By Garth Shanklin – Ripley Bee
RIPLEY — Track and field athletes from across the area braved cloudy and cold conditions at the RULH Invitational earlier this month.
After some issues with scorekeeping delayed the results for roughly a week, the Georgetown G-Men walked away with both the girls’ and boys titles.
On the girls’ side, Fayetteville’s Kate Boler placed fourth in the shot put, behind Ripley’s Ripley’s Amanda Proctor, whose mark of 24’ 3 3/4” left her roughly one foot shy of Peebles’ Ryanna Shearer for second place. Proctor also placed fourth in the discus, finishing less than six inches behind Georgetown’s Aly Wilburn for third place.
The Lady G-Men placed two athletes in the top eight of the long jump. Rachel Gibbons finished fourth, just over an inch ahead of teammate Bayley Johnson. Fayetteville’s Riley Claytor won the event, jumping 13 feet, 8 3/8 inches.
Local schools dominated the girls’ high jump as well. Georgetown’s Stephanie Ayres edged Ripley’s Carlee Daulton by two inches to take home first place, while Fayetteville’s Tiffany Snider finished third.
Only two teams competed in the girls’ 800 meter relay, and Georgetown’s squad finished four seconds behind the quartet from Blanchester. In the 1600 meter run, Georgetown’s Savannah Carter placed fifth.
Fayetteville senior Meghan Koch won the 100 meter hurdles, posting a time of 16.42 seconds. Georgetown’s Kennedy Underwood was second, nearly a 1.5 seconds behind Koch. Ripley’s Kristen Abbott placed sixth. Ripley’s Carly McGuffey placed seventh in the 100 meter dash, less than four-tenths of a second behind Georgetown’s Lexi Drake.
In the 800 meter run, Gibbons clocked a third-place time of 2:46, while the Lady G-Men’s 400 meter relay team placed second, just behind Blanchester.
Underwood placed second in the 300 meter hurdles, less than two seconds behind Koch. In the 3200 meter run, Georgetown’s Kelsey Miller placed third, behind Blanchester’s Cheyenne Rhodes and Miami Valley Christian Academy’s Laura Vilardo.
In the team standings, Georgetown edged out Blanchester 101 points to 99. Fayetteville finished fifth, tallying 46 points while Ripley earned a 10th-place finish.
On the boys’ side, Fayetteville’s Garhett Thompson finished in fifth place in the shot put, roughly 13 inches behind teammate Andy Smith, who placed third. Ripley’s Tristan Angeles finished seventh in the event.
Thompson placed fourth in the discus, while Georgetown’s Kodi Brown earned a sixth-place finish. Teammate Tyler Murrell placed 10th, just behind Angeles.
Georgetown’s Logan Doss won the long jump, finishing ahead of Ripley’s Dalton Moran by over an inch. Tanner Householder placed fourth while Ripley’s Tanner Hatfield placed seventh.
In the high jump, Georgetown’s Evan Cotter defeated Felicity’s Kyle Louderbeck by clearing the five-foot, six-inch mark on his first attempt. Louderbeck cleared it on his second. Hatfield finished in a tie for third with Blanchester’s Quinton Miller while his teammate Blake Moore would place fifth.
The G-Men were again victorious in the 4×400 meter event. The team consisting of Doss, Will Mootz, Chris Dietrick and Finn Tomlin defeated Peebles by nearly 30 seconds. Ripley’s squad, which consisted of Joseph Blum, Josiah Staggs, Cary Wright and Justin Tenhindfeld placed third.
Georgetown took home a runner-up title in the 800 meter relay, posting a 9.43 mark that was just behind Manchester’s 9.34 time for first place.
Tanner Householder placed second in the 110 meter hurdles for Georgetown. Fayetteville’s Jacob Bailey finished fourth while Ripley’s Chase Gulley wound up in sixth place.
A pair of Blue Jay runners placed well in the 100 meter Dash. Moran posted a 12.11 mark to place fifth while Hatfield’s 12.44 time was good for eighth.
Fayetteville’s Chase Jester placed fifth in the 400 meter run, less than four seconds behind Tomlin, who won the event. Angeles finished third in the 300 meter hurdles for Ripley and Gulley placed fifth in that same event.
Moran had another strong showing in the 200 meter dash, placing second. The Blue Jays’ 200 meter relay team ( finished second, just ahead of the G-Men.
Overall, Georgetown won the team title by 4.5 points over Blanchester. Ripley placed fourth with 74.5 points, just a half-point behind the third place CNE Rockets. Fayetteville’s 32 team points were good for an eighth-place finish, ahead of Southern Hills Atheltic Conference foes North Adams, Whiteoak and West Union.
The G-Men will join both Fayetteville and Ripley at the Western Brown Invitational on Tuesday, April 19 at 4 p.m. Ripley and Fayetteville will return to action before that, as the Blue Jays will attend the Bethel-Tate Invitational on Saturday, April 16 at 10 a.m. The Rockets will be in action that same day at Woodward High School, also at 10 a.m.