HIGH SCHOOL TRACK AND FIELD

It didn’t look like spring break adversely affected Mason County’s track team.

The Royals and Lady Royals largely breezed to team titles at Saturday’s Royal Rumble meet at Mason County Intermediate School. The boys beat Fleming County, 188-92, and girls did the same to Rowan County, 207-143.

“I think we’re progressing pretty well,” Mason County coach Mark Kachler said. “We’ve kind of had some nagging injuries that slowed some things down; we had to rest some people because of it. All in all, I thought it was a positive way to come back from spring break; we were pleased with the performance, both boys and girls.”

You could thank Mason County senior Anthony Bozeman for a lot of the Royals’ points. He won the 110-meter hurdles in 16.58 seconds (a hundredth of a tick faster than Fleming County’s Logan Pinkley) and the 200 dash in 22.99, placed second in the high jump (5 feet, 10 inches) and joined C.J. Arthur, Keshaun Thomas and Brady Sanders to win the 4×100 relay in 45.50.

“This is my first time running the 110 hurdles, first time all season,” Bozeman said.

Something you may not know about Bozeman: his teammates call him “Bug.” Bozeman got the nickname after playing pickup basketball.

“I was just running and jumping around, and I just picked it up,” he said. Bozeman also credited Kachler for “making my trail leg snap down a little bit faster and get a little quicker on the ground.”

Bozeman winning the 200 was a fraction of Mason County’s sprint superiority. Arthur, Thomas and Sanders finished 1-2-3 in the 100 dash, and Hunter Kinney, Austin Moreland, Alix Flinders and Carson Hicks placed second in the 4×200.

Flinders also won the 400 in 54.58.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

Judging by Saturday’s results, the Lady Royals’ future looks bright.

Starting with eighth-grader Lexi Young. She won the long jump (17-4) and high jump (5-2), joined Sarah Payne, Neveah Wright and Madison Howard to win the 4×100 in 51.58 and finished second by three-hundredths of a second in the 100-meter dash behind Fleming County freshman Kalynn Pease.

“Our 4×100 ran their fastest time, and it was with a group that’s not accustomed to running that together,” Kachler said.

Freshman Ava Thompson and Payne finished 1-2 in the pole vault. Thompson took it up because it seemed interesting.

“This is my first outdoor season this year, and it’s going pretty good,” Thompson said. “Not many people really did pole vault, and I was wondering.”

Another Mason County freshman, Victoria Lavinder, finished first; she won the discus with a toss of 76 feet, 8 inches.

Fleming County’s girls finished third with 101 points.

Kalynn Pease also won the 200 in 26.56. Her sister Erin, a junior, won both hurdles races – the 100 in 17.28 and the 300 in 49.85, plus the triple jump in 33 feet, 5 ½ inches.

Pease the younger started out as a middle-distance runner – she ran the 400 and 800 in seventh grade.

“We found out that I started becoming faster than Erin; I just had more foot speed,” Kalynn said. “I keep saying that Erin does the same events as me, just with more coordination.”

Erin added: “If we were just one person, we would be amazing.”

NOT PERFECT, BUT GOOD ENOUGH

You may know Logan Pinkley as a receiver in football; he caught 120 passes for 1,970 yards and 21 touchdowns from 2019-21.

On Saturday, Pinkley won two individual events – the triple jump in 40-0 and the 300 hurdles in 43.88. He also joined Landon Johnson, Landon Shields and Kane Arrasmith to win the 4×200 in 1:37.35.

“I think I’ve worked pretty hard and achieved a lot of things I wanted to,” Pinkley said. “It’s not necessarily perfect, but it’s good enough for me.

Fleming County senior Carson Oldham won the boys discus with a 111-8, and senior Micah Hinton won the girls shot put with a 29-4 1/4 toss. The Lady Panthers finished third with 101 points.

“I think we came out and competed well,” Fleming County coach Braden Brown said. “Our kids have been working really hard, and we were fortunate to have good weather.”

Bracken County’s girls finished fourth with 49 points. Lewis County was fifth with 45, Augusta was eighth with 11, and Ripley was ninth with 4.

Augusta’s boys finished fourth with 68 points. Lewis County and Bath County tied for sixth with 43, Bracken County was seventh with 26, Ripley was ninth with 8, and Robertson County was 11th with 5.

Visit live.kingtiming.com for a complete list of results.