The Harlan County track team hosted the Coal Miners Memorial Invitational on Thursday. The Bears and Lady Bears each placed second overall with 144 and 132 points, respectively. 

“I’m proud of the kids for how hard they competed tonight. It’s a meet at Harlan County, so of course, there will be rain, but I thought we came back out after the delay and competed hard,” Harlan County track coach Ryan Vitatoe said. 

“The boys had a solid meet tonight, Vitatoe said. “Middlesboro is currently the top-ranked team in Class A, and I thought we battled them hard this evening.

“The girls performed well tonight. In my 14 years as the head track coach at HC, I haven’t had as many injuries combined as we’ve had this season. It’s been a tough start for our girls, and losing Maddi (Middleton) and Jaylee (Cochran) for the year is tough, but I am proud of how they have responded and competed. They beat some really good teams here tonight.”

The Dragons finished seventh overall with 23 points. The Lady Dragons were 10th with 20.5 points. 

Event winners for Harlan County’s boys included Trevor Farley, Jacob Schwenke, Ethan Lewis and William Duncan in the 4 x 800-meter relay; Tanner Widener in the mixed 1,600-meter middle-school run; Hunter Hughes in unified shot put.

In the 100-meter dash, Jonah Sharp placed third. Ryan Day was 12th. Jerome Monroe and Landon Cook finished 14th and 16th, respectively. 

Sharp finished fifth in the 200-meter dash. Cook was 15th. Ben Cochran and Monroe were 17th and 19th, respectively. Lewis placed 26th.

Schwenke finished fourth in the 400-meter dash. He was immediately followed by William Duncan and Farley. 

“The sprinters performed well,” Vitatoe said. 

In the 800-meter run, Farley placed second. He was immediately followed by Schwenke. William Duncan was sixth, immediately followed by Braxton Hubbard. 

Christopher Johnson finished second in the 1,600-meter run. He was immediately followed by Lewis. Braxton Duncan placed fifth. Jayden Sargent was ninth. 

In the mixed 1,600-meter middle-school run, Billy Harrison placed third. He was immediately followed by Arthur Harrison. Hunter Cornett was 10th. 

In the 3,200-meter run, Braxton Duncan placed second. Lewis finished third. Johnson was fifth, immediately followed by Kaylob Stevens.

“I’ve been really challenging our distance guys hard this week and I thought they responded well,” Vitatoe said. “Chris and Ethan had huge races in the 1,600, and Braxton was great in the 3,200. I thought Trevor had a big night for us too.”

Cook, Monroe, Day and Sharp were third in  the 4 x 100-meter relay and fourth in the 4 x 200-meter relay. 

In the 4 x 400-meter relay, Farley, Schwenke, Gage Bailey and William Duncan were third. Cochran, Karson Dunn, Brantley Burkhart and Braxton Hubbard placed fifth. 

Hubbard, Johnson, Dunn and Kaylob Stevens finished second in the 4 x 800-meter relay. 

Drew Sergent placed third in the 110-meter hurdles. Landyn Noe and Jaxton Miller were seventh and ninth, respectively. 

Drew Sergent finished second in the 300-meter hurdles. Noe was seventh. Miller placed 11th. 

Jayce Brown placed second in long jump. Bryson Bryant and Caden Craig were ninth and 13th, respectively. Billy Harrison was 21st. 

Bryant placed fourth in high jump. 

In triple jump, Craig placed fifth. Bryant was eighth. Jacob Brock and Miller were 12th and 14th, respectively. 

“Our jumpers keep improving. Jayce has moved himself among the top in the region in the long jump. Bryson had a big night, and Caden Craig performed well too,” Vitatoe said. “I think this group is coming along well.”

Brown placed second in pole vault. Brock was third, while Ashton Anderson placed fourth. 

In shot put, Hunter Napier was third. Brayden Clay placed ninth. Hunter Stevens and Braxton Cornett were 16th and 19th, respectively. 

Napier placed 13th in discus. Clay was 15th. Hunter Stevens was 24th, while Aiden Jones placed 27th. 

“Our throwers had a big night, and they keep improving,” Vitatoe said. “I think we’re starting to find ourselves as a team. The improvement is apparent, and I really like where they are at this moment. The key is to keep our focus and continue to improve, but I like how they are competing for each other.”

Clay, Napier, Jones and Braxton Cornett were third in the 4 x 100-throwers relay. 

Event winners for Harlan County’s girls included Preslee Hensley, Lauren Lewis, Priscilla Stewart and Ariel Farley in the 4 x 800-meter relay and Maliyah Washington in long jump. 

Makenna Dillman placed 15th in the 100-meter dash. Macy Jones was 17th. Taylynn Napier finished 28th. 

Jaycee Simpson finished sixth in the 200-meter dash. Dillman was 13th. 

In the 400-meter dash, Lewis placed second. Simpson and Rileigh Duff finished fifth and ninth, respectively. Autumn Farley was 22nd. 

Lewis finished second in the 800-meter run. Ariel Farley placed 10th, while Stewart was 13th. Bella Leath placed 22nd. 

In the 1,600-meter run, Gracie Roberts placed second. Ariel Farley and Stewart finished ninth and 12th, respectively. 

In the mixed 1,600-meter middle-school run, Zoe Lawson finished fifth. Layken Saylor placed eighth, immediately followed by Bella Leath. Autumn Farley was 11th. 

Roberts finished second in the 3,200-meter run. Ariel Farley was sixth, immediately followed by Suzy Mumford. 

