The competition level jump between the Trenton Early Bird Relays last week and the Joe Shy Relays in Chillicothe on Thursday was steep. Trenton went from battling the likes of Carrollton and Princeton to going toe to toe with Maryville and Chillicothe.
For Trenton’s Lexi Whitaker, however, it doesn’t seem to matter who is on the track with her.
The Trenton High School girls track and field team won six gold medals at the event and Whitaker was responsible, at least in part, for four of them. As was the case in the season-opening track meet a week ago, Whitaker took gold in the 200 and 400 and combined with various teammates to win the 4×200- and 4×400-meter relays.
Whitaker’s dominating effort, combined with gold medals from Kristi Ewing in the 100-meter dash and the 4×800-meter relay team, propelled Trenton to a second-place finish in the team standings at a meet in which the Bulldogs represented the third-smallest school in an 11-team field.
The Bulldogs racked up 107.5 team points. Only Maryville’s mark of 119.5 was higher.
Trenton’s first two gold medals of the day came before Whitaker ever even stepped on the track. Hannah Mehrhoff, Karli Provorse, Gwyneth Foster and McKayla Blackburn combined to take the top spot in the 4×800-meter relay with a time of 11:19.48. Ewing claimed gold in the 100-meter dash a few moments later, winning with a time of 13.26.
From there on out, it was the Lexi Whitaker show. She combined with Ewing, Blackburn and Foster to win the 4×200 in a time of 1:52.6. That victory gave Trenton gold medals in three of the first four on-track events completed at the meet. Whitaker would take the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.55 and then captured the 200-meter dash title with a time of 27.65. Whitaker bested Maryville’s Serena Sundell, who took home the top individual-point award for the meet, by over a second in the 400-meter dash. Whitaker lost out on the individual honor only because the points earned in the two relay victories were split four ways.
For Whitaker’s final act, she anchored Trenton’s 4×400-meter relay team, which won the final event of the meet with a time of 4:23.43. She was aided again on that team by Foster, Blackburn and Ewing. That trio each picked up their third gold medals of the day with the victory.
A total of 90 of Trenton’s 107.5 points came on the track. Trenton was able to double-place in the 400 and 200 as Mykah Hurley followed Whitaker in the 400, placing fourth with a time of 30.09 and Lexi Gott followed Whitaker in the 400, placing seventh with a time of 1:10.89. Trenton’s 4×100-meter relay team just missed gold, placing second with a time of 54.66. Blackburn and Provorse placed fifth and sixth respectively in the 1,600-meter run, Blackburn finishing the event in 6:46.47 and Provorse in 6:47.92.
While Trenton was stellar on the track, the field events were a bit more challenging. The Bulldogs placed just six athletes in the field, three in jumping events and three in throwing events. Sidney Lynch brought home a fourth-place finish in the javelin for Trenton’s high-water mark in the field, doing so with a throw of 98-11. Salem Croy and Maci Moore each placed in the shot put, Croy finishing fifth with a throw of 32-6 and Moore placing sixth with a throw of 32-5. Moore would also earn a sixth-place finish in the high jump after clearing 4-6. Kayley Griffin tied for seventh in the pole vault after clearing 6-6 and Emma Curtis was eighth in the long jump with a mark of 14-6.
Other placewinners at the meet for Trenton included Mehrhoff, sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:57.12; Maggie Gintz, sixth in the 3200-meter run with a time of 15:18.85; and Evy McCullough, eighth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 21.09 and eighth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 56.68.
BOYS FINISH FOURTH
The Trenton boys had a strong showing at the meet as well, placing fourth in the 11-team field with 59 team points. The Bulldogs got a boost in the shot put where Jadan Whitney was second with a throw of 48-8 and Carson Burchett placed third with a throw of 48-5. Whitney would back his second-place finish in the shot put up with a seventh-place showing in the discus, throwing the disc 119-3.
Brian Ewing had a big day for the Bulldogs, placing in all four of his events. Ewing was third in the long jump with a mark of 19-10, third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 53.31, fourth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.01 and fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.02. All totaled, Ewing scored 22 points for the Bulldogs at the meet.
Trenton double-placed in both hurdle events. In the 110-hurdles, Matthew Sibbit was fifth with a time of 17.7 and Camdyn Leeper was seventh with a time of 18.78. In the 300-meter hurdles, Sibbit placed third with a time of 44.7 and Leeper was fifth with a time of 46.09.
Also placing for the Trenton boys were Nick Wattenbarger, who was sixth in the javelin with a throw of 116-0, and Mark Trump, who was seventh in the high jump after clearing 5-4.
UP NEXT
Trenton was scheduled to be in Lathrop on Saturday, but that meet has been cancelled due to the threat of inclement weather and will not be made up. The Bulldogs’ next action is now slated for Tuesday when they travel to the Brookfield Quad. That event is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start time.
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