April 8, 2004
by Jeff Toquinto
Editor of The Bridgeport News

Although it's still early in the season, Bridgeport's boys track team served notice Friday that it would be a force to be reckoned with on the local circuit.
The boys dominated the Doddridge Host Harrison Meet at Cline Stansberry Stadium by amassing 220 points. The host school was a distant second with 96 points.
The girls performed well, but were the runners-up. BHS scored 133 points, which was well off the Bulldogs' winning mark of 213.
For the boys, Matt Fischer and the relay teams proved to be the difference. Fischer tied for high point honors with 30.5, while the Indians won four of the five relay events.
Fischer won the 300 hurdles with a time of 44.9 seconds and won the high jump by clearing 5 feet, 10 inches. He also came in second in the 110 hurdles and was on one of the winning relay teams.
"He did great. The one thing that surprised me a little bit was his hurdle time," said boys coach Jon Griffith. "At that point he knew he was shooting for high points so he was really motivated."
As for the relays, it was almost perfection. The first win came in the 4x100 where Alex McElfresh, A.J. Paletta, Phillip McElfresh and Jeff Weimer posted a winning time of 46.2 seconds. That was followed by a winning time of 1 minute, 39.7 seconds in the 4x200 by the team of A. McElfresh, Paletta, Shawn Adkins and Weimer.
The 4x800 team of Kyle Sappington, Tyler Williams, Patsy Sabatelli and Ben Booth won with a mark of 9 minutes 3.8 seconds. The final win came in the shuttles where the team of Matt Wilson, P. McElfresh, Fischer and Grant Burton won with a time of 1 minute, 4.5 seconds.
"It's hard to be disappointed with any aspect of our relays," said Griffith. "When you look at the whole day, it was hard to be disappointed with anything. Our depth was a key in the meet, particularly in those relays."
BHS had four other individual wins. They included Weimer in the 100 meters (11.7 seconds), David Haws in the 800 meters (2 minutes, 11.4 seconds), Wilson in the 110 hurdles (16.2 seconds) and P. McElfresh in the long jump (18 feet, 7 inches).
The one impressive spot for the girls came in the relay events. The girls won three of the five events and were second in the other two relays.
The 4x400 team of Lora Gallagher, Kara Miller, Kylie Keifer and Kate Merinar posted a winning time of 4 minutes, 43.8 seconds. The 4x800 team Jenna Fogg, Merinar Miller and Gallagher won with a time of 10 minutes, 57.4 seconds, while the shuttle hurdles team of Marie Conley, Miller, Emilee Stout and Sarah Abbate took home a win with a time of 1 minute, 14 seconds.
Stout and Merinar both had big afternoons. Stout scored the third most points at the meet, while Merinar was fifth.
"She did that well and the weather was horrible for her and everybody else," said Dawson. "To get her performance and those from the others was impressive."
Stout and Abbate were the only BHS ladies to win individual events. Stout cleared 10 feet to win the pole vault, while Abbate won the 100 hurdles with a time of 17.5 seconds.
The Doddridge meet wasnÕt the first meet of the season. Instead, the Indians hosted a meet March 30 with several Class AAA programs in attendance.
Unfortunately, BHS did note win the meet on either side of the slate. The girls came in fourth, while the boys were second.
The boys' total of 145 points was well off the winning pace of Preston. The Knights won the meet with 187 points.
Several Indians had big afternoons. Most notable was Wilson, who won both the the high jump and long jump, while finishing runner up in the 110 meter hurdles.
Wilson won the long jump with a mark of 19 feet, 10.5 inches, while clearing 6 feet, 2 inches to win the high jump. He posted a runner-up time of 16.34 seconds in the hurdles.
The only other win came from Weimer. Weimer won the 200 meter dash in 24.38 seconds, while finishing second in the 100 with a time of 11.87 seconds.
The final win came from Raymond Powers in the pole vault. Power cleared 12 feet, 6 inches, while Haws was second with a mark of 11 feet, 6 inches.
Individually, Sam Romano took the only other runner-up spot. He finished second with a throw of 43 feet, 1 inch in the shot put.
BHS' had two second place finishes in relays. The 4x400 and shuttle hurdles teams both were solid.
The girls managed just one first place finish in the meet and totaled 70 points in the six-team meet. Buckhannon-Upshur won with 187 points, while Preston was second at 144 and Morgantown third at 114.
Stout took first place in the pole vault. The defending state champion cleared 10 feet, 2 inches to win the event.
The only runner-up finish came from Fogg. Fogg cleared 4 feet, 10 inches to earn second in the high jump.
BHS hosted a six-team meet Tuesday and will host another meet next Tuesday. The Tribe's biggest home meet of the year, the Harry Green Invitational, will take place April 17.