Track Field

The George Rogers Clark track teams competed in the 37th annual Lake Cumberland track meet Saturday in Somerset. Out of 24 teams attending the boys team placed 12th and the girls team finished 16th. In the distance events, the Cardinals and Lady Cards posted several personal best times. Ben Petrey led the 4x800 relay team with a first leg run of 2:12, a personal best. Brandon Burris, Brandon Bailey and Austin Richards rounded out the relay, which placed fourth overall. In the 1600 meter run, Grayson Brookshire placed fifth with a personal best time of 4:42.77.

The team of Nikki Coffey, Hannah Robertson, Hannah Harris and Logan Arnold teamed to set a meet record in the 3,200-meter relay Saturday to lead Boyle County at the Commodore Classic at Tates Creek in Lexington. Their time of 10 minutes, 12.42 seconds broke the Rebels' own record time of 10:15.61 set last season. Coffey and Arnold were on that team as well. The team of Kate Carman, Harris, Arnold and Tabitha Evans took second in the 1,600 relay (4:19.85). For the Boyle boys, Clint Hellyer was second in the 300 hurdles (42.43)

The Mercer County boys and girls won their divisions in an all-comers meet Tuesday at Harrodsburg. Host Mercer defeated second-place West Jessamine by 31 points in the boys standings at Alvis Johnson Field, and the Mercer girls were 26 points better than second-place Casey County. Summer Burke and Liz Marcinek of Burgin, Lyric Houston of Mercer, Abby Meece of Casey and Meagan Smith of Danville won two individual events each in the girls competition. Jawan Grey of Danville and Alex Beckerson of Burgin each had two wins in boys events.

Alex Bunch led the Lady Patriots and the entire field Friday at Danville as she captured first place in the 800-meter run in the Boyle County All-Comers meet. Bunch, a senior,  did not have to battle for position at the finish in the run, finishing almost six seconds ahead of the second-place runner. Her time in the 800 was 2:31.3. Lincoln took two of the top three spots in the 800, with Morgan Gourley racing to a third-place finish. Gourley claimed third in a time of 2:40.2.

Boyle County All-Comers Results Friday GIRLS Team scores - 1. Boyle County (BC) 141; 2. Madison Southern 133; 3. Casey County (CC) 64; 6. Burgin (B) 32; 7. Danville (D) 24; 8. Lincoln County (LC) 22; 10. Mercer County (MC) 12. 3,200 relay - 1. Boyle County (Nikki Coffey, Hannah Harris, Hannah Robertson, Logan Arnold) 10:37.9. 100 hurdles - 3. Tiara Cochran (CC) 17.9; 4. Summer Burke (B) 18.4; 6. Jadrian Couch (CC) 21.0. 100 - 1. 3. Liz Marcinek (B) 13.2; 4. Kylie Thompson (BC)

The Lincoln County High School track and field teams exited the Boyle County High School track a little heavier than when they arrived, walking away from the Boyle County All-Comers Meet with 23 medals in their pockets. The girls 3200 and 800 relay teams, Lady Patriot Alex Bunch and Patriots Santana Hocker and Brian Carlson brought home Lincoln's top finishes in the meet, with all capturing the runner-up spot in their respective events.  Host Boyle County claimed the win in the girls 3200-meter relay with a time of 10:58.2, but Lady Pats Alex Bunch, Logan Godbey, Morgan Gourley and MaHaley Long finished ahead of the rest of the field.

Meagan Smith of Danville ran a personal-best time over 5,000 meters and finished eighth out of 26 runners in an elite field Friday in the KYtrackXC.com 5K Showdown in Louisville. Smith, who won the girls Class A cross country championship last fall, ran the invitation-only track race, part of the Harry Grescel Invitational at Louisville Christian, in 18 minutes, 46 seconds. That was 27 seconds faster than her previous best 5,000-meter track time of 19:13 set last year. “The top runners in all three classes were there.

Tabitha Evans of Boyle County won two events Tuesday in an all-comers meet at Boyle. Evans won the 300-meter hurdles and the triple jump. The Boyle boys and Madison Southern girls led the team standings. All-Comers Meet Tuesday At Boyle County BOYS Team scores -  1. Boyle County 140; 2. Madison Southern 111; 3. Mercer County 97; 4. Burgin 75; 5. Lincoln County 38; 6. Danville 15; 7. Kentucky School for the Deaf 10. 3200 relay - 1. Mercer County (Dean Tyler, Bryant Qualls, Alex Bosse, Jawan Smith)

The George Rogers Clark boys track team opened the season by capturing the Mayor's Cup for the third straight year Saturday at Montgomery County. Mayors from Central and Eastern Kentucky were in attendance to present the trophy to the top area boys and girls track teams. Bath County took first-place honors in the girls competition, while Clark was second. In the final boys standings, Bath County was second, followed by Montgomery County and Powell County. Clark followed Bath in the girls' standings, while Montgomery was third and Powell County placed fourth in the meet.

Part of the process for a team reaching a championship level includes development, and that's no exception for this year's West Jessamine High School track and field team. Colts co-head coach Aaron Ames didn't hesitate to allude to that fact, acknowledging that his young squad “probably won't be able to compete at a level where they're going to qualify for state.” “It's a young team this year,” Ames said. “We got a lot of ninth-graders and 10th-graders, so probably the core focus this year will be developing some of these younger athletes, preparing them to compete at a higher level.” Ames said the Colts do have a couple of ninth- and 10th-graders among that group who have improved since the start of last year that he believes have raised their personal expectations this season, and are more hopeful of being state level competition.