With mild weather and the ice and snow gone the Salem indoor track teams got a chance to compete last weekend. Salem had athletes at both the Milestate Showcase meet at Liberty University and the JV Invitational at Heritage High School.
The Showcase Meet was the first held at the new indoor facility at Liberty University in Lynchburg, and Salem’s Raniyah Majied made it a memorable one with a win in the 800 meter race. Raniyah ran a time of 2:24.22 to win her race.
Hannah Moran was fifth in the invitational mile run with a time of 5:15.09 and was fourth in the invitational two-mile run at11:15.27, her best time ever.
“They don’t usually run the 800 during indoor so it was a nice change of pace for Raniyah and we do not run the mile or 2 mile, usually it’s the 1600 and 3200, so Hannah got to race ‘old school’ distances,” said Salem coach Tom Roth.
Janae Blakeney competed in the 55 dash, Mia Cromer was in the high jump and ShaCoya Price was in both the long jump and triple jump.
For the boys, Maxwell Plummer competed in the shot put and did well in his first meet of the year, throwing 40 feet, 8 inches.
Sean Tyree ran a strong race in the 500. He had a leg cramp the last 150 meters and still won his heat with a conference qualifying time. Tyler Williams also ran the 500 m well for his first track meet.
At the Heritage meet Salem’s boys placed fourth overall. Isaiah Persinger took a second in the 55 meters while Devin Cox and Hunter Tensen were two-three in the 500.
Salem won two relays, taking the 4×400 and 4×800. Logan Wagher, Jeremiah Wilson, Cox and and Tensen ran the 4×400 while Logan Wagher, Tyree, Tensen, and Cox ran the 4×800. The 4×200 team of Tyree, Williams Persinger and Wilson took second.
“A lot of them ran their best times of the season or best overall this weekend,” said coach Jason Sells. “We have a few meets left and time to keep improving.”
The girls did very well at the Heritage meet, winning first place in the team standings. Tawni Hunt won the 300 and took fourth in 55 meters, while Alexis Stover fook cidzf in the 1,600 and Ally Roland won the 3,200. The foursome of Stover, Madison Baxter, Izzy Donahue and Roland won the 4×800 relay.
Angie Orange took a second in the 55 hurdles, Donahue was third in the 1,000 and Alexandra McCadden was fourth in the shot put. The 4×400 relay team of Berkley Wall, Donahue, TeAsis Thomas and China Huffman took a third.
Salem’s next meet is the Virginia Tech High School Invitational in Blacksburg on January 27 and 28.