By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

COAL GROVE — This was a night when the Coal Grove Hornets’ performance was just three-mendous.

Coal Grove won the 4×400-meter relay over the favored Fairland relay team to win the Ohio Valley Conference track and field meet 172-162.

It was the Hornets’ third straight league title. Coal Grove had never won back-to-back titles until last year making this year’s crown yet another page in school history.

The Dragons needed to finish the 4×400 at least two places ahead of the Hornets to tie for first place. Coal Grove erased those chances as Jake Jewell, Alex Bare, T.J. Barrett and Kyle Estep won the race and secured the league championship trophy.

“God blessed these kids with a lot of talent and guts and they maximized it with their effort,” said Hornets’ coach Jay Lucas. “The kids stepped up in every event.”

One race that hurt Fairland’s chances in the meet was the 4×200 relay. The Dragons were disqualified after being out of their exchange zone.

“Fairland has a tremendous team. We knew going in we’d have to perform at our best to have a chance. Coach (Jon) Buchanan does a really good job,” said Lucas.

On the girls’ side, River Valley won with 148 points over the runner-up Coal Grove with 123 and third-place Fairland with 113 points.

Fairland had won the previous two OVC meets.

The South Point Lady Pointers finished fourth with 94 followed by the Chesapeake Lady Panthers with 33 and Rock Hill Redwomen with 28.

Despite the runner-up spot, Lady Hornets’ coach Rick Roach was proud of his team’s performance.

“All our girls did what they were supposed to do,” said Roach. “We performed well. I couldn’t ask any more from them. You have to tip your hat to River Valley. They had a good team and they did a nice job.”

See Page 3B for results.

Ohio Valley Conference

Track & Field Meet

Boys’ Team Scores

1, Coal Grove 172; 2, Fairland 162; 3, South Point 62; 4, Chesapeake 59; 5, Rock Hill 31; 6, River Valley 29.

Field Events

Discus: 1, Greg Bender (CG) 152-4; 2, Kirkpatrick (RH) 132-11; 3, Zirkle (F) 129-1; 4, Harper (RH) 115-7; 5, Lee (F) 110-9; 6, McCoy (Ch) 108-9.

Shot Put: 1, Greg Bender (CG) 49-1; 2, Carey (RH) 47-9.5; 3, Pruitt (F) 45-8.5; 4, Burton (CG) 45-7.25; 5, Noble (Ch) 41-9.25; 6, Gad (F) 41-4.25.

Long Jump: 1, Tre Campbell (SP) 21-0.5; 2, Smith (F) 20-3.5; 3, Nance (CG) 19-6; 4, Woods (CG) 19-5; 5, Dalton (RH) 18-10; 6, Nelson (F) 18-9.

High Jump: 1, Bryan Steele (CG) 6-2; 2, Smith (F) 6-2; 3, (tie) Barrett (CG), Bracken (SP) 5-8; 5, Mabe (RV) 5-4; 6, McDowell (F) 5-4.

Pole Vault: 1, Kyle Estep (CG) 11-6; 2, Murphy (CG) 11-6; 3, Workman (Ch) 11-0; 4, Nyland (F) 10-0; 5, Bishop (F) 9-6; 6, Lien (SP) 9-0.

Running Events

110M Hurdles: 1, Kenny Smith (F) 16.1; 2, Adkins (F) 16.7; 3, Estep (CG) 17.2; 4, Clagg (Ch) 17.4; 5, Morrison (CG) 17.8; 6, Brown (RV) 18.9.

100M Dash: 1, Tre Campbell (SP) 11.2; 2, Martin (Ch) 11.4; 3, Wilds (RH) 11.4; 4, Mitchell (SP) 11.4; 5, Woods (CG) 11.4; 6, Nance (CG) 11.4.

1600M Run: 1, Jacob Pauley (CG) 4:50; 2, Rowe (F) 5:03; 3, Stewart (F) 5:07; 4, Beals (CG) 5:16; 5, Hollingsworth (RV) 5:25; 6, Lively (Ch) 5:33.

400M Dash: 1, Raine Wireman (F) 53.8; 2, Mattie (F) 54.2; 3, Payne (SP) 54.4; 4, Jewell (CG) 55.1; 5, Williams (RV) 55.6; 6, Dalton (RH) 58.2.

300M Hurdles: 1, Kenny Smith (F) 42.5; 2, Adkins (F) 42.8; 3, Barrett (CG) 43.5; 4, Schultz (CG) 46.0; 5, Lucas (Ch) 46.2; 6, Eblin (RV) 49.3.

800M Run: 1, Raine Wireman (F) 2:05; 2, Pauley (CG) 2:06; 3, Mattie (F) 2:07; 4, Steele (CG) 2:17; 5, Ashworth (Ch) 2:18; 6, Welch (Ch) 2:18.

200M Dash: 1, Lucas Martin (Ch) 23.2; 2, Woods (CG) 23.5; 3, Campbell (SP) 23.6; 4, Williams (RV) 23.9; 5, Wilds (RH) 24.1; 6, McDowell (F) 24.3.

3200M Run: 1, Tanner Mattie (F) 10:35; 2, Rowe (F) 10:42; 3, Pauley (CG) 11:16; 4, Archambault (SP) 11:36; 5, Steele (CG) 11:51; 6, Stepney (RV) 11:55.

Relays

4x800M: 1, Coal Grove (Jordan Beals, Bryan Steele, Jake Jewell, Jacob Pauley) 8:32; 2, Fairland 8:50; 3, Chesapeake 10:01; 4, River Valley 10:08; 5, South Point 10:15.

