WOODLAND, CARTERSVILLE COMPETE IN BIG WEEKEND T&F EVENTS

STAFF REPORT

After competing against each other in their first meet, the Cartersville and Woodland boys and girls track teams went outside the county for Saturday’s invitationals.

The Wildcats went to Woodstock for the Wolverine Invitational, while the Canes participated in the Rome Invitational.

The Woodland girls distance runners led the Lady Wildcats to a third-place finish in the 17-team field, while Markal Brown had a big day on the track and the field to help the boys finish sixth out of 19 teams.

As for the Lady Canes, London Shaw scored big points in the shot put and discus to lead her team to a 10th-place finish out of 12 teams, while the boys scored in a few events to finish 12th out of 13.

As per usual, the Woodland girls excelled on the track. McKenna Trapheagen won the 3200 and 1600 with times of 10:58 and 5:08, respectively. Tess Cochran placed fifth in the 3200 at just over 12 minutes, while Carli Clymer finished second in the 1600 at 5:15. Clymer also placed second in the 800, although she almost won the event, finishing just six tenths of a second out of first. 

Bella Carnes was the Woodland girls’ representative in the shorter races, and she scored points in both the 400 and 200. She placed sixth in the 200 with a time of 27.32 and eighth in the 400 at 1:03.

With all the distance running talent, it comes as little surprise that the Wildcats also performed well in the 4×400 relay, placing third with a time of 4:20.

As for the field events, Grace Webb continued her strong start to track and field season by winning the high jump with a height of 5 feet, 4 inches; Skylar Chappell placed third in the discuss throw at 106 feet, 2 inches; Brooke Cooper placed sixth in the pole vault with a height of 8 feet, 6 inches; and Jasmine Hill finished eighth in the long jump with a distance of 14 feet, 8 inches.

For the Woodland boys, Brown scored in three individual events, placing first in the long jump with a height of 21 feet, 2 1/2 inches; third in the 400 with a time of 52.22; and sixth in the 200 at 23.07.

Meanwhile, pole vault was once again a source of points for the Wildcats. Jimmy Davis placed first at 14 feet, 7 inches, and Tommy Duke came in third in the same event at 12 feet.

Nick Bailey and Aaron Carlson each scored for Woodland in the throws, with Bailey posting a fourth-place finish at 42 feet, 9 1/2 inches in the shot put, and Carlson coming in seventh at 114 feet, 7 inches in the discus.

Dianthony Heathcock rounded out a strong showing in the field events with his fifth-place result in the high jump with a height of 5 feet, 8 inches.

On the track, the 4×400 relay team (3:41.21) and 4×800 team (9:18.96) each scored a point to help the cause. John Shropshire also placed eighth in the 1600 with a time of 4:48.

As for the Canes in Rome, Shaw scored all the points for the girls in the two throwing events. She finished third in the shot put with a distance of 35 feet, 9 inches and second in the discus at 98 feet, 7 inches.

For the boys, Bill Archer scored in two events, placing sixth in the 800 at 2:08 and seventh in the 1600 at 4:48.

Nick Bebko had the best finish on the day, coming in second in the pole vault at 13 feet, 6 inches.

Colin McCann and Harrison Banks also scored, finishing in seventh and eighth in the 3200 at 10:32 and 10:44, respectively.