COLUMBIA — The crown returns. The Blythewood girls’ track and field team defended its throne Wednesday, dominating the rest of Region 5-5A at Ridge View High School to claim its second straight region title. Behind a relentless wave of individual titles and relay sweeps, the Bengals racked up 216 points to finish 105 points ahead of the second-place Blazers.
The win was highlighted with multiple-event winners on the track and in the field. Olivia Taylor set the pace in sprints, sweeping the 200-meter (23.68) and the 400-meter (53.84). Bengal Peyton Hightower followed in both events, finishing at 24.41 in the 200 and 54.90 in the 400.
Anna Kelly was another Bengal dual-threat. She took the 1,600-meter title in 5:07.25, then returned to win the 3,200-meter run in 11:39.04.
Brooke Bramlett took first in the 100-meter hurdles at 13.75, and Romell Garway won the triple jump at the 11.31 mark. Alexis Jones claimed long jump at 5.76 meters, finished second in the high jump at 1.67 meters
The Bengals’ relay teams solidified the team score by winning the 4×100-meter (46.58) and 4×400-meter (3:57.93) races, while the 4×800-meter team added a third-place finish.
While the girls celebrated a repeat championship, the Blythewood boys finished sixth in the team standings with 45 points. Ridge View won the boys’ title with 202 points, followed by Spring Valley (168) and Westwood (91).
The highlight for the Bengal boys was a standout performance by Jacob Powell, who dominated the 3,200-meter run to win a region title with a time of 9:25.93. The boys’ 4×400-meter relay team also earned a podium spot, finishing second in 3:14.50.
Blythewood now moves on to the 5A state qualifier, set for May 8 at Spring Valley.