WHS track teams place third at conference championship meet

Published 11:45 am Thursday, April 30, 2015

Both the Washington boys’ and girls’ track and field teams finished in third place Wednesday night at North Pitt High School in the Eastern Plains Conference championship meet.

For the girls, Beddingfield ran away with the meet, finishing with 177 points, which was 48 points better than second place North Pitt. The Pam Pack’s 95 points was just good enough for third place.

The host North Pitt boys’ team notched 203 points en route to the title, while Beddingfield finished in second place with 146 points. The Pam Pack ended in a distant third with 110 points.

After Washington failed to score points in the girls’ 100- and 200-meter dashes (no WHS qualifiers in 100), Alexis Moore came through in the 400-meter dash with a fourth-place mark of 1:06.19. Nadaya Windley went on to pick up six points in the 800-meter run, a third-place mark of 2:53.71.

Washington’s Guadalupe Hernandez and Alexis Murdock had solid outings in the distance runs. In the 1600, Hernandez finished third with a time of 6:35.08, while Murdock wasn’t far behind her counterpart with a fourth-place time of 6:38.65. Hernandez then went on to finish first in the 3200 with a time of 14:20.61 and Murdock second with a 14:34.61 mark.

After a strong qualifying time, Cierra Hales (18.83) was edged by a fraction of a second by Farmville Central’s Sonya Williams in the 100-meter hurdles. Hales also went on to finish fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 56.79.

Caitlin Hales was the only field athlete to place for Washington, second in the high jump (4-06.00)

Of the four Washington girls’ relay teams that competed, only the 4×400 notched a first-place finish with a time of 4:30.35.

It was a long outing for the boys’ team, as the speedy Shaeshawn Poe was the only Washington sprinter to place in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Poe finished fourth in the 200-meter with a time of 24.12. Senior Myron Brooks’ time of 51.22 was good enough to earn him second place in the 400-meter dash by about a second. In the 800-, 1600- and 3200-meter races, the Pam Pack struggled to keep pace with North Pitt and Beddingfield down the stretch, as Grayson Schmitt was the only runner to earn points (2) out of those races.

It was a better day for Washington the hurdles. In the 110, Jahsean Smith finished in second place (16.15) and Jarquez Keyes finished third (16.40). In the 300, Smith again finished second with a time of 41.93.

Washington’s 4×400 relay team of Kyle Hodges, Clinton Pope, Jarquez Keyes and Myron Brooks finished in first place with a time of 3:32.70, while the 4×100 and 4×200 teams finished in second, respectively.

Notable Washington field athletes were Javon Whitney in the long jump (first place, 21-07.50) and triple jump (second place, 43-07.00), and Brandon Jackson in the shot put (second place, 48-00).