Pole Vault

For the fourth time in five years, the West Jessamine boys tracks team owns the Region 4 Class AA regional championship. With just last year's runner-up finish to blemish the last half decade, the Colts have dominated their local opponents. The boys topped Boyle Couny for the top position by 37.5 points. The girls team took fifth place. Rockcastle beat out Casey County for the girls title. The Colts won the first event of the day. Senior Ehtan Adams ran a personal best 2:05.

As soon as she heard her distance, Loran Crowell let out a huge smile. Mostly, it was one of relief. The Mercer County senior defended her regional discus title Tuesday, getting a throw of 98 feet, 11 inches on her final attempt to edge West Jessamine's Michelle Sutherland by an inch at the Class AA, Region 4 Championships at Boyle County. "Oh my gosh. That was one of the most intense competitions I've ever been at," Crowell said. "I'm usually ahead by a few feet. But when Sutherland threw it 98-10, that really put the pressure on me. " The pressure was on every athlete Tuesday, with automatic state meet berths on the line for the top two finishers in each event.

George Rogers Clark pole vaulter Katie Craycraft competed over the weekend in the Boyle County Invitational and took fourth-place honors. The meet was a tune-up for upcoming regional competition and Craycraft easily cleared her first jump at the starting height of 5-6. "Katie's jump was at least three feet over the bar," Clark coach Dodd Dixon said. "The crowd noticed and you could hear their response after the first vault. " Meet officials raised the bar to six feet.

GEORGETOWN - The George Rogers Clark track team competed Tuesday night in Scott County, placing fourth out of six teams. The Cards finished ahead of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Frankfort. Overall, Scott was first, followed Bryan Station and Harrison County. Michael Clark led the boys team with a first-place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.20. Clark finished ahead of Scott County's Anthony Sandival "I was pleased with Michael's performance," Clark coach Dodd Dixon said.

LIBERTY - Rae Cowan likes being counted, likes being the one her team depends on. So it makes sense that the Casey County junior is much happier being part of a relay team than running an individual sprint event. "I like the relays because you have a team supporting you, and a team counting on you," Cowan said. "I do better when I have people counting on me. I know if I do bad, it's going to make them do bad, and I do a lot better because I know it's kind of riding on me. " She's a key member of Casey's 800-meter relay team, which finished fifth in the 2007 Class AA state meet, and a 1,600 relay team which placed sixth.

Danville runners won five of six relays in the first area all-comers meet of the season Tuesday at Harrodsburg. The Admirals won all three boys relays and two of three girls relays in the meet hosted by Mercer County at Alvis Johnson Field. Danville's girls defeated Mercer County and Casey County to win their team competition, while the Danville boys were second to Woodford County. Boyle County's boys were fourth. Kaitlin Snapp of Danville was the only athlete to win two individual events.

The West Jessamine High boys took the overall victory at Mercer County Tuesday night by a margin of 37 points. The West girls finished fourth. The East boys finished ninth and the girls took eighth. Randy Troyer of West finished third in the 100-meter dash. Matt Whitley tied for fourth for East. Whitley took fifth in the 200-meter dash while West's David Martin tied for eighth. Whitley also finished third in the 400-meter dash and Chris Henry of West took fourth. Brian Troyer won the 800-mter dash and Evan Ball finished fourth for the Colts.

The West Jessamine High boys track and field team won the Model Relays in Richmond Friday. The boys scored 92 points, more than enough to pace the field. Madison Central took second with 41 points. Despite having members of the team missing because of spring break, the Colts performed well, even with the poor weather conditions. But the relay team of senior Evan Ball, junior Brian Troyer, seniors Ethan Adams and Ethan Johnson, took the 4x800 meter relay. Johnson is a first-year runner for Coach Randy Crist.

A preview of area high school boys track and field teams: BOYLE COUNTY Coach: Dave Garrett Top returnees: John Anderson, Sr., distance; Manly Bryant, Sr., pole vault; Ben Carman, So., middle distance; Marcus Fluty, Sr., middle distance, distance; Eddie Houekpon-Chincoun, Sr., jumps, relays; Rees MacShara, So., sprints. Notes: Boyle comes off a seventh-place finish in Class AA at last year's state meet. ... Anderson was ninth in the state in the 3,200-meter run last season and is having what Garrett says is his best year ever in distance running, beginning with the fall cross country season.