MORGANTOWN – Thursday afternoon was the hottest day of the season at the Class AAA Region I track and field meet at Mylan Park. The competition matched the temperature as athletes aimed to qualify for the state meet next week in Charleston.
Morgantown captured the girls’ Region I team title with 165 points, taking first place in seven out of 18 events. University High School finished second in the girls’ competition with 137.5 points and three top finishers.
The Mohigan ladies won only one team event, coming in the shuttle hurdle relay as the team of Joley King, Brynn Lewis, Harlyn Nelson, and Josie Johnson set an MHS school record of 1:05.56, but saw six individuals lead the way in their fields. Johnson was trailing by nearly a hurdle-length entering the anchor leg of the race and made up the difference to win.
Elecia McCurrie won the 100- and 200-meter dashes. In the 100, she ran 12.14, the fastest time in the state so far this season. For comparison, McCurrie set a state meet record of 12.27 last season in Charleston.
Johnson took home the title in the 300-meter hurdles in 45.00. Her teammate Allison Hawkins won the 1600-meter run with a 5:10.99. A pair of champions in the field rounded out the winners for MHS with Emma Smith jumping 5-00.00 in the high jump and Nelson winning the pole vault with a height of 8-03.00.
UHS senior Claire Von Boetticher won the 3200-meter run handily at 11:26.60.
“I just wanted to keep the first one steady and take home the win,” she said. “I opened like I normally would in any other race, and then I could ease up slightly when I built my lead.”
She also led the UHS 4×800 relay team to a top finish with a 9:56.71.
Paige Conrad was the third and final first-place finish for the Hawks ladies with a distance of 17-04.00 in the long jump.
Preston’s Hallie Simmons won the girls’ 800-meter race in 2:22.44. She also finished third in the 3200 and fourth in the 1600.
The UHS boys dominated the field with ten regional championship winners. The Hawks won four relay events (4×200, shuttle hurdles, 4×400, 4×800) and six individual events.
Senior and recent University of Pittsburgh signee Tyler Umbright was named overall MVP of the meet, totaling 32.5 points for his team. Umbright competed in four events and took first place in all of them. He won the 1600—and 3200-meter runs before sweeping the 800-meter races individually (1:56.03) and as part of the relay team, as the Hawks posted a time of 8:09.77. Umbright served as the anchor in the relay and ran a final split of 57.2 to win the race by 1.5 seconds over Morgantown.
Brody Kehler took first place in the 100-meter dash with a personal record of 11.22, while his teammate Jaedyn Katchur took home the title in the 300-meter hurdles.
Brock Kehler rounded out the champions for UHS with the top spot in the Shot Put at a distance of 49-03.25.
Qualifiers for the state meet in Charleston will compete next weekend at Laidley Field on Friday and Saturday, May 23 and 24.
