Woodrow paces Region 3 track and field efforts

May 10—Class AAA high school track and field athletes gave it their best efforts Wednesday in state meet qualifying events around West Virginia, including the Region 3 meet at University of Charleston Stadium's Laidley Field.

Among unofficial highlights via www.kvtfoa.net from Wednesday's meet were the following:

l Junior Somalia Nelson gave the Woodrow Wilson girls 10 points in the early going with a winning clearance of 5 feet, 2 inches in the high jump.

l The Flying Eagle girls bolstered their team effort in the first session with a 2-3 finish in the shot put, as Bella Staples was second with a toss of 34-2 and teammate Leiloni Manns was third in 32-1.

Staples regrouped later to emerge victorious in the discus throw with a distance of 109-6 as the Eagles maintained a solid lead on St. Albans, 128-69, in the team race to that point.

l Oak Hill's Conlan Brooks (11.09 seconds) and Woodrow's Gabriel Kidd (11.28) crossed second and third in the 100 dash.

Brooks also secured a title for himself when he outraced his fellow competitors to the finish line in the 400 (51.43), followed by teammate James Green (52.33) in second.

Brooks later continued his solid campaign by showing his heels to the field in the 200, as well, with a time of 23.1 to become a double-winner.

l Teammates Kyndall Ince (16-4 3/4) and Nevaiah Simmons (15-9 3/4) locked down the top two spots in the long jump as the Woodrow Wilson girls continued their sterling efforts in the field events.

l Woodrow's Nelson Staples posted a front-running clocking of 42.11 to claim the boys 300 hurdles, and his Flying Eagle teammate, Nevaiah Simmons, was runner-up in that discipline in 50.09.

l Greenbrier East's Abigail Londeree placed second in the girls 3200 in a time of 12:47.08. Finishing fourth was Woodrow Wilson's Lauren Curtis (13:22.45).

On the boys side in that race, Woodrow Wilson's Michael Haddadin (11:01.41) was third.

l Beckley sophomore Mya Wooton dipped under the one-minute barrier (59.15) in winning the girls 400, while the runner-up was Greenbrier East freshman Annie Whited (1:00.18).

l Woodrow Wilson's Ryan Mukhtar captured the boys high jump championship with a top clearance of 6-2. Third place went to Oak Hill's Malakai Baker in 6-0.

l The Flying Eagle boys got second- and third-place finishes in the long jump, with Ty'lai Kimble leaping 20-3 3/4 and Bradley Snyder 19-1 3/4.

l Aidan Kneeland, of Woodrow Wilson, won the boys 1600 with a time of 4:20.32. Beckley's Bria Donatelli (5:40.61) placed second in the girls 1600.

l In the girls 800, Greenbrier East's Abby Dixon triumphed over the two laps in 2:28.59.

In the boys 800, Woodrow's Kneeland (2:03.93) and teammate Kellan Heffernan (2:06.3) placed second and third, respectively.

l Woodrow Wilson quartets swept the 4x200 relay events. The Flying Eagles girls unit of Ince, Wooton, Nelson and Salia Harris triumphed in 1:47.74, and the Beckley boys foursome of Kidd, Christian Stewart, Konnor Ray and Daniel Walling had a best clocking of 1:32.08.

The Beckley girls doubled back with a 50.07 victory in the 4x100 sprint relay. Team members were Ince, Harris, Nelson and Ama Ackon-Annan.

The Woodrow boys unit of Stewart, Kimble, Kidd and Walling also captured bragging rights in the 4x100 in 44.28.

Other leading relay finishers in the girls division Wednesday included Woodrow Wilson in the 4x800 (2nd, 10:46.06) and the shuttle hurdles (3rd, 1:12.72).

For the boys, Oak Hill was second in the 4x800 in 8:55.8.

l Official team results, as well as results from a handful of individual or relay races, were unavailable at press time.

l In all classifications, the top three individuals and relay teams from each region this week will qualify for the state meet. Qualifying positions 13-16 will be determined by the next four fastest times/distances from the region results.

Each region meet will qualify the top four individuals in the high jump and pole vault plus any additional athletes who meet or better the state meet qualifying standard. In the event of a tie for fourth place that does not meet the state standard, that tie must be worked off utilizing the tie-breaking procedure normally used for first place.

l The Class A Region 3 qualifying meet will be staged at Woodrow Wilson High School on Thursday, May 11, with field events starting at 4 p.m. and running events at 5 p.m. Among the potential schools in the field are Charleston Catholic, Greater Beckley Christian, Greenbrier West, James Monroe, Meadow Bridge, Midland Trail, Montcalm, Mount View, Pocahontas County, Richwood, River View, Summers County and Webster County.

l Class AA programs eligible for the Region 3 meet at Beckley on Friday, May 12 include Bluefield, Herbert Hoover, Independence, Liberty (R), Nicholas County, PikeView, Shady Spring, Westside and Wyoming East. Field events will begin at 4 p.m. and running events at 5 p.m.

For complete region meet results, visit kvtfoa.net or runwv.com.

l The 2023 state meet will be contested May 19-20 at UC Stadium's Laidley Field.

The first set of field events as well as the 4x800-meter relays for all three classes will begin at 2 p.m. May 19 action concludes with the 3200 races, set to begin at 6:55 p.m. May 20 action will pick back up with 9 a.m. field events and the 400 dash finals at 10 a.m. The awards ceremony is set to begin at 5:25 p.m.

Price of admission will be as follows: Adults — $10; and students — $7 (all digital tickets).

Email: skeenan@register-herald.com; follow on Facebook.