LEXINGTON — Olivia O’Hearn picked her best time to set a personal and tie a school record.
With that came a fourth place finish in the pole vault in the KHSAA Class AA state track and field meet, clearing a height of 10-feet, the highest mark of her high school career.
“Perfect timing,” O’Hearn said. “It was definitely a long time coming. I had just kept working and working at 10-feet, wanted it all season and it was just the perfect time to get it. I got it on my first try. It’s probably one of the things I’m most proud of right now.”
O’Hearn wasn’t the only one setting personal records for the Lady Royals. Rachel Payne set PRs in both the 100 and 300-meter hurdles, reaching the podium twice, coming in sixth in the 300 in a time of 48.63 and seventh in the 100 at 16.96, surprising herself after the race.
“I was nervous at first, but coach Jen had told me run all the way through and pump my arms and that’s pretty much what I did,” Payne said. “I wasn’t even top eight in either and I was just going to run to run and I guess it worked.”
The two helped the Lady Royals score 12 points on the day, good for 13th place in the team standings. The meet had 17 of 18 events scored before the final event was suspended to Saturday morning due to the inclement weather.
“I was pleased. Rachel had a tremendous day, PRs in both events and possibly a school record in the 300 hurdles. It’s a really old record. Olivia tied a school record, I felt bad for Abi, hasn’t had a bad pole vault day in two years and sometiems that happens. Paige had a good performance in the mile and overall I thought it was a good day,” Mason County coach Mark Kachler said.
The final event left was the girls’ and boys’ 4×400 relay before being unable to finish.
Others adding podium finishes for the Lady Royals were Paige Decker and Abi Dawson. Decker entered the 1,600 seeded 13th and exceeded expectations by placing eighth in a time of 5:33.
Dawson joined O’Hearn on the podium in the pole vault, placing eighth with a height of 9-feet.
“I know that Abi had a rough day but I told her afterwards I loved her and am so glad we got to do this together,” O’Hearn said.
Alyssa Bisotti and Elizabeth Lavinder finished 16th and 17th in the 3,200 with times of 12:45 and 12:47.
Te’A King placed 17th in the 100-meter dash in a time of 13.02.
Sara Brewer failed to clear a height in the high jump.
The Lady Royals brought all four relay teams to the meet, 4×800, 4×100 and 4×200 teams, placing 11th, 12th and 15th, respectively with the 4×400 team of Dawson, O’Hearn, Payne and Decker left to run on Saturday with the restart coming at 9 a.m.
The 4×800 relay team of Layla Henderson, Hayden Faris, Bisotti and Lavinder finished in a time of 10:30.
The 4×200 team of Iyanna Johns, Morgan Carpenter, Kendra Shoemaker and Te’A King won their heat in a time of 1:52.
The 4×100 team of Johns, Shoemaker, Payne and King had a time of 52.12.
“I believe those are season bests in the 4×100 and 4×200. The 4×800 is about what we had been running, thought they all performed well in the relays,” Kachler said.
The lone boys’ participant in the meet for Mason County was eighth grader AJ Barrett, who placed 12th in the pole vault with a height of 10-06.
“That tied a PR for him. A big accomplishment, that was the opening height and to have to hit that immediately to get a height is very tough, especially for someone inexperienced as him,” Kachler said.
Fleming County’s Caleb Faris also participated in the pole vault but didn’t clear the initial height.
Hayden Ramey took part in the 400 and finished 24th in a time of 55.53.
The Lady Panthers’ Erin Pease was the lone girls’ participant for Fleming County, placing 17th in the 100 hurdles in a time of 17.62 and 13th in the 300 hurdles in a time of 50.47.
Lewis County’s Parker Stone placed 14th in the discus with a throw of 122-08, topping his seed of 20th going into the meet. Stone was the lone Lions participant in the meet.
The meet was delayed two different times due to weather, the first delay spanning a little over an hour and the second one lasting nearly two hours before officials decided to suspend the 4×400 relays to Saturday, starting back up at 9 a.m.
“We’re working on the logistics of that now,” Kachler said. “We’ll bring the relay team back and try to figure out how to do it,” Kachler said.
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