BLYTHEWOOD – Westwood hosted the Region 4-4A meet on May 4 and almost pulled top finishes in both boys’ and girls’ scores.
The Westwood girls topped Lugoff-Elgin, Dreher, AC Flora and Irmo to take the region title with a score of 150. Lugoff-Elgin finished second at 125. Westwood’s boys finished in second with a score of 143.5, behind Dreher with 175.
The teams took to Eastside on May 14 for the Upper State meet, and Westwood’s girls almost pulled out a top finish again. They finished in second out of 20 schools with a score of 92. Greenville finished first with a score of 123.5. Westwood advances to the state meet, set for Saturday, May 21 at Spring Valley High School.
Ticora Gaskin will compete in the 100m dash, the 200m dash and long jump. Brianna Rodriguez will run in the 200m dash, 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles. Thanna Davis will compete in the 400m dash. Emma Ashley will compete in the 800m run and the 1600m run. Ja’Miah Samuel will compete in the 400m hurdles. Harper Ramsdale will compete in pole fault.
Westwood’s team of Cortnece Pope, Thamia Davis, Katie Cantey, Kennedy Rivers and Ayanna-Naja Aarons will compete in the 4x100m relay.
The relay team of Davis, Ticora Gaskin, Rivers, Rodriguez, Alean Robinson and Ashley will run in the 4×400 relay.
The boys team finished 8th of 20 schools at Upper State with a score of 37. They advance a handful of runners and relay teams to compete at State on Saturday.
Dominick Young will compete in the 400m dash. William Tyndall will compete in the 800m run. Aiden Keck will compete in the 3200 meter run. Johnathon Backstrom will run in the 400m hurdles. Noah Jennings will compete in pole vault.
Westwood’s team of Keith Lindsey, Backstrom, Charles Ashley II, Young, Corey Putmon, Noah Jennings, Chris Hobbs and Tyndall will compete in the 4×400 relay.
Backstrom, Bryce Strickland, Tyndall, Caden Henderson, Jace Risher and Luther Bells will compete in the 4x800m relay for Westwood.
Region Meet Results
Pulling first place finishes for Westwood girls were Ticora Gaskin (100m dash, 12.23 & long jump, 18-8.25); Brianna Rodriquez (200m dash, 24.99; 100m hurdles,14.40 & 400m hurdles, 1:02.72); Kennedy Rivers (400m dash, 58.77); Emma Ashley (800m run, 2:30.69 & 1600m run, 5:35:89); Harper Ramsdale (pole vault, 9-0).
Rivers also finished in second in the 200m dash with a time of 25.39 behind Rodriguez. Thanna Davis placed third in the 400m dash at 1:01.95. The 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams also had first place finishes; the 4×800 relay team finished in fourth.
Other top ten finishers were Ja’Miah Samuel (4th, 100m hurdles; 4th, 400m hurdles; 10th, long jump); Malaika Green (5th, 100m hurdles); Katie Canty (5th in 100m); Destiny Omeire (5th, discus & 5th, shot put); Cierra Woodrull (6th, discus) Cortnece Pope (6th, 100m); Ticora Gaskin (4th, 200m); Sanya Hodge-Lewis (7th, 100m hurdles & 8th 400m hurdles); Davis (8th, 200m); Alean Robinson (8th, 400m); Alean Robinson (9th, javelin) Christina Stokes (10th, high jump); Megan Addison (10th, discus).
First place finishers for the boys at region were Dominick Young (400m, 50.03), William Tyndall (800m, 2:00.98) and Jonathon Backstrom (400m hurdles, 57.78). The 4x400m and 4x800m relay teams also finished first.
Charles Ashley II (400m), Aiden Keck (1600m and 3200m), and Jeremiah Jennings (triple jump) had second place finishes in their events. Young (200m), Bryce Strickland (800m), Tyndall (1600m), Backstrom (110m hurdles), Jennings (high jump), and Malachi Whitmore (discus) placed third.
Other top-ten finishers were Daruis Jones (5th, 100m; 8th, 200m & 5th, long jump), Jayden Harrison (6th, 100m), Keith Lindsey (4th, 200m & 7th, 100m), Ashley II (8th, 100m), Corey Putmon (5th, 400m & 9th, 200m); Chris Hobbs (6th, 400m); Caden Henderson (6th, 800m & 5th, triple jump), Jace Risher (7th, 800m); Joe Eberlin (8th, 3200m & 9th, 1600m); Zavier Kegler (6th, 110m hurdles & 5th, 400m hurdles); Jaylen Franklin (6th, 400m hurdles); Sean Quick-Streeter (5th, high jump), Jaelin Spencer (8th, high jump); Kaprice Rowan (10th, high jump); Kelvin Edrington (8th, pole vault); John Yi (9th, pole vault); Zahcario McNeil (8th, javelin); Warren Rogers (6th, shot put & 10th, javelin)