4x200M: 1, South Point (Tevin Mitchell, Josh Payne, Blake Barnes, Dillon Saxton) 1:36; 2, Coal Grove 1:38; 3, River Valley 1:53.

4x100M: 1, Coal Gove (Alex Bare, Boo Woods, Mason Nance, Jake Murphy) 45.1; 2, Chesapeake 46.8; 3, Fairland 47.9; 4, River Valley 49.9.

4x400M: 1, Coal Grove (Jake Jewell, Alex Bare, T.J. Barrett, Kyle Estep) 3:40; 2, Chesapeake 3:42; 3, Fairland 3:43; 4, South Point 3:54; 5, River Valley 4:01.

High Point: Kenny Smith, Fairland, 36

Girls’ Team Scores

1, River Valley 148; 2, Coal Grove 123; 3, Fairland 113; 4, South Point 94; 5, Chesapeake 33; 6, Rock Hill 28.

Field Events

Discus: 1, Kaitie Roberts (RV) 108-2; 2, Hankins (CG) 104-1; 3, Gibson (F) 98-10; 4, Plybon (Ch) 83-5; 5, Taubenheim 81-4; 6, Butler (RH) 78-6.

Shot Put: 1, Beth McWhorter (Ch) 36-11.75; 2, Winters (CG) 35-5; 3, Ferguson (CG) 34-2.5; 4, Morris (SP) 32-2; 5, Roberts (RV) 30-7; 6, Miller (Ch) 27-11.

Long Jump: 1, Kayla Fletcher (SP) 16-5; 2, Johnson (CG) 15-2; 3, Murphy (CG) 14-9; 4, Massie (RH) 14-4; 5, Ward (RV) 13-10; 6, Neville (RV) 13-8.

High Jump: 1, Amanda Ruffner (Ch) 5-2; 2, Bowman (F) 5-0; 3, Riley (F) 4-8; 4, Sites (RH) 4-6; 5, Erwin (CG) 4-4; 6, Webb (CG) 4-4.

Pole Vault: 1, Amber Pappas (F) 7-9; 2, Suitor (CG) 7-6; 3, Shockley (F) 7-6; 4, Goad (CG) 7-0; 5, Meadows (Ch) 6-6.

Running Events

100M Hurdles: 1, Jessica Hager (RV) 15.7; 2, Pappas (F) 16.5; 3, McKnight (CG) 16.8; 4, Massie (RH) 18.3; 5, Goad (CG) 19.5; 6, Eblin (RV) 21.8.

100M Dash: 1, Kayla Fletcher (SP) 12.7; 2, Fields (RV) 12.9; 3, Harrison (CG) 13.1; 4, Gore (SP) 13.1; 5, Pappas (F) 13.3; 6, Short (CG) 13.4.

1600M Run: 1, Katie Blodgett (RV) 5:35; 2, Letchford (SP) 5:53; 3, Pettit (F) 5:57; 4, Ashton (F) 6:01; 5, Brooks (RV) 6:12; 6, Thibodaux (RH) 6:51.

400M Dash: 1, JaiNai Fields (RV) 1:00.5; 2, Fletcher (SP) 1:03.6; 3, Johnson (CG) 1:04.9; 4, Montano (RH) 1:09.1; 5, Carrico (F) 1:10.4; 6, Ward (RV) 1:10.8.

300M Hurdles: 1, Jessica Hager (RV) 46.7; 2, McKnight (CG) 48.6; 3, Pappas (F) 51.1; 4, Massie (RH) 54.7; 5, Goad (CG) 59.3; 6, Plymale (SP) 59.4.

800M Run: 1, Katie Blodgett (RV) 2:29; 2, Letchford (SP) 2:36; 3, Pettit (F) 2:40; 4, Ashton (F) 2:42; 5, Montano (RH) 2:44; 6, McGrath (RV) 2:47.

200M Dash: 1, Jessica Hager (RV) 26.5; 2, Fletcher (SP) 27.5; 3, Harrison (CG) 27.6; 4, Gore (SP) 28.1; 5, Short (CG) 28.5; 6, Sands (RV) 28.8.

3200M Run: 1, Katie Blodgett (RV) 12:13; 2, Letchford (SP) 13:28; 3, Ashton (F) 13.39; 4, Clarkson (F) 14:29; 5, Holingsworth (RV) 16:31; 6, Stormes (CG) 17:02.

Relays

4x800M: 1, River Valley (Katie Blodgett, SHeyan McGrath, Keyana Ward, Rylie Hollingsworth) 10:57; 2, Fairland 11:05; 3, Coal Grove 12:37; 4, South Point 13:24.

4x200M: 1, Coal Grove (Paige McKnight, Haley Johnson, Katey Erwin, Bailey Harrison) 1:46; 2, River Valley1:50; 3, Fairland 1:51; 4, South Point 1:52; 5, Chesapeake 2:04.

4x100M: 1, Coal Grove (Paige McKnight, Kim Short, Kayla Suitor, Bailey Harrison) 52.9; 2, South Point 55.0; 3, Fairland 56.2; 4, Chesapeake 57.9; 5, Rock Hill 58.0.

4x400M: 1, River Valley (JaiNai fields, Kelsey Sands, Sheyan McGrath, Jessica Hager) 4:24; 2, Coal Grove 4:39; 3, Fairland 4:40; 4, South Point 4:59; 5, Rock Hill 5:23.

High Point: Kayla Fletcher, South Point, 36.