Bardstown’s girls won 10 of 18 events at Tuesday’s Class 1A Region 3 track meet, crushing its opponents by more than 100 points in the team competition along the way.

Peter W. Zubaty

Bardstown senior Marina Culver won the 300-meter hurdles at Tuesday’s Class 1A Region 3 track meet, one of 10 events won by the Tiger girls. Culver also was runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles.

“That’s about as dominating a performance as you’ll see in any region track competition,” Tiger coach Jeremy Dale said.

The Tiger girls shook off the cold, rainy weather to roll up 217 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Fort Knox’s 105.5 points on the way to their fourth consecutive region title. Bethlehem’s girls were sixth with 30 points.

The Bardstown boys didn’t fare as well, however, as Holy Cross — with wins in 10 events — edged the host Tigers, 150-141, snapping a streak of seven straight region team titles. Bethlehem’s boys finished eighth with seven points.

“The boys took it hard,” Dale said. “It was a tough thing for them (to have the streak broken). We were right there in the mix until the end.”

The Cougars sealed the deal when Jacob Thomson and Dominic Perronie ran 1-2 in the 3200-meter run, picking up 18 big points in the next-to-last event of the meet, enabling them to hold off the Tigers, who posted a strong effort in the meet’s final event, the 4x400 relay. Thomson, who won the 1600-meter run at last year’s state meet as a freshman, swept the distance events.

“Holy Cross has probably the two best distance runners in the state,” Dale said. Former Tiger and current University of Kentucky runner Adam Kahleifeh “had trouble with those two kids, too.”

Starring for the Tiger girls were Victoria Yocum, who won the 100 and 400, as well as anchoring the 4x400 relay winning squad. Teammate Ciera Allen also figured prominently, winning the 200 and playing a part on the winning 4x100 and 4x200 relay squads.

The Bardstown girls qualified athletes in 14 events for next week’s state championships at the University of Louisville, and Dale thinks athletes in two other events stand a good chance of qualifying with at-large berths. The top two finishers in each event automatically qualify for state; at-large berths go to the top 10 region results statewide.

Bardstown’s Kaitlyn Wathen won the 1600, shaving more than 15 seconds off her seed time. The Tigers also got strong performances from Caprisha Green, who won the discus and was runner-up in the shot put, and Marina Culver, winner of the 300 hurdles and runner-up in the 100 hurdles. Samantha Bowling won the pole vault, and Tiger teammate Haylee Dennison was runner-up.

Bethlehem’s Flannery Musk made it back-to-back championships in the 800-meter run with a 2:28.77 time, nearly seven seconds better than her seed time.

The 4x400 was the only event win of the day for Bardstown, but the Tigers did have runner-up finishes in seven events, including Kameron Lackey’s 133-09 discus heave, which shattered his personal record in the event.

“That’s going to put him in the top four or five in the state,” Dale said.

Freshman Deion Tonge also qualified with a second-place long jump of 19-09, beating his best mark by more than a foot.

Dale said the Tiger boys have a chance to improve at state in many events, including the 4x100 and 4x200 relays, as John Stone was unavailable because of the region tennis tournament, and his backup was out with an injury, leaving the coach to turn to his third alternate. The Tigers were runners-up in both events.

Fort Knox pole vaulters Andre and Hyrum Dean finished 1-2, ending a seven-year streak of Bardstown dominance. Tiger pole vaulters captured the last five state championships in the event.

Courtesy of Peter W. Zubaty, Kentucky Standard