Cullowhee – Track & field season got underway at Western Carolina University on Friday afternoon, as Andrews, Hiwassee Dam and Murphy athletes competed in the WNC Kickoff Invitational.
Andrews
The Wildcats got their season started with the only first-place finish of Cherokee County athletes as Alexis Beasley – one day after competing in the 1A West Regional basketball game – came in first place in shot put. Also in shot put, Beth Beasley came in fifth place.
In girls field events, Kaiya Ellis came in fourth and Electa Ledford came in seventh in high jump. In long jump, Natalie Garrett came in ninth.
In triple jump, Ellis came in fifth, while Sadie Mustin came in sixth.
For the girls track events, Ellis came in second in the 100-meter hurdles. In the girls relay events, the 4x200m team came in third and the 4x100m team came in fifth.
For the boys, their highest finishers were Elliot Salinas in second in the 3,200m run and Logan Patrick in second in shot put. In boys field events, Caleb Helton came in fourth in high jump, AJ Johnson came in fifth in long jump and Patrick also came in sixth in discus.
In boys track events, Jayce Donaldson came in seventh in the 800m run and eight in the 1,600m run. For the boys relay events, the 4x200m team came in sixth and the 4x100m team came in ninth.
Hiwassee Dam
The Eagles returned to the track and showed their proficiency in the distance events, with Oscar Page coming in second place in the 1,600m run.
In the boys track events, Maverick Hawley came in seventh in the 1,600m run and Travis Allen in 11th. In the 400m dash, Page was 13th, Allen came in 19th and Hawley finished 25th.
For boys field events, Brandon Bishop came in 35th, while Johnathan Bennett came in 36th in discus. In shot put, Bennett came in 40th and Bishop finished in 42nd.
For girls track events, Kaitlyn Lecoq came in 28th, Hailee Barney came in 33rd and Avery Freemon came in 34th in the 100m dash. In girls field events, Lecoq came in 15th in the long jump, while Bella Krauter finished 23rd.
Murphy
The Bulldogs kicked off track season with five athletes competed at Western Carolina. In the boys track events, Camden Breazeale came in second place in the 110m hurdles, while David Rochester came in 21st in the 100m dash.
In boys field events, Aaron Harger came in fourth place in discus. Ansley Roper and Amelia Joyner completed for the Lady Dogs in field events.
Roper came in fourth in discus and 15th in shot put. Joyner came in third in shot put and sixth in discus.