EAST Jackson senior Cale Pirtle won the 1,600 meters Saturday at the Eagle Invitational but his second-place finish in the 3,200 meters might have been more noteworthy.
Pirtle ran a 10:22.71 to set the new school mark in that event, finishing only two seconds behind Parkview’s Nick Schofer.
Paired with his first-place finish in the 1,600 meters (4:48), Pirtle accounted for 18 of East Jackson’s 32 points.
The host Eagles finished fifth overall in the 11-team field.
Montel Reynolds added a pair of third-place finishes in the 110-meter hurdles (17.41 seconds) and the 300-meter hurdles (44.48 seconds). Also scoring for East Jackson in its season-opener were Ronnie Slizewksi (sixth, pole vault, 11-00) and Jeff Chandler (sixth, shot put, 41-3).
Jefferson’s boys finished right behind East Jackson in sixth with 27 points.
Mason Hamrick, back from a recent foot surgery, led the Dragons with a first-place finish in the pole vault (12-6). Jefferson got the majority of its points from that event as James Howard added a third-place finish (11-00).
The Dragons also got points from their 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 meter relay teams. The 4 x 400 team (Howard, Mark Weaver, Trae Timmerman and Pate Sheppard) finished fourth (3:52.62), and the 4 x 800 team (Timmerman, Cain Lorenzo, Josh Reid and Charis Warnock) took fifth (9:33). Thrower Carson Newman picked up points in the shot put (fourth, 42-5) and discus (sixth, 121-11).
For Jackson County, Layson Giles had the top performance for the Panthers with a third place finish in the high jump (5-8). Jackson County finished 10th with 11 points.
The Panther 4 x 400 meter relay team (Yohan Reynolds, Brian Loftus, Craig Brown and Todd Woodring) also placed, finishing fifth (3:56.41) as did the 4 x 100 team (Reynolds, Keyshawn Curry, Dustin Scott and Brown, 46.12 seconds). Scott added a fifth-place finish in the triple jump.
Class AAAAA Parkview won the boys’ meet with 132 points.
On the girls’ side, Jefferson took fourth with 43 points, thanks to a strong day out of their pole vaulters.
Rebecca Stoudenmire won the event with a vault of eight feet, while Abby Carson was second (7-6).
The Lady Dragons also picked up points in all the relay events, led by the 4 x 800 team (Reese Bowles, Goza, Holly Baron and Chandler Bragg) which placed third (11:25). The 4 x 100 team (Eden Starnes, Blaine Townsend, Rachel Goza and Jaclyn Coleman) finished fourth (55.19 seconds) as did the 4 x 200 team (Logan Johnston, Townsend, Madison Dills and Coleman, 2:01.9) and the 4 x 400 team (Johnston, Dills, Goza and Coleman, 4:42).
Bowles added a third-place finish in the 1,600 meters (5:58) and Starnes placed sixth in the triple jump (30-0.75).
East Jackson’s girls, with 7.6 points, finished 10th out of 11 teams.
Lauren Sanders enjoyed the top performance of the day for the Lady Eagles with a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles (17.91 seconds).
No one on Jackson County’s girls’ team scored.
Parkview won the girls’ meet with 166 points.
