At first, all Rocky Balboa wanted to do was go the distance. But once he went the distance, he wanted to win.

Ironton got big production from its distance runners to move into the hunt, then used the complementary help from its other members to win their own invitational track meet on Saturday.

Ironton finished with 142.5 points to beat the Wheelersburg Pirates by one point.

“Our mid-distance did very well. They came through and they’re all young,” said Ironton coach Greg Cronacher.

But it was a team effort. We got contributions from a lot of people, and you have to have that if you win a meet by one point.”

Several teams including Ironton were missing runners due to the ACT testing as well as the SCORES competition at Marshall University. Ironton pole vaulter and sprinter Jon Monnig missed the meet while Lukas Morris arrived in time for only one event.

Morris was the favorite in the high jump and long jump but did not compete in either event.

“Our guys who were on the track did very well,” said Cronacher. “Some of the times weren’t that good, but it was windy and it is early in the season.”

Fairland was third with 122 points followed by South Point with 81.5, Portsmouth Notre Dame had 76.5, Rock Hill 57 and Chesapeake five.

Ironton’s 4×100 relay team of Major Brice, Ryan Sias, Tres Wilkes and Randy Bishop took first place as did the 4×200 team of Brice, Wilkes, Bishop and Morris as well as the 4×800 team of Gary Monroe, Pierce Reeves, Adam Stumbo and Erin Edens.

Dustin Green gave Ironton a first place finish in the 400-meter dash and Sias cleared 12-feet to win the pole vault.

Sias was second in the high jump.

Sias placed in three events and Bobby Sizemore placed in two events. Other key contributions came from Ben Wells, Tony Murphy, Jon Shotsky, Dustin Moritz, Levi Runyon and Lamar Dufore.

“I know people hate to hear it, but it was a great team effort,” said Cronacher.

Fairland got first place finishes from Aaron Ward in the 110-meter hurdles, Matt Bloomfield in the 200 meters and Chad Fisher in the long jump.

South Point’s Drew Lynd won the high jumper and was second in the 100-meters.

The Pointers will host a meet on Tuesday.

Ironton Invitational

Team Scoring

1. Ironton 142.5, 2. Wheelersburg 141.5, 3. Fairland 122, 4. South Point81.5, 5. Portsmouth Notre Dame 76.5, 6. Rock Hill 57, 7. Chesapeake 5.

Field Events

Discus: 1. Robertston (Wh) 137-8, 2. Wells (Ir) 129-5, 3. Smith (SP) 120-4, 4. Scholl (Fa) 115-1, 5. Conkey (Wh) 102-9, 6. Louderback (ND) 95-1, 7. Zirkle (Fa) 94-3, 8. Sissler (RH) 88-3.

High Jump: 1. Lynd (SP) 5-10, 2. Sias (Ir) 5-8, 3. McCollister (RH) 5-6, 4. Hatfield (Fa) 5-4,5.Remnett (ND) 5-2, 6. Brown (Wh) 5-2.

Long Jump: 1. Fisher (Fa) 18-4, 2. Lynd (SP) 17-11.5, 3. Glockner (ND) 17-10.5, 4. McNeal (Wh) 16-9, 5. Smith (Fa) 16-5.5, 6. Cooper (RH) 16-4, 7. Dalton (RH) 15-8.5, 8. Silva (Wh) 15-6.5.

Pole Vault: 1. Sias (Ir) 12-0, 2. Kincaid (Fa) 11-6, 3. Moritz (Ir) 9-9, 4. Emnett (ND) 9-9.

Shot Put: 1. Wilds (RH) 42-8.25, 2. Robertson (Wh) 42-1.25, 3. Frowine (Wh) 41-7.5, 4. Smith (SP) 41-4, 5. Murphy (Ir) 40-2.5, 6. Shotsky (Ir) 39-7, 7. Correy (RH) 34-6, 8. Scholl(Fa) 33-9.5.

