By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

OAK HILL — There was no heartbreak this time.

After finishing second by a mere two points in last year’s Division III district track meet, the Coal Grove Hornets left little doubt about the outcome this year as they easily won the district title.

Coal Grove finished with 137 points while runner-up Belpre had 73.

South Webster was third with 70 followed by Portsmouth Notre Dame with 62, Lucasville Valley 54, Racine Southern and Oak Hill 53, Reedsville Eastern 49, Wheelersburg 46, Federal Hocking 25, Sciotoville East 16, New Boston 13, South Gallia 5 and Miller 4.

On the girls’ side, Reedsville had 66.5 points to win with Wheelersburg second at 56. Coal Grove was third with 54 points, Ironton 47 and Minford and Paint Valley 46 to tie for fifth place in the 25-team field.

Regardless of how a team finishes, the top four finishers in each event advance to the regional meet Wednesday and Friday at Lancaster Fairfield Union High School.

The Hornets’ Greg Bender won the shot put at 50-8.25 to go with his discus title on Wednesday. Brady Burton was fourth at 43-8 to advance.

Boo Woods was second in the 100-meter dash at 11.92 seconds and fourth in the 200 meters at 23.87.

Woods also ran a leg on the 4×100 relay along with Alex Bare, Mason Nance and Jake Murphy and finished second with a 46.21 time.

Bare joined Jake Jewell, T.J. Barrett and Jacob Pauley in the 4×400 relay that was second at 3:42.42.

Bryan Steele was second in the high jump at 6-feet and Barrett was fifth with a 5-4 height.

Jewell was fifth in the 400 meters with a 55.65 time while Nance was sixth in the 100 meters (12.68).

The Hornets’ 4×200 relay team of Aaron Wilson, Joe Colley, Bare and Nance was third at 1:37.86. Wilson finished seventh in the 200 meters.

Pauley ran to a third place finish in the 800 at 2:07.36 and was fourth in the 1600 at 4:43.55. Jordan Beals ran 2:08.25 and was fourth in the 800.

Shawn Morrison ran 18.21 to place sixth in the 110-meter hurdles. Garrett Schultz ran 44.82 to take sixth in the 400 hurdles and Barrett was seventh at 45.63.

For the girls, Ironton’s Hannah Cronacher set a district record in the pole vault as she cleared 8-feet. Coal Grove’s Kayla Suiter was fourth at 7-feet and teammate Ashley Goad went 6-6 to take sixth.

The Lady Tigers’ Ariel Schweickart won the 1600-meter run with a 5:42.97 time. Ironton’s Taylor Hacker was the favorite but she was called for a false start.

Taylor bounced back and finished third in the 3200 with a 13:05.07 time and teammate Shannon Walker was eighth with a 13:55.01 clocking.

Ironton’s Maggie Thomas was sixth in the 800 at 2:38.22 with Schweickart right behind her at 2:42.24.

Morgan Weisgarber and Katie Barron joined Hacker and Schweickart to take fifth in the 4×400 relay at 4:24.32. Johnna Seward, Barron, Cronacher and Weisgarber ran a 1:54.75 to take eight in the 4×200 relay.

The Lady Hornets used the team of Haley Johnson, Kim Short, Paige McKnight and Bailey Harrison to win the 4×200 relay with a 1:49.36 time.

McKnight, Short, Harrison and Suitor combined for a 53.10 time and were fifth in the 4×100 relay.

McKnight took second in the 300 hurdles at 48.38 and was eighth in the 100-meter hurdles (18.02).

Harrison was sixth in the 100 meters at 13.58 and Darrien Hankins took sixth in the discus at 99-9.

Johnson placed fifth in the long jump with a leap of 15-4.25 and she was sixth in the 400 with a 1:03.88 time.