In the 4 x 100-meter relay, Washington, Makenna Dillman, Addi Gray and Macy Jones were third. 

“When you have this kind of season when you lose key people, you have to have others who step up. I was proud of Addi for jumping into the 4 x 100 tonight,” Vitatoe said. “Those gals had their best race of the season.”

Dillman, Napier, Gray and Simpson finished fourth in the 4 x 200-meter relay. 

Simpson, Lewis, Preslee Hensley and Rileigh Duff placed second in the 4 x 400-meter relay.  

Paisli Boggs placed third in the 100-meter hurdles and sixth in the 300-meter hurdles. Preslee Hensley finished seventh in the 100-meter hurdles and eighth in the 300-meter hurdles. 

“Paisli had a huge night in the hurdles, and she just keeps getting better every week,” Vitatoe said.

Duff placed third in long jump. Madi Nolan and Aiselyn Sexton were 15th and 16th, respectively. 

Washington placed fourth in triple jump. Jovi Tye was sixth. Sexton placed ninth. 

“I thought Jovi had a huge night for us in the triple jump,” Vitatoe said. 

Madilynn Lemar was fourth in pole vault. Mumford placed fifth. 

“I was really proud of Suzy and Maddie for their effort in the pole vault,” Vitatoe said. “I thought they did great.”

In shot put, Addyson Caldwell placed third. Ali Hensley was fourth. Savanna Madden and Aubrey Madden were eighth and ninth, respectively. 

In discus, Addison Day placed fifth. RJ Clem was 11th. Caldwell placed 13th, while Ali Hensley was 14th. 

“The throwers had big nights tonight,”Vitatoe said. “Ali, Addy, Savannah and Aubrey were great in the shot. I thought Addi was great in the disc as well.”

To lead Harlan’s boys, Izack Saylor won high jump. 

Hunter Brock placed 21st in the 100-meter dash. He was immediately followed by Braxton Rowe. 

Brock was 10th in the 200-meter dash. Rowe finished 13th. 

In the 800-meter run, Cruz Galloway placed 12th. Carter White was 22nd. Brayden York finished 25th, immediately followed by Mason Raleigh. 

Galloway finished 10th in the 6,200-meter run. White placed 14th. Raleigh was 17th, immediately followed by York. 

Galloway placed 13th in the 3,200-meter run. 

In the 4 x 100-meter relay, Saylor, Brock, Rowe and Gibson Wilder finished sixth. 

Wilder finished fourth in the 300-meter hurdles. Murtaza Hussain placed 10th. 

In shot put, Jordan Rodriguez placed fifth. Logan Thompson and Rylan Rodriguez were 23rd and 28th, respectively. 

Jordan Rodriguez was ninth in discus. Rylan Rodriguez placed 20th. Thompson was 28th, while Michael Lindsey placed 31st. 

Harper Carmical finished fourth in the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs to lead Harlan’s girls. Gwendolyn Toll placed fourth in high jump. 

Talae Taylor finished 31st in the 100-meter dash and 21st in the 200-meter dash. 

Gwendolyn Toll placed 20th in the 800-meter run. 

Cora Jones was 10th in the 3,200-meter run. 

In shot put, Abbiegail Elliott placed 14th. Amelia Bryant was 29th. 

In discus, Elliott was ninth. Bryant placed 25th. 

“We are where we need to be for region,” Harlan track coach Trent McKenzie said. “We’ve got a lot of upside that we need to capitalize on.

“We had a lot of PRs. We need to keep momentum from this meet and carry it over for the rest of the season.”

Harlan County’s next meet will be Tuesday at North Laurel for an all-comers meet. 

“We’re coming up on a huge week as we head to the region site. We have to be focused and ready to compete,” Vitatoe said. “We have a long way to go, but I like where we are as a program.”

Harlan’s middle-schoolers will compete on Monday at Whitley County.  

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Harlan County’s throwers won their meet at Pineville on Monday. 

Ali Hensley won shot put to lead the Lady Bears. 

Addyson Caldwell placed second in shot put. Savanna Madden and Aubrey Madden were third and fourth, respectively. Addison Day was sixth. RJ Clem placed 10th. Taylor Reeves was 13th, while Lexi Foutch was 16th.  

In discus, Day placed second. Caldwell was third. Hensley and Clem were sixth and seventh, respectively. Reeves placed 11th. 

Hunter Napier won shot put to lead the Bears. Hunter Hughes won unified shot put. 

Brayden Clay placed third in shot put. Hunter Stevens and Braxton Cornett were sixth and seventh, respectively. Aaron Johnson was ninth. Jordison Jackson placed 11th, while Aiden Jones was 12th. AJ Halcomb placed 15th. Uriah Roberts was 17th. 

In discus, Napier placed fourth. Clay was fifth. Jones and Stevens placed seventh and ninth, respectively. Halcomb was 13th. 

Harlan also competed in the meet.

Jordan Rodriguez placed third in discus to lead the Dragons. Rodriguez also placed fourth in shot put. 

Logan Thompson placed 10th in discus. Michael Lindsey and Mark Lane were 11th and 12th, respectively. 

In shot put, Thompson placed 10th. Lindsey was 14th. Lane placed 16th. 

To pace the Lady Dragons, Abbiegail Elliott placed fourth in discus. Elliott also finished seventh in shot put.  

Amelia Bryant was 12th in discus and 15th in shot put. 

Team results were not available.