ONA -- Justin Ross told his Huntington High track and field athletes that if they lost Saturday, he wouldn't be mad at them.
The Highlanders didn't get to test Ross, as they swept the boys and girls titles at the 26-team Carlos Akers/Doc Hale Invitational at Cabell Midland's Chris Parsons Track.
Huntington High's boys won with 112 points, easily outdistancing the host Knights, who finished with 89. Point Pleasant took third with 86.5. The Highlanders girls totaled 131 points. Cabell Midland was second with 111 and Greenbrier East third with 102.
"It's early in the season," Ross said. "It's not the conference or the regional or the state. I told them to enjoy it, to compete. We want to get better. We want to win, but if we don't win, I won't be mad at them."
Huntington High's girls featured a winner and runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles as Milleah Johnson ran 14.96 and Mallori Dunn-Martin posted a 15.07. Huntington High's Macaria Johnson placed fourth in 16.81.
The Highlanders won the 4x100 relay in 50.12. Spring Valley was second in 52.86. Huntington High also won the shuttle hurdle relays in 1:05.80 to Greenbrier East's 1:09.42. The Spartans ran 4:14.40 to win the 4x400 over the runner-up Highlanders' 4:14.95 time.
Huntington High's Claire Johnson won the pole vault at 8 feet, 6 inches in a tiebreaker over Point Pleasant's Katie McCutcheon. The Highlanders' Collette Dickerson was third at 8-0.
"I'm really happy," Laurel Johnson said of the Highlanders' performance. "It's a good way to start the season."
In the boys competition, Huntington High won only one event -- the boys 4x800 in 3:34.73. Matthew Morrow anchored that unit, which beat second-place Cabell Midland by 8.6 seconds.
"It feels pretty dang good after all the hard work we put in," Morrow said of winning. "I love finishing and ending it all. It's hard to keep up and work to get faster and faster."
The meet took 11 hours and featured 134 races, including heats.
"This is the largest this meet has ever been," said Parsons, the meet director and Cabell Midland's coach. "We had two heats in the two-mile and that's never happened before."
On the girls side, Herbert Hoover's Maysen Fletcher won the 3,200 in 10:28.97 and the 1,600 in 5:14.11. A quartet of Cabell Midland runners -- Delainey Burger, Audrey Adkins, Emma Coakley and Raegan Freeman -- took spots two through five, respectively.
Greenbrier East's Annie Whited won the 100 in 12.74, edging the Highlanders' Siraye Harper by .007. Whited outlasted Harper in the 200, finishing in 25.55 to Harper's 26.44.
Cabell Midland's 4x800 relay team took first in 10:13.79, 26 seconds better than runner-up Huntington High, which also finished second to Greenbrier East in the 4x200. The Spartans ran 1:46.46 to the Highlanders' 1:48.57.
Josie Cox of Roane County was first in the 300-meter hurdles in 47.77, edging Huntington High's Johnson, who ran 48.29. Greenbrier East's Neena McClintic captured the 800 in 2:20.95, outlasting Charleston Catholic's Arabella Boggs, who ran 2:23.14.
Jada Ward of Riverside won the high jump with a leap of 5-2 inches. Lucretia Jackson of Spring Valley was second at 5-0. Hannah Baker of Point Pleasant threw 35-10 to win the shot put title by three inches over Cabell Midland's Cameron Clary.
Kendra Steele of Nitro was the winner in the long jump, going 16-5.5, one inch farther than Spring Valley's Savannah Davis. Riverside's Cianna Groom threw 143-9 to win the discus. Baker was second at 125-1 and Clary third at 114-7.
On the boys half, Hurricane's Ty Steorts won the 3,200 in 9:22.20, beating Charleston Catholic's Will Barton by 26.95. The Irish also took third and fourth, with Peter Basdekis and Luke Passmore filling those slots. Steorts took the 1,600 in 4:18.94, ahead Cabell Midland's Aidan Kneeland, who finished second in 4:21.27.
"Coming into the race, Aidan and I talked over the phone the other night and said, 'Let's go fast today,'" Steorts said of the 1,600. "That's what we did today. We went pretty quick. It's early in the season. I can't complain about that."
Kneeland won the 800 in 1:58.54, with Hurricane's Alex Sanders second in 2:02.78 and Steorts third in 2:04.87. Steort's teammate, Jai'Den Smith, won the 100-meter hurdles in 15.05, topping Reece Hunt of Point Pleasant by .43 seconds.
George Washington's Crawford Goldman sprinted 400 meters in 51.03 seconds to win. Spring Valley's Bryce Fuller ran 51.65 to place second. Goldman also was part of the first-place 4x800 relay in 8:34.86. Cabell Midland was second in 8:43.95 and Huntington High third in 8:52.11.
Wahama speedster Connor Lambert won the 100 in 11 seconds flat, beating Woodrow Wilson's Daniel Walling by .16. Lambert also outran Walling in the 200, 22.02 to 22.70. The Flying Eagles, though, did win the 4x200 relay in 1:31.86. Huntington High was second in 1:32.52 and Cabell Midland third in 1:35.74.
Woodrow Wilson also took the 4x100 relay in 43.36. Wahama was second in 44.43 and Huntington High third in 44.90.
Grant Barton of Point Pleasant edged Carter Geveke of Huntington 40.89 to 41.44 in the 300-meter hurdles. The Big Blacks topped the Highlanders in the shuttle hurdle relay 57.97 to 59.92.
Poca's Landon Coleman won the high jump with a leap of 6-2. Peyton Scheidler of Huntington High and Joel Lawrence of Riverside tied for second at 5-10. Caden Hill of Point Pleasant won the shot put title with a throw of 52-0. Matthew Edwards of Cabell Midland was second at 47-3.5 and Wyatt Adkins of Huntington High third at 44-11.75. Hill won the discus throw with a heave of 169-6. Jaxson Richmond of George Washington was second at 141-2 and Matthews third at 137-2.
Gage Devault of Point Pleasant pole vaulted 12-6 to place first, six inches higher than Huntington High's Parker Riley. Hurricane's Smith took the long jump at 21-4.5, 2.5 inches farther than the Highlanders' Avonte Crawford.
