was good. I planed on doing better (in the 800). I really like running the 4-by-8, but I feel it hurts my time for the 800,” said Berry, who still finished with a personal-best time of 2:06.58 seconds in the 800. “In the 3,200, hopefully we can place (at state). We’re going to work hard in practice this week.”
Ray finished second in the 110-meter high hurdles (16.76 seconds), but said he did not have a good day.
“My 110 time wasn’t good for me. I felt like I had the worst meet of my life,”¿Ray said. “I think just the wear and tear of the season, being my senior year I wanted go all out, and I think I might have overworked myself.”
Danville’s chances for a regional title were dashed when Brown pulled up with a hamstring injury in the 200-meter dash. He had already placed second in the 100, and coach Chris Verhoven said he is hoping Brown can run at the Class A state meet Thursday in Louisville.
Jawan Grey was second in the high jump for the Admirals.
Alex Beckerson had two personal-bests and led Burgin with a pair of wins in the 1,600 (4:33.25) and 800 (2:05.19) and finished second in the 3,200 (10:31.03).
“My plan for the day was to win the mile and 800,”¿he said. “And then just go all out and qualify for state, get second or run 10:30 in the  two mile, and that really worked for me.”
His brother, Nick Beckerson, beat his personal-best throw in the discus by 7 feet to win with a throw of 129 feet, 3 inches and beating teammate Travis McEachern (128-0), who placed second.
“It was a good meet to do it. On the first two, throws I scratched. I was feeling real bad anxiety, but I threw 105 to qualify for the finals,” he said. “And when I let go of that first one (in the finals), it just felt like this big relief was let off my shoulders.
“I knew I could perform that well, I just didn’t know I was going to do it today.”