The Harlan Green Dragons and Harlan County Black Bears opened their seasons Friday at Harlan County in an all comers meet. 

Harlan County’s boys won the meet with 165 points. Harlan’s boys finished seventh with 26 points.

Harlan County’s girls placed second overall with 128 points, falling 65 points behind Leslie County. Harlan’s girls were seventh with 20 points. 

“I’m proud of both of our teams for their performances tonight,” Harlan County track coach Ryan Vitatoe said. “It was a challenging evening to open the season, in terms of weather, but I thought we competed hard.”

“I thought the boys had a very solid performance against a good field of teams,” Vitatoe said. “We are rebuilding this year, and we have a ton of new guys who are in the process of learning their events, but I thought they competed very hard this evening. 

“The girls performed well tonight. Leslie County has an incredible team, and we’ve been battling them back and forth for the past three years.  I do not think they have anything to hang their heads about. Like the boys, we have a really young group of kids, and I thought they performed well.”

“We are a very young team and it was great to be able to let the kids compete,” Harlan track coach Trent McKenzie said. 

To lead Harlan County’s boys, Drew Sergent won the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. Jayce Brown won pole vault. Hunter Hughes won unified shot put.

“Drew had a great start to his season, picking up two wins in the hurdles. He’s been great all spring, and I think he’s poised to have a big year,” Vitatoe said. “Jayce had a good performance in the pole vault.”

William Duncan, Trevor Farley, Gage Bailey and Jacob Schwenke won the 4 x 200-meter relay.

Farley, Schwenke, Ethan Lewis and William Duncan won the 4 x 800-meter relay.

In the 100-meter dash, Jonah Sharp finished seventh, immediately followed by Ryan Day. Jerome Monroe was 12th. Landon Cook placed 15th. Sam Carr was 22nd, immediately followed by Braydon Doan and Brantley Burkhart. Ben Cochran and Ashton Anderson finished 26th and 30th, respectively. Connor Wilkinson was 38th. Ben Crain placed 40th, immediately followed by Joseph Wright. 

Sharp placed seventh in the 200-meter dash. Cochran finished 12th, immediately followed by Cook and Monroe. Anderson was 16th. Burkhart finished 19th, while Wilkinson was 21st. Crain placed 24th, immediately followed by Wright. 

Schwenke finished third in the 400-meter dash. William Duncan placed fifth, immediately followed by Farley. Bailey and Burkhart were eighth and ninth, respectively. 

Schwenke placed second in the 800-meter run. He was immediately followed by William Duncan and Farley. Braxton Hubbard finished ninth. Jayden Sargent was 13th, while Tanner Widener placed 17th. Arthur Harrison and Hunter Cornett were 25th and 27th, respectively. 

In the 1,600-meter run, Lewis finished second. He was immediately followed by Christopher Johnson, Braxton Duncan and Jayden Sargent. Karson Dunn placed eighth. Kaylob Stevens was 12th, immediately followed by Hubbard. Arthur Harrison and Widener finished 18th and 21st, respectively. Caleb Johnson was 24th, immediately followed by Hunter Cornett.

Lewis finished second in the 3,200-meter run. He was immediately followed by Christopher Johnson and Braxton Duncan. Kaylob Stevens placed sixth, immediately followed by Dunn and Jayden Sargent. Arthur Harrison was 11th.  

Day, Sharp, Doan and Cook placed third in the 4 x 100-meter relay. Cochran, Anderson, Monroe and Carr were fifth.

In the 4 x 800-meter relay, Widener, Stevens, Arthur Harrison and Caleb Johnson were third. Dunn, Hubbard, Christopher Johnson and Jayden Sargent placed fourth.

“I thought our distance crew did well,” Vitatoe said. 

Jaxton Miller was fifth in the 110-meter hurdles. 

Landyn Noe finished fifth in the 300-meter hurdles. Miller placed ninth. 

Brown placed third in long jump. Doan was sixth. Bryson Bryant and Cayden Craig were 10th and 11th, respectively. Jacob Brock placed 12th, while Billy Harrison was 14th. Miller was 19th. 

Bryant was eighth in high jump. Day placed 12th. 

Caden Craig placed fifth in triple jump. Brock and Miller were seventh and ninth, respectively. 

“Our sprint crew is comprised of nearly all new kids, but I thought they competed hard. We have some serious talent in that group. The same can be said for our jumpers. I thought they had a big night,” Vitatoe said. “Both of these groups had a large majority of kids who were competing for the first time ever in track and field, and they did great.”

Brock placed fourth in pole vault. 

Brayden Clay was second in shot put. Hunter Napier placed fifth, while Hunter Stevens was eighth. Braxton Cornett and Jordison Jackson placed 14th and 15th, respectively. Aaron Johnson placed 17th. Wilkinson and AJ Halcomb were 22nd and 25th, respectively. Uriah Roberts placed 29th.

In discus, Napier was fifth. Wilkinson and Hunter Stevens placed 10th. Halcomb was 14th. 

