Mercer girls, Winston boys win HDC track and field titles

The HDC Conference held its annual track and field championships on Monday afternoon at South Harrison High School in Bethany, with the North Mercer Lady Cardinals (125 points) and Winston Redbirds (164 points) winning conference championships.  The Grundy R-5 girls and Pattonsburg boys won junior high school team titles.

In girls individual results, North Mercer junior Bailey Owens had a superb day, winning the 100 meter dash (13.58 seconds), 200 meter dash (28.6 seconds), long jump (15 feet, 4.75 inches), and triple jump (31 feet, 9.5 inches).  North Harrison’s Haley Craig was a double winner, taking home the shot put title (36 feet, 11 inches) and discus throw crown (125 feet, 6 inches).  Tri-County’s girls had a strong day in distance races, with Jaden Almond winning the 400 meter dash (1 minute, 6.07 seconds), while Katana Almond won the 800 meters (2 minutes, 39.96 seconds) and 1600 meters (5 minutes, 55.29 seconds).  North Harrison freshman Mardee Sadowsky won the 3200 meter run, in 14 minutes, 30.9 seconds.

Newtown-Harris senior Abby Wells swept the hurdles races, taking the 110 meter race in 17.45 seconds and the 300 meter hurdles in 50.66 seconds.

The Mercer girls (Nicole Kost, Lindsay Wyatt, Emily Sample, and Bailey Owens) won the 4 by 100 relay (58.02 seconds) and 4 by 200 relay (2:04.76).  The 4 by 400 relay was won by the Grundy R-5 quartet of Alissa Webb, Emma Baxter, Mayce Axtell, and Emma Novak, with a time of 5 minutes, 20.08 seconds.  Mercer’s team of Breanna Main, Jessica McFee, Larayne Kost, and Morgan Eastin won the 4 by 800 relay, in 12:42.19.

Gilman City junior Hailey Burrows is the HDC girls high jump champion, going 4 feet, 10 inches.

Mercer’s girls scored 125 points, followed by runner-up Winston at 105, and 3rd place North Harrison with 82 points.  Newtown-Harris was fourth with 54, Tri-County fifth with 46 points, and Grundy R-5 in sixth place with 40 points.

In boy’s team results, Winston’s 164 points easily outdistanced the 103 points from runner-up Newtown-Harris.  East Harrison, with 60 points, was third, followed by Pattonsburg (54), Grundy R-5 (34), and North Mercer (23 points).

In boy’s field events, Mercer’s Jacob Graham won the discus throw, at 107 feet, 1 inch, with Newtown-Harris’ Blake Foster, with a toss of 39 feet, winning the shot put.  Logan Carlson of East Harrison was champion in the high jump (5 feet, 10 inches), while Winston’s Jordan Leonard was the most dominant male athlete at the HDC meet, winning the long jump (18 feet, 11.75 inches), 100 meter dash (11.64 seconds), 200 meter dash (25.36 seconds), and 400 meter dash (55.58 seconds).  Peyton Jones of Pattonsburg High School won the triple jump, at 38 feet, 10.25 inches.

Ben Henry claimed two individual wins for the Newtown-Harris Tigers, taking the 800 crown in 2:16.17 and the 1600 meter race, at 5:07.57.  Tri-County’s Jakobi Welch won the 3200 title, with a time of 11:31.54.

Waylen Carlson of East Harrison won the 110 meter hurdles, with a time of 17.51 seconds, while Winston’s Ross Nelson took the 300 hurdles crown, at 49.72 seconds.

The East Harrison Bobcats were strong in the sprint relays, with Logan Carlson, Waylen Carlson, Logan Easum, and Justin Roberts combining for wins in the 4 by 100 (49.95 seconds) and 4 by 200 (1:44.79) events.  Winston won the 4 by 400 relay, with Morgan Farrell, Kristchon Hisel, Craig Lewis, and Saxton Pliley running 4:18.42, while the Redbirds took the 4 by 800 relay, with Hisel and Pliley joined by Tyler Turner and Austin Rhoades to run 10 minutes, 48.36 seconds.