Competing at the Class 1A State Track and Field Meet, Hancock County’s girls’ team finished 12th and the boys were 14th, while the Lady Aces were 15h and the Aces 42nd. Finishing first on the girl’s side was Lexington Christian, while Louisville Collegiate won for the boys.
Leading the way for the Lady Hornets was Carolina Jones, who finished third in both the girls’ 100m hurdles (15.53) and 300m hurdles (47.46), and sixth in the high jump (1.52m). She also finished 20th in the 100m dash (13.34). Also competing on the girls side was Isabella Ross who finished 10th in the triple jump and Ellen Meserve who finished 16th in the 400 (1:03.31) and 23rd in the long jump.
“We have a lot to build on with so many coming back next year,” Hancock County head coach Wes Meserve said. “Carolina is in a great position in hurdles and high jump and Ellen Meserve is in a great position with the 400 and long jump. Izzy won the region in triple jump and placed 10th today. All three should continue to make steady progress.”
On the boys’ side, Wyatt Emmick finished third in the 110m hurdles (15.03) and fifth in the 300m hurdles (40.68) – the latter time beating the school record. Also placing on the podium was Cooper Jones, who was fifth in the 400m (50.57). The boys’ 4×200 relay team of Mehkel London, Landon Hodges, Mathew Carroll, and Jones finished 10th, but broke the school record.
Of the athletes that qualified for state, Hancock County is only losing Emmick and return the majority of their team.
“On the boys’ sides, we have several juniors, and a large portion of our team is freshmen,” Meserve said. “We had three freshmen and one eighth grader compete today. We had several others who should step up and qualify next season. I was happy with the team’s performance all season long. We made a lot of improvements from last season. We had some unfortunate things happen today to keep from having as good a day as we could have, but it was still a solid performance overall. We had a really good day for some of our girls’ runners – Peyton Reid and Allie Marston in particular.”
For the Lady Aces, the 4×200 relay team of Chloe Marston, Skye Riley, Allie Marston, and Isabeth Osborne placed fourth with a time of 1:48.85, while the 4×400 relay of Isabel Alvey, Anna Booker, Charlie Ried, and Osborne finished with 11th with a time of 4:27.85. On the individual side, Peyton Reid made the podium in both the 800 (8th, 2:25.64) and 1600 (4th, 5:20.48).
On the boys’ side, the 4×200 relay team of Luke Whitledge, Andrew Garvin, Xavier Maddox, and Jude Cecil finished fifth with a time of 1:31.04. They didn’t have anyone reach the podium in the individual events, but Cecil (9th, 22.83) and Maddox (12th, 23.02) both narrowly missed in the 200. Braylon Coots finished 12th in the high jump, and Joshua James was 13th in the triple jump.
“I was happy with the team’s performance all season long,” Owensboro Catholic head coach Chris Morris said. “We made a lot of improvements from last season. We had some unfortunate things happen today to keep us from having as good a day as we could have, but it was still solid performances overall. We had a really good day for some of our girls runners – Peyton Reid, Allie Marston, and Isabeth Osborne in particular.”
