The big boys got the big prize.

Big-school Logan proved too strong for the 11-team field as the Chieftains captured the 50th Annual Ironton Invitational Saturday.

"Logan's a Division I school and they just had too much depth for the rest of us," Ironton coach Greg Cronacher said. "But it was still a competitive meet and there were a lot of good individual performances."

Logan racked up 144 points to win the meet with Unioto taking the runner-up spot with 100 points. Watkins Memorial was third with 85 points followed by Chesapeake with 74.5, South Point 63, Portsmouth 34.5, Rock Hill 31.5, Coal Grove 31, Ironton 26.5, Fairland 19, and Minford 11.

South Point's Zach Smith had a strong meet as he won the 800 meter run with a swift 1:58.3 time and took the 1600 with a 4:35.9 clocking.

Chesapeake's Michael Hunt won both the 110 meter hurdles (16.0) and the 300 hurdles (41.3). Teammate T. R. Hannan was first in the high jump at 6-4.

Coal Grove's Dan Cordle won the discus with a toss of 149-11 and was second in the shot put (47-1 1/2).

Cronacher was still upbeat despite his team's point total. He said several players including pole vaulter Justin Gillum and sprinters Derique Bacon and Aaron Quinn performed well.

"We're getting better each day in practice and I saw some improvement today," Cronacher said. "The kids just keep working hard. We had a bad exchange in the 400 relay that costs us. We were right there in contention for first place.

"We had some suprises and we know we can do much better. We're not looking at how we stack up against the competition right now. We just want to see each individual improve. If that happens, the point total will take care of itself."

Ironton is at Fairland on Tuesday for a quad meet. Area teams will compete in the Chesapeake Invitational Friday night.

Team Scores

1. Logan 144, 2. Unioto 100, 3. Watkins Memorial 85, 4. Chesapeake 74.5, 5. South Point 63, 6. Portsmouth 34.5, 7. Rock Hill 31.5, 8. Coal Grove 31, 9. Ironton 26.5, 10. Fairland 19, 11. Minford 11.

Field Events

Shot Put -- 1. Wadsworth (L) 48-11/2, 2. Cordle (CG) 47-11/2, 3. Sturgell (L) 45-51/2, 4. Cadogan (P) 44-8, 5. Lemon (CG) 42-31/2, 6. Waugh (Ch) 42-3, 7. Akers (Ir) 41-5, 8. Hamlin (Ch) 41-21/2.

Discus -- 1. Cordle (CG) 149-11, 2. Edgar (L) 136-6, 3. Waugh (C) 128-3, 4. Woosley (WM) 126-5, 5. Robinson (Ir) 114-10, 7. B. Murphy (Ir) 112-6, 8. Bazell (CG) 110-11.

Pole Vault -- 1. Burns (WM) 13-0, 2. Naim (L) 12-6, 3. Bowman (F) 12-0, 4. (tie) Gillum (Ir), Davidson (Ch) 11-6, 6. Leighty (SP) 11-6, 7. Huntsberger (L) 11-6, 8. Joy (SP) 10-6.

Long Jump -- 1. Rohr (L) 20-6, 2. McCleary (SP) 19-9, 3. Thornton (RH) 19-83/4, 4. M. Hunt (C) 19-1, 5. Bacon (Ir) 18-101/2, 6. McNeely (SP) 180-71/4, 7. Watkins (WM) 18-7, 8. Quinn (Ir) 18-0.

High Jump -- 1. Hannan (Ch) 6-4, 2. Q. Smith (SP) 6-0, 3. Lloyd (M) 5-10, 4. Lodge (U) 5-8, 5. Cook (L) 5-8, 6. Ratliff (WM) 5-8, 7. Gaus (U) 5-8, 8. Williams (Ir) 5-6.

Running Events

3200 M Run -- 1. Holbert (U) 10:35.9, 2. Purpura (WM) 10:40.2, 3. Hertenstein (U) 10:52.5, 4. Robbins (WM) 10:59.7, 5. Eagle (L) 11:47.0, 6. Lewis (SP) 11;53.4, 7. Fitzer (P) 11:59.3, 8. Maddy (RH) 12:15.0.

110 M Hurdles -- 1. M. Hunt (C) 16.0, 2. Baisden (WM) 16.3, 3. Lodge (U) 16.3, 4. Smith (SP) 17.5, 5. Norris (RH) 17.5, 6. White (Ch) 18.6, 7. Scott (WM) 18.9, 8. MacArthur (SP) 19.6.

100 M Dash -- 1. Rohr (L) 11.3, 2. Bolden (P) 11.3, 3. Gaus (U) 11.3, 4. C. Hunt (Ch) 11.8, 5. Thornton (RH) 11.9, 6. Bacon (Ir) 11.9, 7. Naim (L) 12.0, 8. Burns (WM) 12.0.

400 M Dash -- 1. Hughes (L) 53.3, 2. Talyor (U) 54.3, 3. Squibb (U) 54.8, 4. Robbins (Ch) 55.3, 5. Tibbetts (SP) 55.4, 6. Culver (WM) 55.5, 7. McDaniel (L) 55.8, 8. Smith (WM) 56.9.

1600 M Run -- 1. Z. Smith (SP) 4:35.9, 2. Holbert (U) 4:47.1, 3. Peach (P) 4:55.3, 4. Jinks (U) 4:59.4, 5. Cline (L) 5:00, 6. Westlake (WM) 5:01.2, 7. Oliver (L) 5:11.2, 8. Gibson (CG) 5:15.1.

300 M Hurdles -- 1. M. Hunt (Ch) 41.3, 2. Baisen (WM) 41.7, 3. Lodge (U) 43.1, 4. White (Ch) 44.3, 5. Norris (RH) 44.5, 6. Ogle (L) 44.6, 7. Cline (L) 45.1, 8. MacArthur (SP) 45.6.

800 M Run -- 1. Z. Smith (SP) 1:58.3, 2. Caron (L) 2:02.1, 3. Webb (U) 2:08.6, 4. Cade (RH) 2:09.9, 5. Goldstein (WM) 2:16.0, 6. Kelley (U) 2:17.3, 7. Cook (L) 2:18.7, 8. (tie) Kelly (RH), McKenzie (P) 2:19.8.

200 M Dash -- 1. Rohr (O) 23.1, 2. Gaus (U) 23.3, 3. Brown (F) 23.7, 4. Hughes (L) 24.4, 5. C. Hunt (Ch) 24.4, 6. Watkins (WM) 24.5, 7. Lloyd (M) 24.9, 8. Crager (SP) 25.2.

Relays

4×100 M -- 1. Logan 45.5, 2. Watkins Memorial 45.8, 3. Fairland 46.3, 4. Rock Hill 46.7, 5. South Point 47.3, 6. Coal Grove 47.8, 7. Chesapeake 48.7 (Ironton DQ).

4×400 M -- Logan 3:39.5, 2. South Point 3:39.9, 3. Ironton 3:43.8, 4. Unioto 3:44.3, 5. Watkins Memorial 3:46.2, 6. Chesapeake 3:48.4, 7. Rock Hill 3:58.4, 8. Coal Grove 4:10.7.

4×800 M -- 1. Unioto (Kelley, Webb, Jinks, Edwards) 8:42.4, 2. Logan 8:52.7, 3. Watkins Memorial 9:05.4, 4. Rock Hill 9:14.7, 5. Portsmouth 9:17.2, 6. Coal Grove 9:21.0, 7. South Point 9:47.4, 8. Fairland 10:28.0.