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Gherke high-point, Parkersburg High School girls win Nutter

By Jay W. Bennett 4 min read

PARKERSBURG -- Wheeling Park's boys edged Parkersburg South while the host girls from Parkersburg brought home the team title here Friday night during the Kim Nutter Invitational at Stadium Field.

Although Mother Nature forced the long jump from being an event due to excessive rain, head coach Lia Fleek's PHS girls finished with 251 points to easily top Wheeling Park (119), John Marshall (105) and Parkersburg South (89).

Ellie Hines went 5:46.19 to win the 1600 and crossed in 12:46.81 to capture the 3200 for the Big Reds, who also received a pair of golds from Addison Gherke in the hurdles. The high-point winner (25) for the girls ran a 15.36 in the 100 and a 47.68 in the 300. Big Red Lily Wharton (16.27/50.60) was runner-up in both races.

Also standing atop the podium in their respective events for the red and white were Daysha Hastings (200, 27.24), Aubrey Lantz (400, 1:06.86), pole vaulter Alyssa Barker (8-0) and Hayley Waybright, whose effort of 29 feet, 10 inches won the shot put ahead of teammates Mya Green (28-0) and Peyton Louden (26-9).

Aside from John Marshall winning the 4×1, the PHS girls finished first in all the other relays and that included Daysha Hastings, Katie Rutherford, Wharton and Gherke clocking in at 1:06.61 to win the shuttles.

Payton Harvey, who was celebrating her 18th birthday, ran a leg on the 4×2 with Daysha Hastings, Makenna Keefer and Destini Hastings (1:53.53), a leg on the 4×4 with Lantz, Wharton and Gherke (4:26.26) and a leg on the 4×8 with Rutherford, Margaret Mildren and Lantz (11:00.84).

Destini Hastings also finished runner-up in the 100 to Wheeling Park's Kaylee Davis, 13.09 to 13.31.

Parkersburg South's Regan Shockey, who was second in the 1600, posted a 2:34.56 in the 800 to best Rutherford's 2:38.58 runner-up showing.

John Marshall's Taylee Sipin cleared 4-6 in the high jump before Daysha Hastings did to claim the 10 points for first.

Wheeling Park's Adriana Fazzini won the discus with a throw of 104 feet, 6 inches.

"I was really impressed with these girls tonight," admitted coach Fleek, who also had runner-up efforts from Kiera McPeek in the 3200 and Adrienne Conaway in the pole vault. "Several athletes had to step out of their comfort zone and try new events and they did an unbelievable job. Everyone stepped up and competed so this win was definitely a team effort. This is such a talented and hard working group and I am so proud of them."

The Wheeling Park boys amassed 157 points to Parkersburg South's 138. Linsly finished third with 117 points and was followed by Parkersburg (108) and John Marshall (70).

"I thought it was definitely a small, but high-quality meet. I think all five teams there are good teams. Overall talent, it was better than last week," said PHS boys head coach Rod O'Donnell, who watched Linsly's Colby Gibbons win high-point honors with 22.5. "We had 16 PRs, career bests, really. The freshmen again, like last week, looked strong for freshmen.

"I thought overall it was a good performance. The teams that beat us are good. That's one of the better five team meets that will be held in the state this year. They are real programs. All those coaches take it seriously and really work at it. I thought we had a better meet this week than we did last week when we were second."

The lone win from the Big Reds came in the 400 where Landen Deuley edged teammate Jackson Wharton, 53.87 to 54.66.

Jack Mills finished with runner-up efforts in both the 800 (2:06.45) and the 1600 (4:36.64) for PHS, finishing behind Wheeling Park's Ben Ashmore (2:04.69/4:34.75).

The only other runner-up showing came in the discus. Parkersburg South's Miciah Jones won it with a throw of 133 feet, 8 inches, which was good enough to top Big Reds Jon Ash (129-2) and Jackson Mills (125-2.5).

Following wins last week in the 100 and 200 at Huntington, Parkersburg South's Chase Anderson almost pulled off the feat again. The Patriot won the 200 with a time of 23.48, but came up just short in the 100 to Linsly's JyLeik Johnson, 11.24 to 11.44.

Gibbons won the 110 hurdles (16.60) and the 300 hurdles (43.09) for the Cadets, who topped the field in both the 4×1, 4×2 and the shuttles.

Parkersburg South's quartet of Alexander Wigal, Kameron Wilson, Lucas Jenkins and Walker Jones just nipped Wheeling Park, 9:05.63 to 9:05.80, to win the 4×8.

Wheeling Park, which also won the 4×4, received a narrow win in the 3200 from Brady Amico, whose time of 10:29.27 just clipped Parkersburg's Connor George (10:29.40).

Ashton Collett of the Monarchs cleared 5-10 before Park's Mykel Davis to win the high jump.

Wheeling Park's Adam Carman went 9-6 to top Parkersburg South's Jackson Wingrove (8-6) in the pole vault. WPHS also received a win in the shot put from Michael Hogan (42-1.5).

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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