The Bethel Middle School Hornets track team competed at the Hornet Invitational Monday night.
“The team had a great night with 13 first-place finishes (9 with seventh grade, four with the eighth grade),” noted Bethel coach Colton Bond “The track was playing a little top heavy and fast (Monday) night, where you either wanted to be on the lead or right off of it. Once we made our adjustments and changed strategies a little bit, our student-athletes started running faster times.
“Every track plays a little different, maybe the cooler temperatures had something to do with it,” he added, “however at the end of the day our young men went to work and found ways to win.”
Of the seventh-grade, Bond said, “They started off right and took the 4×800 relay with Jacob Jones, Daniel Barrientos, Peyton Brack, and Layton Baugh winning a blue ribbon with a time of 10:37. Aiden Hughes followed suit with a first-place finish in the 110 hurdles.
“Jaden Ashford (12.01), Cason Trickey (12.21), and Dylan Witcher (12.74) each won their respected heats of the 100,” he continued. “The 100 heat winners teamed up with Hughes to win the 4×100 relay with a time of 50.31.
“In the 800, Barrientos was able to win a stretch duel between a runner from Lake Hamilton and Baugh, said the coach. “Barrientos won in a time of 2:34.
“I think the highlight of the night was that 800 race,” he related. “Barrientos and Baugh were drafting the young man from Lake Hamilton then made their move in the stretch. They were three-wide across the track and Barrientos was barely edging away from both when Baugh moved to the inside to preserve the win for Daniel and our team. Baugh’s move was very selfless, and he put the team above himself.
“Following Baugh was Brack, Jones, and Caleb Hawkins as we went 1,2,4,5,6 in the event,” Bond noted. “To follow it up, Ashford and Trickey won their heats of the 200 with Witcher and Hank Penfield running second.
“Our seventh-grade young men had a great meet, we need to clean up some technical things. However, I was pleased on our night with many personal records being broken.”
Regarding the eighth-grade team, Bond said, “I thought we had a good meet with the highlights coming from Dylan Jones, Mitchell Elmore, and Cannon Starke. Traditionally speaking, we have always had a few good hurdlers at Bethel and Jones is slowly starting to put his name in that group. He was able to win his heats in the 100 and 300 hurdles. Jones has been having some good practices and, after the Hot Springs meet, we were able to tweak a few things which seemed to pay off.
“Elmore has been knocking at the door however after we modified our plan with the track playing the way it was,” he continued. “Elmore was able to capitalize on a good pace then move forward in the stretch with a good finishing kick.
“Cannon Starke, I knew if we could get him on the board, he had a shot to win the shot put and I was glad to see his technique come through,” the coach added. “I also thought James Billingsley, George Terry, and Aidan Shaw had another solid meet as well. We are knocking at the door with a few of our finishes. We’ve just got to keep striving and keep working.”
8th Grade
High Jump
3rd Place- Aidan Shaw
4th Place- Canon Hill
Shot Put
1st Place- Cannon Starke
4×800
4th Place- Ricardo Leos, James Billingsley, Mitchell Elmore, George Terry
7th Place- Edwin Delgadillo, Juan Ramirez, Tristan Shamlin, Carter Moore
100 Hurdles
1st Place- Dylan Jones
2nd Place- Hunter Linn
3rd Place- Kade Stewart
4th Place- Vincent Zhou
7th Place- Tyler Dobbs
100
2nd Place- Xalen Curenton
3rd Place- David Vivar
4×100
3rd Place-Aidan Shaw, Tyler Pinney, David Vivar, Xalen Curenton
6th Place- Dylan Jones, Gage Horn, Hunter Linn, Stephen Fuller
400
1st Place- Mitchell Elmore
3rd Place- Ricardo Leos
3rd Place- Hunter Linn
4th Place- Canon Hill
5th Place- Carter Moore
300 Hurdles
1st Place- Dylan Jones
4th Place- Vincent Zhou
6th Place- Gavin Shelby
8th Place- David Vivar
800
4th Place- James Billingsley
8th Place- George Terry
200
2nd Place- Xalen Curenton
4th Place- David Vivar
5th Place- Stephen Fuller
5th Place- Gage Horn
4×400
4th Place- Aidan Shaw, Hunter Linn, Mitchell Elmore, Canon Hill
7th Place- George Terry, James Billingsley, Stephen Fuller, Gavin Shelby
7th Grade
Triple Jump
5th Place- Jacob Jones
6th Place- Hank Penfield
6th Place- Reece Finney
7th Place- Avery Barnett
High Jump
1st Place- Andrew Schroeder
4th Place- Lukas Barnett
6th Place- Isaiah Rivera
6th Place- Layton Baugh
6th Place- Peyton Brack
Shot Put
6th Place- Clifton Hunter
7th Place- Aaron Hernandez
8th Place-Daniel Cruz
Discus
2nd Place- Andrew Karp
7th Place- Clifton Hunter
8th Place- Daniel Cruz
8th Place- Zan Mian
4×800
1st Place- Brandon Avila, Daniel Barrientos, Peyton Brack, Layton Baugh-10:25
4th Place- Caleb Hawkins, Quentin Johnson, Andrew Bishop, Jacob Jones
100 Hurdles
1st Place- Aiden Hughes
4th Place- Tucker Everett
5th Place- Reece Finney
5th Place- Lukas Barnett
100 Meters
1st Place- Jaden Ashford-12.02
1st Place- Cason Trickey-12.10
1st Place- Dylan Witcher- 12.57
3rd Place- Hayden Salling
4th Place- Hayden Moreau
1600
6th Place- Quentin Johnson- 6:13
4×100
1st Place- Dylan Witcher, Jaden Ashford, Aiden Hughes, Cason Trickey-50.8
4th Place- Isaiah Rivera, Hank Penfield, Andrew Karp, Hayden Salling
400
1st Place- Daniel Barrientos-1:04
1st Place- Jacob Jones- 1:06
2nd Place- Peyton Brack
2nd Place- Andrew Karp
6th Place- Daniel Cruz
7th Place- Aaron Hernandez
300 Hurdles
3rd Place- Tucker Everett
3rd Place- Hayden Moreau
4th Place- Lukas Barnett
6th Place- Andrew Schroeder
7th Place- Avery Barnett
800 Meters
1st Place- Layton Baugh-2:41
2nd Place- Jacob Jones- 2:43
4th Place- Caleb Hawkins
200 Meters
1st Place- Jaden Ashford-25.50
1st Place- Cason Trickey-25.54
1st Place- Isaiah Rivera-27.84
2nd Place- Hank Penfield
5th Place- Hayden Moreau
4×400 Meters
2nd Place- Aiden Hughes, Daniel Barrientos, Jacob Jones, Peyton Brack
5th Place- Andrew Karp, Quentin Johnson, Andrew Reyes, Hayden Moreau
