SOC Track: 'Burg boys, girls sweep SOC II; ND girls win SOC I title

MINFORD — Same song, different verse.

That’s been the story of the Wheelersburg boys and girls track and field programs all season, who have operated like a runaway freight train in 2026.

The train kept fully functioning on its track toward greater hardware this past week, as the Wheelersburg boys and girls track and field programs won the SOC II and overall championships at the Southern Ohio Conference Track and Field Meet, which was held Tuesday and Thursday at Minford High School.

Between the two teams, Wheelersburg won a total of 16 events over the two-day event.

Six of those wins came in relay events alone — as the Pirates swept the 4-by-100, 4-by-200 and 4-by-400 meter relays en route to claiming the overall title. Callie DeHart ran on all three of the girls relay championship squads while Ryleigh Harness, Addison Kennard and Natalie Weaver were on two of the relay championship squads on the girls side.

On the boys side, Logan Whitt and Elijah Brown were on each of the 4-by-100, 4-by-200 and 4-by-400 meter relay-winning teams while Canaan Arthur and Clark Weller were on two of the three units.

Individually, Ella Hochstetler swept top honors in the SOC ranks in both the discus throw and shot put for Wheelersburg’s girls, notching a 144-foot, six-inch toss in the discus and a 40-foot, three-and-a-half inch shot put to win both events. Jordan Jolly won the pole vault at eight feet even while Preslee French won the 300 meter hurdles at 50.01.

Kenyon Evans joined Hochstetler with multiple trips to the top of the podium for the Wheelersburg boys squad, amassing three first-place finishes between the 200 meters (22.39), the high jump (six feet, two inches) and the long jump (21 feet, 10 inches).

Cashton Adkins edged fellow teammate Ison Emnett for first place in the discus, posting a 155-foot, two-inch throw to Emnett’s 152-foot, three-inch toss, while Emnett won the shot put with a 60-foot, two-inch mark. Whitt added in the final first-place finish for Wheelersburg, as the freshman ran a 51.57 in the 400 meter dash as one of many outstanding efforts for the Pirates.

Team-wise, Wheelersburg bettered Waverly for first place in girls by 60 points (192 to 132) and in boys by 64 points (179 to 115) in the winning cause for both squads.

Notre Dame, who won the SOC I Championship in girls track and finished fourth overall in the standings with 45 points, was led by excellent distance running efforts from Ryan Purcell and Caroline Mauk.

Purcell claimed both the 800, 1,600, and 3,200 meter track championships by posting times of 2:25.68, 5:18.93 and 11:31.8 to win all three events. Mauk posted a 2:35.84, 5:59.91 and a 13:28 to finish fourth in the 800, sixth in the 1,600 and fifth in the 3,200, all while also finishing sixth in the long jump with a 13-foot, nine-and-a-half inch effort.

Keagan Fowler led the boys effort for Notre Dame, finishing fifth with a 54:52 in the 400 meter dash.

Minford, who was third in the girls rundown with 51 points, got a second-place effort from Katelynn Simpson in the pole vault (seven feet) and a third-place from Marley Rhodes in the 400 meter dash (1:01.24). Paiton Creech finished fourth and fifth in the 100 meter hurdles (18.34) and 300 meter hurdles (53.61) while Rhodes placed fifth in the 100 meter dash (13.28). Rhodes and Creech were also a part of the Minford 4-by-100 meter relay unit that placed second overall.

Peyton Caudill led Minford by winning the boys 100 meter dash with a 10.97.

South Webster, who finished fifth in the boys rundown with 59 points, was led by a dominating effort in distance events by Braden Mantell. The senior scored 28 points on his own with winning times in the 1,600 (4:26.73) and 3,200 (10:09.4) meter runs as well as a second place in the 800 meter run (2:02.89). Mantell was also a part of the second-place finishing boys 4-by-800 meter relay.

West, who finished sixth in the boys rundown with 45.5 points, got a big effort from Keagan Salem — who finished in the top-four in three events. Salem was second in the 300 meter hurdles (40.57), third in the 100 meters (11.31) and fourth in the 200 meters (23.19). Salem also helped the boys 4-by-100 meter relay place third overall.

Valley added in a seventh place finish in the boys standings, with Branson Barnett’s 46-foot, six-inch shot put heading the charge. Barnett finished third in that event as well as fifth in the discus throw with a 133-foot, four-inch toss, while Anthony Aaron placed fifth in the 200 meter dash (23.45) and sixth in the 100 meter dash (11.71).

Girls-wise, Mia Rose, competing while under the weather, placed second in the 200 meter dash (27.22) and fourth in the 100 meter dash (13.27). Abigail King finished fourth in both the discus throw (100 feet, four inches) and the shot put (32 feet, two inches).

Valley scored 33 points in its seventh place finish on the boys side, while the girls collected 27 points for an eighth-place showing.

Blake Wamsley enjoyed a big day for Northwest, helping the Mohawks finish eighth in the boys standings with 27 points. Wamsley finished third with a 19-foot, seven-and-a-half inch long jump, was fifth in the 100 meter hurdles (17.45) and sixth in the pole vault (nine feet). Wamsley also helped the 4-by-200 meter relay squad finish third as well.

Individually, Clay got two fifth-place throws from Maddie Penix in discus (88 feet, 10 inches) and shot put (31 feet, two-and-a-half inches) as Penix helped Clay finish ninth on the girls side with 21 points.

For a complete rundown of results from the Southern Ohio Conference Championship Meet, visit Ohio Milesplit or https://oh.milesplit.com/meets/ 685120-soc-xc-championship-2025/info.