North Adams girls shine, finish second at West Union invitational

North Adams Lady Devils finished second overall in the girls standings at the West Union Junior High Invitational, and the result gave Adams County another strong snapshot of the talent moving up through its track programs. On a bright, sunny April 22 at West Union High School, 12 girls and boys teams from across Southern Ohio filled the meet, with local schools competing against West Union, Hillsboro, North Adams, Whiteoak, Eastern Brown, Fairfield, Lynchburg-Clay, Peebles, Georgetown, Fayetteville, Manchester and Ripley.

The county’s biggest girls headline came from North Adams’ Lillian Harper. Harper placed second in the 100-meter hurdles and won the 200-meter hurdles, while the Lady Devils also got points from Lola Semple in the 400, Kendall Geeslin in the 800, Haylee Wheeler in the 1600 and Jalen Michael in the shot put. North Adams added a victory in the girls 4x400 relay, finishing in 4:53.08, a result that helped push the Lady Devils up the team standings and showed the program’s depth across sprints, distance and field events.

Peebles also delivered across multiple events. Zaylee McClanahan finished second in the girls 100 meters in 14.38 and was second again in the 200 meters in 29.52, giving the Indians a pair of top medal finishes. Peebles’ girls 4x100 relay finished second, another sign that the county’s smaller programs were not just sending out one standout runner, but building relay groups that can score in a crowded regional field. Under the meet’s medal format, the top three finishers in each event were rewarded, which made every final and every field attempt matter.

The boys side told a similar story of broad county strength. North Adams’ Jax Kingsley won the discus at 131 feet, 3 inches and took second in shot put at 37 feet, 6.5 inches. Peebles’ Slade Abbott won the high jump at 5 feet, 2 inches, West Union’s Beau Barnhart placed second in the long jump at 16 feet, 0.5 inches, and Manchester’s Gage Carter took third in the 110-meter hurdles. With Hillsboro and Eastern Brown leading the boys team race, and North Adams, Peebles, West Union and Manchester all landing medal spots, the meet looked less like a one-school showcase than a countywide pipeline report. West Union also hosted a larger high school invitational the week before, with 14 teams and more than 800 entries, underscoring how the track at West Union has become a steady spring proving ground for the next few years of Adams County competition.