MADISON COUNTY — The Pendleton Heights High School Arabian boys and girls track teams had an exciting time at the Madison County meet at Madison Grant High School — both the boys and girls teams finished in first place.
On the boys side, the team finished with 169 points, edging out Anderson High School, which placed second with 164 points.
The track action came down to the last three events before things were settled with the Arabians on top.
In the high jump, Eli Pancol cleared 6-foot-4 for the win, and freshman Caden McClain finished in third for 16 points.
In the 3,200-meter run, the Arabians came up big again with Sean Roan winning and Caleb Martin fighting to the end for third place just short of second.
The last event — the 4×400 meter relay with Thomas Quiroga, Seth Ledford, Luke Upton and Milan Jones — was a back-and- forth between Pendleton Heights and Anderson. The Arabians came up just short of the win in the race, but the finish sealed the County win for the track team.
Earlier in the meet on Thursday, April 12, the Arabians got things started off with the pole vault with Anakin Allison and Nick Taylor scoring first and second, respectively.
The winning 4×800 team of Caleb Harrington, Jayden Wenning, Sean Roan and Cole Buck started things off well on Friday, April 13. They came out strong and set the tone for the running events.
Seth Ledford ran well enough for third place in the 110 hurdles. Eli Pancol set a new meet record in the 200 with a winning time of 22.27.
Luke Upton and Milan Jones finished second and third in the 1,600 and 800.
Pendleton Heights’ 4×100 meter relay team of Brennan Jones, Caden McClain, Brennan Wrin and Seth Ledford held off Lapel for second.
Ledford finished second in the 300 hurdles, and Pancol took second in the long jump.
Arabians girls took the county championship with 185 points. Anderson finished second with 106 points.
Lapel finished in fifth place with 49 points out of the nine schools participating.
Pendleton Heights led the way thanks to first-place finishes in the 100 hurdles, 1,600 run, 4×100 relay, 300 hurdles, 800 run, two-mile, high jump, long jump and discus.
The 4×800 relay of Maddie McKee, Kylah Stout, Ashley Alderman and Sarah Dudley placed second.
In the 100 dash, Sarah Dix placed fourth, and Devin Byars placed fifth. In the 1,600 run, Christina Magers and Syd Parker finished first and second, respectively.
The 4×100 relay team of Byars, Patience Sakeuh, Sarah Dix and Marissa Marshall finished first.
In the 400 dash, Anna Smith and Kate Cowger placed second and fifth, respectively.
In the 300 dash, Marshall placed first.
In the 800 run Magers and McKee placed first and third, respectively.
In the 200 meter dash, Cowger and Smith placed second and third, respectively.
In the 3,200 meter run Parker and Madison Brunermer placed first and sixth, respectively.
The 4×400 meter relay of Dudley, Cowger, Magers and Smith placed second.
In the high jump, Marshall placed first. In the long jump, Sakeuh and Byars placed first and second. In the shot put, McKenzie Shoaf placed third. In the discus, Shoaf placed first.
The Lapel boys finished the meet in third place with 84 points.
The Bulldogs had nine season-best efforts and seven lifetime-best efforts from the runners.
They also had one individual champion in Luke Combs in the 1600, which he finished in 4:27.3.
The Bulldogs girls sent eight athletes — Noelle Loller, Kara Lutz, Lauren Smith, Paige Rich, Sydney Rusche, Ana Handwork, Morghyn Gephardt and Morgan Walsh — to compete.
The team placed fifth overall with a score of 48.5 points.
Lapel’s 4×800 relay team (Loller, Lutz, Rich and Smith) took first place with a time of 10:39.40.
Other top 10 Bulldog finishers included: 1,600 run — Loller, third place, and Handwork, seventh place; 200 run — Rich, fifth; 300 run — Rich, seventh; 800 run — Loller, fourth, and Rusche, sixth; 3,200 — Smith, second, and Lutz, third; high jump — Rich, sixth.
