By Carl Holcomb
Moorefield Examiner
East Hardy Track and Field collected 14 first place finishes with the boys taking the top team honors and the girls earning a runner-up team spot in the quad meet on senior night in Baker last Thursday.
The Cougars Boys Track squad garnered first place overall with 70 points, followed by Union with 38, Tygarts Valley with 31 and Timber Ridge with 13.
Tygarts Valley Girls Track team won the overall meet with 79 points, followed by East Hardy with 59 and Union with 22.
The Cougars honored their seniors along with the Union seniors in a special ceremony midway through the meet.
East Hardy Track seniors are Aubrey Cowgill, Kelly Flynn, Sierra Loulis and Chase Rexrode.
Union Track seniors are Jacob Haynes, Chanelle Sutton and Makayia Thomas.
Cowgill plans to attend Fairmont State University and major in psychology and criminology.
Flynn plans to attend West Virginia University and major in advertising and public relations.
Loulis plans to attend Potomac State College of WVU and major in criminology.
Rexrode is undecided on his future plans after high school.
“I started coaching Kelly and Aubrey bak in middle school track, so it means a lot to see their growth over the years. Sierra comes out everyday and puts her heart into preparing and training for her events and it’s paying off. Chase, new to the team as a transfer, has stepped right in and is a big contributor to the team, especially the relay teams. I’m really excited to see what they and the entire team is going to do at the PVC, Regional and State Meets. Coaching both the girls and boys teams is only possible, because of the dedication and coachability of these athletes,” East Hardy Track coach Rachel Schetrom commented.
NCAA Sports notes that coachability refers to an athlete’s attitude. A coachable athlete is one who openly and humbly listens to honest feedback and willingly applies that feedback.
Forbes describes coachability as the combination of the mindsets and behaviors for continuously integrating feedback to drive growth and change within ourselves.
Each senior collected top-6 finishes for their respective schools.
Flynn earned three gold medals for the 800 meter run, 4×200 meter relay and 4×400 meter relay,
Cowgill garnered two gold medals in the 4×200 meter relay and shuttle hurdles relay. Plus a sixth place finish in the 800 meter run.
Loulis snatched two gold medals for the shuttle hurdles relay and 4×200 meter relay and a bronze medal in the 100 meter hurdles.
Rexrode collected two gold medals for the shuttle hurdles relay and 4×100 meter relay, in addition to a silver medal in the 100 meter dash.
Sutton won gold medals in the 100 meter dash and 300 meter hurdles, plus a silver medal in the discus and a bronze medal for the 800 meter run.
Thomas earned a sixth place finish in the shot put and seventh place finish in the discus.
Haynes gathered a silver medal in the 800 meter run and bronze medal in the 200 meter dash along with a fifth place medal in the 100 meter dash.
East Hardy Boys Track freshman Nehemiah Graham sped to the gold medal in the 100 meter dash in 12.06 and 200 meter dash in 26.22.
Rexrode followed for silver medal in the 100 meters and junior Aden Smith took the bronze medal.
Cougars sophomore Jonathan Montgomery garnered two gold medals for the one-miler (5:39.81) and two-miler (12:24.34), while freshman Owen Whitacre took the bronze medal in the one-miler and fourth place in the 800 meter run.
Union sophomore Braylon Ward collected four gold medals which included setting a school record in the high jump with a clearance of six feet, won the long jump at 18’4” and soared in the 110 meter hurdles (16.33)and 300 meter hurdles (43.48).
East Hardy sophomore Gideon Good earned a gold medal for the shuttle hurdles relay (1:10.94), plus silver medals in the 110 meter hurdles (18.01) and 300 meter hurdles (49.11).
Good and Rexrode were joined by Graham and junior Khristian Bauserman in the shuttles victory.
Bauserman, Graham and Rexrode accompanied freshman Angelo Loulis in claiming the gold medal in the 4×100 meter hurdle.
Loulis took third place in the high jump at 5’2” for the Cougars.
East Hardy Boys Track junior Korbin Miller garnered the gold medal in the shot put at 37’3” and discus at 108’11”, while fellow junior Bodie Brill took the silver medal in the shot put (32’7.5”) and fifth place in the discus and sophomore Gideon Good grabbed the silver medal in the discus at 108’11”.
East Hardy Girls Track senior Kelly Flynn won the gold medal in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:44.87, followed by Tygarts Valley senior Summer Lewis-Smith (2:52.21) and Union senior Chanelle Sutton (3:05.43).
The Cougars rounded out the 800 field with sophomore Brianna Hamilton in fourth place (3:15.37), then junior Alexis McKinney (3:25.63) and senior Aubrey Cowgill (3:27.47).
Hamilton garnered the gold medal in the one-miler with a time of 7:14.10.
East Hardy Girls Track swept the top three spots in the 100 meter hurdles led by sophomore Madison Kerr with a gold medal time of 16.58, followed by junior Morganne Miller at 18.43 and senior Sierra Loulis at 18.80.
Sutton won the gold medal for the Tigers in the 300 meter hurdles at 51.84, followed by East Hardy’s Miller (53.56) and Kerr (54.94) and Tygarts Valley’s Aleighna Brenwalt took fourth place at 1:13.74.
Tygarts Valley Girls Track won the 4×100 meter relay in 58.13.
East Hardy Girls Track collected the gold medal in the 4×200 meter relay (2:09.45) with Flynn, McKinney, Cowgill and Loulis.
East Hardy Girls Track snatched the gold medal in the 4×400 meter relay (5:28.08) with Flynn, Kerr, McKinney and Miller.
The gold medal went to the Cougars in the shuttle hurdles at 1:19.89 with Kerr, Loulis, Cowgill and Miller.
Tygarts Valley Girls Track earned the gold medal in all four field events: Summer Lewis-Smith (high jump, 4’6”, Emily Smith (long jump, 14’3”), Neveah Cooper (shot put, 27’2”) and Alyssa Swecker (discus, 79’).
East Hardy junior Savannah Wilkins garnered the silver medal for the shot put with a distance of 26’6.5” and fellow junior Alyssa D’Amico took seventh place at 18’3.5”.
Wilkins placed fourth in the discus at 70’2” and D’Amico finished in eighth place at 46’2”.
East Hardy Track had a solid performance on senior night and will be preparing for the Potomac Valley Conference Meet and Regional Meet to earn state tournament berths.
