CALCUTTA - Trish Taggart set the pace.
The rest of the Beavers followed her lead.
In the end, the Beaver Local girls and boys track teams swept a tri-meet against Columbiana County rivals Wellsville and Southern Local Thursday at home.
Article Photos
Beaver Local’s Blake Gaskill leads the pack in the 800 Thursday. (Photo by Aaron Petchal)
On the girls side, the Beavers finished first with 106.5 points, the Tigers ended up second with 37.5 points and the Indians placed third with seven points.
On the boys side, Beaver Local finished first with 73 points, Wellsville placed second with 50 points and Southern ended up third with 39 points.
"It was an excellent day, an excellent day," Beaver Local head coach Joe Carr said. "Anytime you are running the local schools, there is a nice rivalry. The kids know each other. Each one steps up because they do know each other. A lot of them are really good friends. Of course, all of the coaches get along. It was an excellent day.
"The kids stepped up when they needed to. The kids ran some races that they didn't think they were running. We put them in it, and they ran them."
Led by Taggart, who one three individual races as well as being a member of one winning relay team, the Beaver Local girls won 10 events, while Wellsville won six.
The Beavers won eight individual events.
Taggart won the 800 (2:36.6), the 1600 (5:47.6) and the 3200 (13:16.2).
Also, Sarah Ridgley swept the hurdle races. Ridgley won the 100 hurdles (19.3) and the 300 hurdles (54.5). Finally, Jessica Fair finished first in the 200 (28.6), Kami Snow won the 400 (1:09.6) and Jordan Reinke won the high jump (4-08).
Beaver Local also won the 4x400 relay (5:01.4) and the 4x800 relay (12:58.9). The 4x400 team was made up of Laini Roberts, Snow, Fair and Ridgely. The 4x800 team consisted of Taggart, Kendra Kelly, Roberts and Kim Kennedy.
The Tigers won four individual events. Amanda Coles and Shartece Taylor each won two events. Coles won the shot put (31-01) and the discus (22-04). Taylor won the long jump (14-08.25) and the 100 (13.1).
Wellsville also won the 4x100 relay (54.7) and the 4x200 relay (1:55.6).
"Things went pretty well today," Wellsville girls head coach Cissy Wilson said. "We have several injuries, so a couple of people are only doing two events because they are just coming back.
"Mylea's (Fultz) back hurts from volleyball. She didn't play basketball for half of the season. Angelica (Scarabino) just got a thing off of her foot, and Monica Wilson, you saw that brace she has. She is only doing one or two events too, so it is going to take us a while to get everyone back into a full amount of events.
"If I get my our fastest girls doing four events, we will be all right, but we only have 10 kids."
The Beaver Local boys won six events, while Wellsville and Southern each won five.
The Beavers won two individual events. Mike Houk won the 800 (2:11.9), and Justin Osborne won the 300 hurdles (45.3).
Beaver Local also won all four relay races. Beaver Local won the 4x100 relay (49.7), the 4x200 relay (1:37.5), the 4x400 relay (3:59) and the 4x800 relay (9:32.3).
The Tigers won five individual events. Justin Gregg won three events to lead the way. Gregg won the 200 (23.8), the 110 hurdles (16.4) and the long jump (19-09.5).
"I was very happy with Justin Gregg," Wellsville boys head coach Randy Thrasher said. "He had three first-place finishes today. He is a junior, and he is one of our leaders. I'm not surprised by what he can do because he can do a lot. He is a heck of an athlete, and we just have get him going."
Also, Marcus Moxley won the 100 (11.7), and Vance Thomas won the discus (119-01).
"Things went well for what we brought," Wellsville boys head coach Randy Thrasher said. "I've got a lot of injuries right now. With the warm weather earlier in the season, we got outside early. Then, the cold weather came and it just seemed to extenuate a couple of our injuries - the pulled muscles and the sore knees.
"Tonight, I lost another one. I lost Marcus Moxley with a pulled hamstring I believe. He is going to go to the doctor in the morning to see what happened, but it's tough.
"I have got 16 freshmen and sophomores on this team. They are talented so their future is very bright, but sometimes it is just a little hard to get them through those first initial two or three years to get them stronger and get them to where they need to be."
Thrasher said he is expecting to get some kids back shortly, but the loss of Moxley will be tough to overcome.
"I think I will get a couple of kids back next week," he said. "That will help us, but like a lot of coaches say the early season is just organized practice for the districts and league championships, which hopefully we will look well in and do well in.
"I'm happy. The kids, they all were in good spirits today. I'm upset with the one injury because he is a big one. He is a good one. He is a real-good one. I had him at 11.3. I'm not sure what is final time was. The last 20 meters he kind of limped down. Hopefully, it won't be too bad and we can get him back in a couple of weeks and get rolling with him again. I believe he is by far one of the best in the county. He is a heck of a worker. His work ethic - and you can ask Coach (Dave) Skinner in football - Marcus Moxley's work ethic is unbelievable, and he is a good kid. Hopefully, this won't hurt him too bad and we will get him back soon."
The Indians won five individual events. James Napierkowski won two events to lead the way. Napierkowski won the 1600 (5:17.1) and the 3200 (11:34.2).
Also, Mike McKenzie won the 400 (55.6), Clayton Cunningham won the high jump (5-04) and Levi Haddox won the shot put (43-05).
The Beavers and Tigers will be competing at invitationals on Saturday. Beaver Local will be at the Bulldog Invitational, while Wellsville will be at the Western Reserve Invitational.
