Apr 14, 2024
Warren’s Mason Francis, left, crosses the finish line in the 4×100 meter relay Saturday during the Warren Warrior Invitational. (Photo by Aaron Lee)
VINCENT — Unlike the Fairweather Relays put on by Warren a handful of weeks ago, the weather was quite fair on Saturday when the Warriors hosted nine area schools for the Warrior Invitational. With the weather beginning to turn, times continued to dwindle, making for a competitive meet. Both Warren’s boys and girls teams finished second behind Logan, a familiar opponent.
“It was a 10-team meet today, and we finally had some beautiful weather. We had some great competition today. I think a lot of people got better,” said Warren boys head coach Ryan Werry.
He appreciated the service the Chieftains provide with the strength of their squad, “Logan is a tough team. We’ve seen them a lot of times this year. They’re making us better, and that’s our mentality going forward. We want to be better in the end, and not right now.”
Saturday’s meet also provided an opportunity for the Warriors to honor the outgoing senior class, who participated in their last home invitational.
“We have 13 seniors. A lot of them have been in the program all four years, and some of them four-year lettermen. They’re a special group. They give a lot of effort to track, and they just keep getting better and better each year. We appreciate them,” commented Werry on the group.
Warren’s Maggie Reynolds competes in the 200 meter dash Saturday during the Warren Warrior Invitational. (Photo by Aaron Lee)
On the girls side, the Warriors finished second with a score of 138 compared to Logan’s 187. Three Warren girls managed to place first in their respective events. Mackenzie James-McGuire won the 800 meter with a time of 2:31.43. With a time of 48.54, Abby Whited finished first in the 300 meter hurdles. The Warriors’ lone field event win came by way of Amanda Rauch, who earned gold in the high jump with a leap of 5-foot-4. Several of Warren’s girls finished in the top three. Ashlee Pate claimed third in the mile. Teammate Maddy Dougherty did the same in the two mile. In the 100 hurdles, Elayna Greenwalt placed third. In addition to winning the high jump, Rauch placed second in the pole vault with a mark of 10-6.
Coincidentally, all four of the Warriors’ girls relays placed in second. In the 4×100, Katie Markley, James-McGuire, Emma Grosselin and Maggie Reynolds contributed. Warren’s 4×200 team was composed of Markley, Rauch, Whited and Reynolds. Pate, Dougherty, Sarah Pettey and James-McGuire earned silver in the 4×800. The 4×400 team of Whited, Reynolds, Lilli Turner and James-McGuire earned Warren its final second place relay finish.
Warren’s boys team compiled 164 points throughout the meet, losing first to Logan by just 9.5 points. The Warriors had four first place finishes. Kyle Anthony earned the first in the 800 with a time of 2:03.95. Teammate Tyler Frye finished right behind him in second. After placing second in the 110 hurdles, Clay Perry took home the gold in the 300 with a time of 40.96. Warren’s other two first-place finishes came by way of relay events. In the 4×400, the relay team of Tave Earley, Spencer Rehl, Hayden Wells and Perry won in 3:30.82. Earley, Rehl, Ben Bishop and Frye took first in the 4×800 (8:29.80).
The 4×100 team of Mason Werry, Perry, Mark Himmeldirk and Mason Francis also managed to place for the Warriors, coming in second. Distance specialist Luke Rettenberger showed his endurance in the mile and two mile, claiming second in both. Earley, in addition to participating in both winning relays for Warren, earned third in the 400.
Field events were also a strong suit for the Warriors. Wells claimed third in the high jump with a mark of 5-10. Ben Kelley earned bronze in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet. Kartyr Armstrong had an outstanding day in the ring. In the shot put, an event in which improvement typically can be counted in inches, not feet, Armstrong improved by a whopping five feet and one inch from his seed distance. He finished second, and did the same in the discus throw. Fellow thrower Landyn Summers earned third in the shot put.
Warren’s Hayden Wells competes in the high jump Saturday during the Warren Warrior Invitational. (Photo by Aaron Lee)
Warren looks to continue to make strides as athletes get healthy, “We’re getting healthy, and we’re getting back into it. We’re missing some on the girls side today, but we had some girls step up. We are making our improvements to where we want to get to.”
The Warriors will be at Logan on Tuesday, marking the fourth time the two teams have come into contact this season. Warren will be bringing a delegation to both Belpre’s quad this Thursday as well as its invitational on April 26. Conference meets are already on the horizon, with the Warriors set to compete in the Twin State League championship at Marietta on April 23.
Contact Aaron Lee at alee@newsandsentinel.com
Warren’s Elayna Greenwalt competes in the 100 meter hurdles Saturday during the Warren Warrior Invitational. (Photo by Aaron Lee)
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