Oak Hill track coach Matt Sydnor was interested to see how his boys team would fair Thursday at the H.B. Thomas Invitational at Shady Spring High School.
The boys team fared just fine.
Coming down to the final race of the night, Oak Hill moved to the top with a dominate win in the 4×400 relay.
Ty Wilburn opened the race by taking a commanding lead and the Red Devils never looked back. Wilburn handed the baton to speedy Jack Hayes before Colton Workman maintained the advantage running the third leg.
Waiting in the anchor position was Cade Maynor who brought home the victory, earning Oak Hill 10 crucial points for a 99-90 win over second place Bluefield.
“That is a great group of guys and they are all super fast,” Hayes said. “I just try and keep up with them and not let them beat me, to be honest.”
Nicholas County placed third with 87 points and Shady Spring was fourth with 85.
Running track for the first time in high school, Hayes and Maynor have been an interesting addition for the Red Devils this year.
Maynor was outstanding Thursday night earning high point honors on the boys side.
“They are both good at anything they do,” Sydnor said. “Cade is learning every meet. He has (assistant) coach (Dave) Gorby and the famous Mt. Hope crew giving him some lessons which has really helped him.”
Maynor came home first in the 400 meter dash and long jump. He then took third in the high jump to go along with the relay win that capped the night.
Over his high school career, Hayes has already earned all-state honors in soccer and golf. His journey to the track sort of came out of the blue.
“It is just some new hobby I found,” Hayes said, laughing. “I didn’t want to go out my senior year, just playing fall sports. I figured I would give track a try. I am really enjoying it, but I didn’t think it would happen. I am glad I did it. I am making new friends and stuff like that.”
Sydnor also happens to be the golf coach at Oak Hill and he made the suggestion for Hayes to give track a shot.
“At the end of golf season, I told him he doesn’t play tennis anymore, won’t you run track for me,” Sydnor said. “I was kind of joking, but I kept hearing how fast he was. He came to the first practice and smoked it. He was like a natural. I told he was running track now.”
Hayes was part of the 4×100 relay team that took second place, but his biggest achievement of the night came in the 300-meter hurdles.
Working off the suggestion from coach Gorby, Sydnor asked Hayes to try the hurdles.
“I actually jumped over my first set of hurdles last week, right before our track meet,” Hayes said. “I was super nervous, but I am getting better at them each day. It is always fun when you win.”
After placing fifth in his first event in the hurdles, Hayes raced home in first place Thursday.
“This is only his second race running hurdles and he won tonight. I think he wanted to run track, it just took some more persuasion from me, (assistant) coach (Chris) Selvey and his mom,” Sydnor said. “We are so glad he is doing it”.
Reigning Class AA 200-meter state champion Jacorian Green of Bluefield came home first in the 100-meter and 200-meter events Thursday. He was also part of the Beavers win in the 4×200-meter relay and 4×100-meter relay.
Noah Minor from Nicholas County won the 110 meter hurdles, while Eli Northrop from Shady Spring won the 1600 meter run and teammate Jaedan Holstein won the 800 meter run in a gutty performance fighting leg cramps.
Haiden Huffman from James Monroe won the high jump and David Adkins from Liberty was tops in the discus throw. Lucas Whaples from Oak Hill won the shot put.
Aiden Kneeland from Woodrow Wilson came home first in the 3200-meter run and PikeView outlasted the field in the 4×800 meter relay.
Greenbrier West edged Shady Spring to win the 4×110 shuttle hurdles.
On the girls side, Shady Spring rolled up 139 points to beat second place Nicholas County by 31 points. Bluefield was third and Independence took fourth place.
Natalie Barr from Nicholas County, the reigning Class AA champion in the 800-meter run, dominated the middle distance events Thursday winning the 400 meter, 800 meter and 1600 meter runs.
Barr’s teammate, Kathleen Walkup, dominated the 3200-meter run, winning by 19 seconds.
“I was just trying to give it all I had. The last few events I have felt like I needed to hold back in the (1600) a little bit to save up for my later races,” Barr said. “I felt pretty strong out there.”
Adriene Truman from Nicholas County also had quite a night winning the long jump, high jump, 100-meter dash and the 200 meter dash.
“I felt cold tonight, so I was a little surprised how well I did tonight,” Truman said. “I normally get a couple firsts and some seconds and thirds. I have never won all four events before. I felt good this morning and coaching has really helped me.”
Lillian Hatfield from Shady Spring won the 100-meter hurdles and Beyonka Lee from Bluefield was first in the shot put.
Bluefield won the 4×100 and the 4×200 meter relay, while Shady came home first in the 4×800 meter relay. Independence won the 4×102.5 shuttle hurdles and Oak Hill won the 4×400 relay on the girls side also.