Running Events

4×800 M Relay: 1. Ironton (Monroe, Reeves, Stumbo, Edens) 8:56.6, 2. Wheelersburg 9:13.7, 3. Notre Dame 9:37.1, 4. Rock Hill 10:323.0, 5. Fairland 10:38.0.

4×200 M Relay: 1. Ironton (Brice, Wilkes, Bishop, Morris) 1:38.7, 2. Fairland 1:39.3, 3. Notre Dame 1:04.4, 4. Wheelersburg 1:40.5, 5. South Point 1:41.6, 6. Rock Hill 1:42.9.

110 M Hurdles: 1. Ward (Fa) 15.7, 2. Adkins (Fa) 17.5, 3. Sizemore (Ir) 18.4, 4. Duduit (Wh) 18.4, 5. Ward (Wh) 18.4, 6. Cole (SP) 19.8, 7. Crabtree (SP) 19.9.

100 M Dash: 1. Schankwiler (Wh) 11.7, 2. Lynd (SP) 11.8, 3. Lewis (RH) 12.2, 4. Wilds (RH) 12.4, 5. Mitchell (SP) 12.3, 6. Lewis (Ir) 12.4, 7. Dufore (Ir) 12.5, 8. Silvey (Wh) 13.4.

4×100 M Relay: 1. Ironton (Brice, Sias, Wilkes, Bishop) 47.3, 2. South Point 47.8, 3. Fairland 47.8, 4. Wheelersburg 47.8, 5. Notre Dame 47.9.

1600 M Run: 1. Kammler (ND) 4:44.4, 2. Monroe (Ir) 4:57.4, 3. Stumbo (Ir) 4:57.8, 4. Parlin (Wh) 5:00.7, 5. Hadsell (ND) 5:14.4, 6. Miller (Wh) 5:21.3, 7. Hinshaw (Fa) 5:21.7, 8. McComas (Ch) 5:33.2.

800 M Run: 1, Kammler (ND) 2:05.5, 2. Reeves (Ir) 2:10.9, 3. Edens (Ir) 2:11.0, 4. Adkins (Fa) 2:16.7, 5. Horner (Wh) 2:17.8, 6. Hadsell (ND) 2:18.2, 7. McComas (Ch) 2:19.7, 8. Massie (Wh) 2:22.3.

200 M Dash: 1. Bloomfield (Fa) 24.1, 2. Schankweiler (Wh) 24.2, 3.Lynd (SP) 25.2, 4. Mitchell (SP) 25.6, 5. Gibson (Fa) 25.8, 6. Wilds (RH) 25.9, 7. Cooper (RH) 25.9.

400 M Dash: 1. Green (Ir) 55.4, 2. Lewis (Wh) 58.5, 3. Marlowe (SP) 58.7, 4. White (Wh) 58.7, 5. Jones (Fa) 59.1, 6. Cremeans (SP) 59.6, 7. McCollister (RH) 1:00.8, 8. Doerr (Fa) 1:01.0.

300 M Hurdles: 1. Silvey (Wh) 45.9, 2. Smith (Fa) 46.8, 3.Sizemore (Ir) 47.5, 4. Storey (ND) 47.5, 5. Moritz (Ir) 47.6, 6. Boggs (Wh) 47.9.

3200 M Run: 1. Parlin (Wh) 10:37.5, 2. Brooks (Wh) 10:57.5, 3.Stewart (Fa0 11:05.6,4. Stumbo (Ir) 11:06.7, 5.Runyon (Ir) 11:52.9, 6.Hinshaw (Fa) 11:57.7, 7. Oberly (Ch) 12:13.6, 8.Yaniko (RH) 13:34.8.

4×400 M Relay: Notre Dame 3:45.4, 2. Fairland 3:45.7, 3. Ironton 3:46.7, Wheelersburg 4:02.2, 5. Rock Hill 4:12.9.