Louisville schools invade Jeff Invitational

Male, Trinity top field; Bulldogs place fourth

By MATT CRESS

JEFFERSONVILLE — The rivalry between the boys’ track teams from Louisville powers Male and Trinity is now too big for one state to contain.

The pair brought their long-standing feud over the Ohio River on Thursday, as Male edged Trinity 87-79 to take the Jeffersonville Invitational at Blair Field and break the stranglehold that local teams have had on the event.

New Albany, last year’s champion in the 39-year-old event broke away from the pack to finish third with 71 points. The previous two champions — Floyd Central and the host Red Devils — were fourth and fifth, respectively.

“I’ve seen both in action and I knew they (Male and Trinity) had strong teams,” said Jeffersonville coach Ryan Bixler, whose team was hobbled by a sting of injuries and lost star performers Josh Cheeks and distance-runner Neal Masterson. “I thought that both us and Floyd could compete with them if we were at our peak, but not if we weren’t at full strength.”

Although the Louisville schools proved to be the strongest teams, that doesn’t mean that area athletes didn’t make their presence felt.

Silver Creek’s Alex Jones was the breakout performer in both the 3,200-meter and the 1,600 runs, winning both while leading nearly from wire-to-wire. Jones’ win in the 1,600 came in a tight duel with Jeff’s Dan Coats that turned out to be one of the night’s best races.

“Dan really pushed the pace and I thought he might get me,” Jones said. “But I really wanted this one.”

The Dragon junior’s performance helped lift Silver Creek to an eighth-place finish in the team standings, with only eight points separating them from the fourth-place Highlanders in the crowded 20-team field. Silver Creek also got an event winner in the form of freshman Jack Eckert, who took the pole vault.

“I like how we competed tonight,” said Dragon coach Al Eckert, who lauded both of his event winners. “This is the first race against all our backyard rivals and Alex really wanted to do well.

“For Jack to come in and win as a freshman is pretty good. We’re still training hard, so we’re tickled with how he came out and performed.”

Another rivalry played out in the sprint races, as Clarksville’s Ryan Masters claimed narrow wins over New Albany’s Jeff Lane in both the 100 and 200. The senior also lifted the Generals to a third-place finish in the 1,600 relay, moving his team up three positions with a blazing fast third leg.

“I was really pumped about coming in,” said Masters, who is no stranger to close races with Lane. “Jeff beat me twice last year, so I had to come in and redeem myself. I’ll be seeing him down the line, hopefully in regionals and at state.”

New Albany’s Josh Wells took both throwing events, dominating the discus with a toss of 172 feet. Providence’s Eean Huffman was second with a 159-03.

Wells overcame a personal record by Floyd’s Corey Reece to take the shot put, even though Bulldog coach Dennis Scott said his star thrower was not up to his usual standards.

“Josh didn’t have a great night, but he won so we can’t complain too much,” Scott said. “Still, he’ll come back in the shot.”

Scott said it was a good night for his squad despite the dominance by Male and Trinity. New Albany’s 4 x 100 relay team, anchored by Lane was second to Male, which featured Kentucky Mr. Football Doug Beaumont as its third runner.

“I’m proud of all the guys,” Scott said. “Male and Trinity have always been competitive, but they have some strong teams this year so I’m not surprised. It was still a pretty good night for us.”

Floyd Central got its highest finishes from Reece and its 3,200 relay team of Garret Blackman, Sam Mires, Will Naville and Mason Kimmel. Naville and Mires also fared will in the 3,200 run, finishing fifth and eighth, respectively.

“All of our distance guys had really nice races,” said Highlander coach Lane Oxley. “Garret Blackman ran two really nice races and Corey Reece had a big time personal best in the shot.

“These guys’ times are really moving. Male has so much speed and their program is really taking off. We were still competitive against the best teams in the state of Kentucky.”

While the big-school teams duked it out for the top spots, the Jeff Invitational was an eye-opening experience for Restoration Christian, according to first-year coach Anne Stratton.

“Basically, this is our training ground for the sectionals,” Stratton said. “We were a little jumpy when we got out here, but we’re starting to learn we can do it. We can run with the big boys so to speak and I’m excited and they’re excited.”

The Lions proved that in the 1,600 relay, as the team of Josh Eisman, Evan McGregory, Jordan Todd and Isaac Simmons managed to beat teams from both Corydon and Madison in the event.

“I couldn’t as for more as a coach,” Stratton said.

Minus so many of its key components, Jeff still managed to finish with 43 points, good enough to beat out Providence by one for fifth.

Malcolm Kirk was second behind Male’s Lewis Dodson in the 400 to help lead the Jeff sprinters, while Stephon Johnson was eighth in the 200 and helped the 400 relay squad to a fourth-place finish.

The injuries also meant a busy evening for Dan Coats. Besides his second in the 1,600, he was also second to the Pioneers’ Hunter Mattingly in the 800 and ran the anchor leg on the Red Devils’ seventh-place team in the 1,600.

“He’s been our go-to guy all year and he was definitely go-to tonight,” Bixler said. “Overall, we still competed. If some things had gone different we might have ended up a little higher, but this is where we expected to be.”

Among local teams, Charlestown was 15th overall, while Borden scored four points to finish 19th.

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