Berkeley Springs wins PVC Track Title

The Berkeley Springs boys track team won the "big school" division of the Potomac Valley Conference Track and Field Championships held at Berkeley Springs High School on Monday, April 30.

Led by sophomore Lenny Roach and senior Brian Ness, who claimed two individual conference titles each, the Indians scored 132 points to beat the six-team field. Hampshire County was second with 121, followed by Musselman with 111, Keyser with 92, Frankfort with 53 and Petersburg with 15.

Roach won the 1600 meter and 800 meter runs in respective times of 4:36 and 2:05.67, while Ness won both jumping events. The senior leaped 19 feet 9.75 inches in the long jump and cleared 6 feet 3 inches in the high jump. Sam Byrne and Cody Reed also picked up individual titles. Byrne won the 100 in a time of 11.59, while Reed captured the 400 with a winning time of 52.75.

Byrne and Reed were also on two winning relay teams. The two were joined by Cody Hess and Paul Truitt to win the 4x100 in a time of 45.09 and the 4x200 in a time of 1:34.5.

The shuttle hurdle team of Ness, Truitt, Brandon Costello and Devin Walsh finished second in the shuttle hurdle relay. Also placing second was John Mundey in the 3200, Ness in the 300 meter hurdles and Byrne in the discus.

Hess was third in the 100 as was Reed in the shot put. Finishing fourth was the 4x800 meter relay team, while Truitt's fifth place finish in the 110 meter high hurdles rounded out the scoring.

The girls team finished second behind Hampshire County. The Lady Trojans scored 163 points to Berkeley Springs 136. Frankfort finished third with 93, followed by Musselman with 80, Keyser with 46 and Petersburg with five.

Meghan Mock won three individual events and Rachel Buser two for the Indians. Mock cleared 5-2 to win the high jump, leaped 16 feet 9.75 inches to win the long jump and set a new school record of 1:00.66 seconds in her winning 400 meter run. Buser was victorious in both the 800 and 1600 meter runs. She won the 1600 in a time of 5:29 and the 800 in 2:31.04.

The final first place medal was won by the 4 x 800 meter relay team of Buser, Kari Mundey, Ardath Osborne and Breanna Henry. The quartet ran their best time of the year, 10:11, to win the long distance relay.

Henry was second in the 1600 and Mock in the 300 meter hurdles, despite running the identical time as the winner. Rebecca Trump placed third in the 200 meter dash and joined Morgan Young, Amber Booher and Jordan Reedy to place second in the shuttle hurdle relays.

Both the 4x100 and 4x200 meter relay teams of Trump, Reedy, Mara Hutchinson and Corrie Riffle placed fourth, along with Katie Whittington in the shot put, Kelsey McCoy in the discus and Booher in the high jump. Hutchinson ran fifth in the 100, Brittany Naill was fifth in the discus and Young placed fifth in the long jump. Maddy Parrill rounded out the scoring with a sixth place finish in the discus.

Both teams are now fully focused on the regional tournament that will be held this Friday, May 10 at Lewis County High School. The objective is to qualify as many athletes as possible for the state meet the following week in Charleston while at the same time trying to win regional team titles. Both teams have excellent chances of doing just that, but nothing is guaranteed.