“I thought all of our throwers made big contributions for us,” Vitatoe said. “Overall, it was a total team effort, and it’s great to open the season with a win. We have a long way to go to get to where I think we can be, but the ceiling is very high with this group.”

Kiera Roberts led Harlan County’s girls, winning the 1,600- and 3,200-meter run. Maddi Middleton won high jump.

“Kiera had a big day, and Maddi had a big night in the high jump.” Vitatoe said.

Roberts, Preslee Hensley, Priscilla Stewart and Ariel Farley won the 4 x 800-meter relay.

In the 100-meter dash, Jaylee Cochran finished seventh. Makenna Dillman was ninth, immediately followed by Kennadie Sturgill. Macy Jones placed 12th, while Maliyah Washington finished 16th. Addi Gray was 20th. Reagan Clem placed 29th. Madilynn Lemar and Hailey Perkins were 35th and 40th, respectively. 

In the 200-meter dash, Cochran placed fourth. She was immediately followed by Jaycee Simpson. Sturgill was seventh, immediately followed by Gray. Washington and Dillman finished 11th and 17th, respectively. Clem was 28th. Lemar placed 31st, immediately followed by Perkins. 

Simpson finished second in the 400-meter dash. Andrea Napier placed eighth, immediately followed by Rileigh Duff and Clem. 

“Our sprinters were solid this evening. They had great showings in each of the relays and competed hard,” Vitatoe said. “They’re a young group who will get better as the year goes on.”

In the 800-meter run, Layken Saylor finished second. Ariel Farley was fourth, immediately followed by Stewart. Morgyn Belcher placed eighth, immediately followed by Autumn Farley and Bella Leath. 

Ariel Farley finished third in the 1,600-meter run. Stewart was sixth. Saylor placed 11th. She was immediately followed by Suzy Mumford, Belcher, Autumn Farley and Leath.  

“I was overall pleased with our distance crew. We’re still not at full strength on the distance side, but they competed hard,” Vitatoe said. 

Dillman, Sturgill, Cochran and Jones placed second in the 4 x 100-meter relay.

Cochran, Dillman, Simpson and Sturgill finished second in the 4 x 200-meter relay. 

In the 4 x 400-meter relay, Hensley, Clem, Simpson and Ariel Farley were second.  

In the 4 x 800-meter relay, Belcher, Leath, Saylor and Autumn Farley placed third. 

Hensley was sixth in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles.

In long jump, Duff placed eighth. Middleton and Aiselyn Sexton were 11th and 14th, respectively. Jovi Tye was 16th. Vanessa Griffith placed 19th, while Emily Creech was 20th. Haley Johnson placed 22nd.

Middleton placed sixth in triple jump. 

“We have a lot of really young jumpers who are learning the event, so I look forward to seeing their progress this year,” Vitatoe said. 

In shot put, Aubrey Madden was fifth. Addison Day placed 12th, while Savanna Madden was 13th. Alice Gross and Lexi Foutch were 22nd and 23rd, respectively.  

Day was eighth in discus. RJ Clem placed 15th. Taylor Reeves was 21st. 

“Our throwers are improving each week. I thought they did a good job tonight,” Vitatoe said. 

“I think it was a great start to the season. It’s critical that we build on our successes and learn from the mistakes we made this evening,” Vitatoe said. “This is a hard sport, sometimes the conditions are unforgiving, and we have to learn how to compete. I love the attitudes of the kids on this team and I think we’ll be where we need to be by May.”

Gibson Wilder led Harlan’s boys, placing second in the 300-meter hurdles. Cruz Galloway finished second in the 1,600-meter run.

In the 100-meter dash, Hunter Brock placed 14th. Boss Bryson finished 25th, while Joe Reynolds was 29th. Payton Glenn placed 32nd. 

Galloway finished 12th in the 800-meter run. Carter White was 23rd. 

White placed 16th in the 1,600-meter run. 

In the 4 x 100-meter relay, Brock, Bryson, Glenn and Izack Saylor were fourth.

Murtaza Hussain finished eighth in the 300-meter hurdles. 

Saylor placed third in high jump. 

In shot put, Jordan Rodriguez placed 11th. Logan Thompson and Rylan Rodriguez were 20th and 21st, respectively. 

Rylan Rodriguez was seventh in discus. Thompson placed eighth. 

To lead Harlan’s girls, Harper Carmical won the 800-meter run. Zoe Lawson won high jump.

Talae Manning finished 26th in the 100-meter dash. Torrie Sundy was 31st. 

Carmical placed second in the 1,600-meter run.

Jaylynn Pennington was second in high jump.

In shot put, Abbiegail Elliott placed 14th. Amelia Bryant was 24th.

Elliott was 10th in discus. Bryant placed 20th.

“We saw a lot of growth from runners from last year and we saw good things from our new kids,” McKenzie said. “We’re very excited for this year and excited to see what this year will hold.”

Harlan’s middle schoolers will compete again Monday at Bristol, Va. for an invitational meet.

Harlan County will return to action April 7 at Leslie County for an all comers meet.