From left to right, Avery Root, Sylvia Trevathan, Imani Wood and Hannah Philips took first place in the 4x400 meter relay, with a personal best of 4:02.93 minutes in the WVSSAC Class AAA Region 2 Championship at Cardinal Stadium on May 15. Photo by David Pennock

SPRING MILLS — Cooperative weather was welcomed at the annual big-school Regional track and field meet last week, where the color red became a celebration in itself, as Spring Mills High School and Musselman High School won the boys and girls divisions of the event.

Red is a meaningful color in both winning school’s uniform schemes. And Spring Mills also used the field events to surpass its competition, scoring 54 of its team-high 161 points in the events that don’t place a premium on either running speed or running endurance. Second-place Jefferson High School totaled 22 points in the combined field events in getting its 144.5 points.

Musselman sprinkled its team points all over the facility at Spring Mills in winning the girl’s division, with a decisive 162 points to Washington High School’s second-place total of 138.5.

In the boys’ field events, Spring Mills had Loakkhae Uth-Smith win the high jump and Dustin Bradsher finish second. In the long jump, Uth-Smith was second and the Cardinals also had individuals finish fourth and fifth in that event. The pole vault yielded 11 points to the Cardinal team-championship load.

Jefferson’s annual points accumulation in the sprints continued, as Tony Allen had wins both in the 100 meters and 200 meters, but the Cougars faltered in the relays, a usual scoring bonanza for them. It was the red of Spring Mills running away to wins in the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×400 sprint relays. The champion Cardinals also won the shuttle hurdles relay. Jefferson finished last in the 4×100, 4×200 and the shuttle hurdles relay.

Jefferson High School Track & Field members Travis Jenkins and Shane Burkhardt compete in the 1600 meters, during the WVSSAC Class AAA Region 2 Championship at Cardinal Stadium on May 15. Photo by David Pennock

Augustin Hall gave the Cougars a win in the 800 meters. Conner Myers won the grueling 1600 meters and placed second in the equally grueling 3200 meters.

Aden Gestl was second in both the individual hurdles events.

Spring Mills did nothing in the individual sprints, yet won the meet with overwhelming point totals in the field events and relays.

But the red of Spring Mills had to share some of the afternoon’s glory with the subdued red of the Musselman girls.

Depth and grabbing team points from all over sunlit grounds, got the Musselman girls the champion’s crown.

Jefferson High School freshman Shaylee Swartz runs the first leg of the 4x102.5 meter shuttle hurdles at the WVSSAC Class AAA Region 2 Championship in Cardinal Stadium on May 15. Photo by David Pennock

The Applemen had wins in the 3200 meters from Sadie Yates (who was also second in the 1600 meters) and in the shuttle hurdles relay, but of the 18 events held, those were the only two where they won first place.

Jefferson had more overall wins, with Hannah Phillips prevailing in both the 1600 meter and 800 meter distance runs, and Samantha Ogden taking the pole vault, as well as the Cougars winning the 4×400 meter relay (Avery Root, Sylvia Trevathan, Imani Wood and Hannah Phillips) and the 4×800 meter relay (Faith Fogelsong, Mable Cotgreave, Trevathan and Phillips).

But many events had Musselman with three athletes gleaning points from them. In the 110 meter hurdles, there were three Applemen earning points. Three more earned some points in the 300 meter hurdles. Musselman gained nine points from three more runners in the 800 meters. Musselman totaled 17 points in the high jump, had another 10 points in the shot put and another nine points in the discus throw.

Wins were hard to find, but depth wasn’t, and the Applemen just kept piling up the points as the long afternoon moved along toward evening.

Jefferson’s Phillips had participated in four events and had either won a solo distance race or been on a first-place relay unit.

The color red and the five field events in each division had been the co-stars, on a day that featured teamwork in roles that brought much-valued team wins.