Staff Report

COAL GROVE — After both teams finished dead last one year ago, River Valley made great strides this time around at the Ohio Valley Conference track and field championships held last Friday at Dawson-Bryant High School.

The Raiders came away with third overall in the six-team boys event, while the Lady Raiders ended up fourth overall in the girls division. The boys amassed a team score of 81 points and the ladies accumulated 83 total points as a squad.

The Silver and Black collectively tallied five league titles between the two clubs — including a trio of relay championships. Ashley Fitch also claimed an OVC title in the girls 800-meter dash (2:40.7) and Robbie Lambert was the boys champion in the 200m dash (23.6 seconds). The relay titles came in the boys 4x200 (1:35.0), while the girls yielded a pair in the 4x200 (1:54.7) and 4x400 (4:33.4).

On the boys side of things, Fairland won the team title with 166 points, followed by runner-up Coal Grove with 112. South Point was fourth with 75, with Chesapeake (40) and Rock Hill (32) rounding out the field. Eddie Adkins of Fairland was the top point scorer.

RVHS had four second-place efforts, with one of those coming in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:47.9. Lambert was also runner-up in the 100m dash with a time of 11.3 seconds.

Sean Sands was second in the 800m run (2:10.7) and Kody Johnson was second in the 300m hurdles with a time of 41.1 seconds. Johnson was also third in the 110m hurdles with a time of 16.1 seconds.

David Householder had a pair of fourth-place efforts in the 1600m (5:08.8) and 3200m (12:03.2) runs, while David Holliday placed fourth in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 8 inches. The 4x800m relay team was also fourth in a time of 10:17.6.

Zak Deel had a pair of fifth-place efforts in the shot put (40 feet, 10.75 inches) and discus (120 feet, 3 inches), and Holliday was also fifth in the 400m dash with a time of 57.1 seconds. David Robbins was sixth in both shot put (38 feet, 7.25 inches) and discus (115 feet, 3 inches), while T.J. Clagg placed sixth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 18.1 seconds.

On the girls side, South Point won the team crown with 151 points, followed by Fairland in second with 129 and Coal Grove with 89 points. Chesapeake was fifth with 39 points and Rock Hill was last with 32 markers. Megan Brooks of Fairland was the top point scorer.

The Lady Raiders had a pair of league runner-ups, as Fitch was second in the 1600m run (6:19.2) and Kayla Smith was second in the 100m hurdles with a time of 16.5 seconds. Smith was also third in the 300m hurdles (54.0 seconds). Fitch was also fourth in the 3200m run (15:19.3) and fifth in the shot put (28 feet, 7 inches).

Amanda Hager was third in the 200m dash (28.3 seconds) and fourth in the long jump with a leap of 13 feet, 1.25 inches. Katie Roberts was also fourth and fifth, respectively, in the shot put (28 feet, 11.25 inches) and discus (83 feet, 3 inches).

Jessi Hager placed fourth in the 400m dash (1:06.0) and was also sixth in the high jump with an even height of 4 feet. Kelsey Sands was fifth in the high jump at 4 feet, 4 inches and the 4x100m relay team was fifth with a time of 1:03.6.

Complete results are available on the web at www.baumspage.com