Jim Walker
jim.walker@irontontribune.com

ATHENS — Give credit to the pole vaulters.
Two pole vaulters were the only local athletes to place during the first day of the Division II regional track meet held at Athens High School on Thursday.
Ironton Fighting Tigers’ senior Eli Willis cleared 13-feet and finished sixth based on misses. Four vaulters cleared 13-feet.
South Point Pointers’ senior Ryan Brown was eighth at 12-6.
Hillsboro’s Austin Goolsby went 15-feet to win the pole vault. Dalton Delancey of Meadowbrook went 14-feet, Zach Love of Indian Valley went 13-6 and was third and Sugarcreek Garaway’s Jarrod Hunt was fourth as one of the vaulters who cleared 13-feet.
In the other field event finals, Fairland Dragons’ Drake Cox threw 128-feet in the discus.
Besides the few finals on the first day, the remaining events were preliminaries. Finals are set for 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. The top four finishers in each event qualify for the state meet.
Ironton Lady Fighting Tigers’ Loralei Griffiths ran an 18.92 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles. Teammate Kyleigh Pauley ran a 13.47 in the 100-meter dash.
South Point’s Donte Wright posted an 11.60 time in the 100-meter dash preliminaries while Fairland Dragons’ Ty Staten ran an 11.98 time.
The Lady Dragons’ 4×100 relay team of Melia Tubbs, Karli Fuller, Tori Hall and Taylor Webb ran a 53.13 in the prelims.
The Fairland boys’ 4×100 relay of Wyatt Morris, Drew Blatt, Robbie McFarland and Staten ran a 47.48 time.
The Dragons’ Greg Keeney had a 44.48 time in the 300-meter hurdles.
Lady Dragons’ Allie Marshall ran a 27.54 time in the 200 meters.