Submitted photo Elkins High’s Jenna Corley passes the baton to Mencia Gomez in the 4x200 relay.

PARKERSBURG — Elkins High School’s track stars continued to shine brightly Saturday at the Russ Parsons Invitational even when the weather took a turn for the worse.

Marissa Brenwalt’s journey toward taking high-point honors at the meet began with hot weather for her performances in the high jump (second place, 5-4), long jump (first, 16-9.25) and 100 hurdles (first, 15.15). She capped off her 36-point day with a rainy and wet 300-meter hurdle race that produced a new personal best time of 47.58 (second place).

The weather’s transition from hot and sunny to windy and wet began during the girls 1,600-meter run, but did not stop Julia Biola from nabbing her second school record in two straight weeks. Biola’s winning time of 5:06.18 in the 1,600 bettered the previous mark of 5:07.11 set by Emilia Tenney in 2025.

As the wind and rain intensified, Tenney was undeterred from an individual win soon afterwards in the 800 with a time of 2:26.53.

“Even with the crazy wind and heavy rain towards the end of the meet, there was no complaining and everyone stepped up,” said EHS coach Adam Romano. “As a coach, it’s great to see them embrace the conditions and still show they can perform at their highest.”

First-place finishers for the Tigers boys included Donovan Howes (137-6) in the discus and Trevor George in the 1,600 (4:22.76).

“Today was a great opportunity for us to get better as a team,” said EHS coach Scott Biola. “Everyone had a chance to compete and they made the most of it.”

Both the Elkins girls and boys took third place overall in the six-team meet, with Parkersburg capturing the team crowns and Wheeling Park taking second for both genders.

The EHS track teams return to action this Friday evening at Doddridge High School’s Cline Stansberry Invitational.

Submitted photo
Elkins High’s Elias Jones passes the baton to Jaden Hatfield in the 4×200-meter relay in Saturday’s Russ Parsons Invitational in Parkersburg.