Lady Royals track and field team wins region. Royals are runners-up

The Mason County Lady Royals track and field team won the Class 2A Region 6 championship and the Royals were the runners-up on Saturday at Mason County.

The Lady Royals finished with 165 points. Russell was the girls' runner-up (150) and Ashland took third place (82). In the last 15 years, the Lady Royals have won 11 region championships and been the region runners-up four times.

"Yesterday was a very special one," Coach Mark Kachler wrote in an email message on Sunday. "Everyone had to step up their performance and they did."

Russell won the boys' region title with 115 points, followed by Mason County (100) and Greenup County (99).

The Royals won a trophy for the third time in as many years.

"Adversity struck them but they fought through it and pulled out the second place trophy by 1 point in the last race," Kachler wrote in the email message.

Mason County athletes who are region champions include:

• Reese Hardeman, girls' shot put (31-9.75)
• Madison Howard, girls' triple jump (33-1.50)
• Dashawn Overly, boys' 3200 meter run (9:54.88)
• Waylen Spence, mixed shot put unified (62-5)
• Ava Thompson, girls' pole vault (11-6)
• The boys' 4x800 meter relay team of Bryant Curtis, Ed Brannon, Nicholas Schiltz and Dashawn Overly (8:41.44)
• The girls' 4x400 meter relay team of Sarah Payne, Ava Thompson, Cece Hiatt and Brooklyn Young (4:20.97)
• The girls' 4x200 meter relay team of Haven Hamilton, Sarah Payne, Amirah Reed and Adrienne Downs-Perry (1:50.20)

First and second place finishers qualify for the state meet. The next 10 best performances from across all seven regions will also qualify. Those will not be set until all region meets have been completed. Mason County athletes with second place finishes include:

• Amirah Reed, girls' 100 meter hurdles (17.18)
• Sarah Payne, girls' 400 meter dash (1:01.08) and girls' pole vault (10-06.00)
• Ed Brannon, boys' 3200 meter run (10:34.26)
• Makaylynn Crabtree, girls' shot put (31-05.75) and girls' discus throw (90-10)
• Madison Howard, girls' long jump (16-07.25)
• Elijah Reed, boys' triple jump, 38-11.00)
• Keenan Galloway, boys' pole vault (11-00.00)
• Ava Thompson, girls' high jump (5-00.00)
• The girls' 4x100 meter relay team of Kenzie Gulley, Adirenne Downs-Perry, Amirah Reed and Madison Howard (50.39)
• The boys' 4x400 meter relay team of Bryant Curtis, Peyton Ullery, Marquise Kirk and Elijah Reed (3:40.93)
• The mixed 2x50 meter relay unified team of Casey Magee and Waylen Spence (18.26)

Payne broke her own school record in the 400 meter dash.

Team Scores

Girls

1     Mason County                 165
2     Russell                            150
3     Ashland Blazer                  82
4     Rowan County                  49
5     Fleming County                40
6     Boyd County                     39
7     Greenup County               26
8     Lewis County                      5
9     East Carter                         2

Boys

1     Russell                            115
2     Mason County                 100
3     Greenup County                99
4     East Carter                        63
5     Rowan County                   61
6     Lewis County                     42
7     Ashland Blazer                   41
8     Boyd County                      37