EHS 4×800 relay team wins state title

Record-shattering time keeps Lady Tigers’ Emilia Tenney from capturing the 3,200-meter run

CHARLESTON -- The Elkins High School boys 4×800-meter relay team captured the Class AA state title during the first day of the state meet Friday at University of Charleston Stadium at Laidley Field.

The team of juniors Josh Bodkins and Bobby Valentine, senior Gavin Brown and sophomore Trevor George turned in a time of 8:12.26 to hold off runner-up Williamstown's effort of 8:15.50.

Later in the evening, George turned in third-place effort in the 3,200 (9:34.67) and junior Ben Tenney was sixth (9:43.80).

For the girls, it took a record-shattering effort from Herbert Hoover freshman Maysen Fletcher to keep the Lady Tigers' Emilia Tenney from winning the 3,200.

Sophomore and classmate Julia Biola was third in a time of 11:32.05.

Tenney and Biola joined seniors Maddie Belan and Mallory Bennett in finishing third in the 4×800 in a time of 10:09.45.

Fletcher broke the state record in a blistering time of 10:19.41, while Tenney's effort of 10:59.22 also flirted with the record of 10:57.43 set by Berkeley Springs' Rachel Buser in 2005.

Elkins freshman Marissa Brenwalt had the fastest time in the preliminaries of the 100 hurdles on Friday with an effort of 15.46.

The finals are set for 1:03 p.m. today.

Brenwalt will also compete in the high jump, long jump and 300 hurdles.

She is the top seed in the long jump (5-04).

Meanwhile, Philip Barbour senior Jeremy Horne was fourth in the shot put with a toss of 49-09.50 and senior John McGee fourth in the discus (151-03).

In Class A action, Tucker County sophomore Lucas Barb was fourth in the high jump (5-10) and junior Reid Kisamore turned sixth in the long jump (19-07), while the 4×800 relay of junior Cameron Judy, sophomore Logan Kopec, junior Lynk Suesli and junior Alex Collar place seventh in a time of 8:52.94.

Suesli later finished eighth in the 3,200 (10:11.79).

For the Lady Mountain Lions, freshman Estoria Chase placed seventh in the 3,200 (12:21.52) and sophomore Lela Wright qualified for today's finals of the 100-meter dash with a fifth-place time of 13.07 in Friday's preliminaries.

Tygarts Valley sophomore just missed qualifying for the 100 finals with a ninth-place effort of 13.87.

The top eight moved to the finals set for 1:25 p.m. today.

Pocahontas County sophomore Allyson Taylor captured second place in the discus with a throw of 115-00.

The state meet gets underway at 9 a.m. today, with the final event set to start at 5:10 p.m.