Staff photo / Neel Madhavan West Branch’s Sophia Gregory leads the pack during the 200-meter dash Saturday at the Newton Falls Tiger Invitational.

NEWTON FALLS — The West Branch girls track and field team has long been one of the more successful programs in the area.

In their first meet of the spring outdoor season, the Warriors kicked things off with a bang, capturing the team title Saturday at the Newton Falls Tiger Invitational. The team tallied 162 total points to beat out Mogadore Field, which had 124 points.

“That was just the goal (Saturday) — to come out and compete and get after it,” West Branch girls track coach Mike Falasca said. “I never want us to look ahead, we just want to compete and get better every day. I want the girls to be successful. That’s all I care about. I’m just here telling them what to do, and they do it. They’re awesome. They work harder than anybody I’ve ever been around, and you just want the best for kids like that.”

The lone low point of the day for West Branch came in the 4×200 meter relay, when despite winning the race on the track by about 100 meters, the Warriors were retroactively disqualified for being “out of the zone.”

“Rather have that now than in the districts,” Falasca said. “That’s something that we’ll learn from hopefully, and go from there.”

Despite the setback, West Branch’s relay teams were able to earn victories in the 4×100 and the 4×400 races.

In the 4×400 relay race, the Warriors actually trailed Field by about 15 meters by the end of the third leg. Senior Kennedy Berger had closed the gap, but West Branch still had work to do.

So, after receiving the baton from Berger, fellow senior Sophia Gregory quickly made up ground, caught and eventually passed the Falcons’ anchor on that final lap around the track to win the race by about three seconds.

“Kennedy closed the gap. Kennedy’s a beast — she’s a bulldog,” Falasca said. “So if (Gregory) gets the baton and she’s within 15 or 20 meters, usually we’re in pretty good shape.”

In addition to the relays, the Warriors posted strong finishes in most of the solo events, as well.

Berger got second in the 100 dash with a time of 13.37, Gregory got second in the 200 dash (27.21), Makenna Woost and Avah Stull took second and third, respectively, in the 400, sophomore Hailie Singer won the 100 hurdles (17.70) and was second in the 300 hurdles (53.22).

Meanwhile, junior Clarice Martin won the 1600 by 14 seconds and the 3200 race by more than a minute. In the field events, freshman Kendelle Hoopes took second in the high jump and the long jump, while senior Lauren Gossett won the long jump. Niah Muniz also earned a third-place finish in the discus.

Berger, Gregory, Gossett and senior Zoe Sanders have each qualified for the state meet every year they’ve been in high school, and they’re each looking to make it a perfect 4-for-4 by the end of this spring. Sanders didn’t compete at Newton Falls on Saturday, as Falasca gave her the day off to nurse an injury she’s been dealing with.

Falasca will be looking to each of them to lead the rest of the Warriors’ team this season.

“I have four three-time state qualifiers, and they work as hard as anybody I’ve ever been around,” Falasca said. “Sophia doesn’t say much, but she leads by example. The other senior girls have been here awhile and they’re all pretty vocal, (though). But when you got someone like (Gregory), who’s that good and she works harder than anybody, it’s easy. It makes my job easy. When you take a girl like her who works that hard and you’re not going hard, then there’s something going on there. She absolutely works harder than anybody and the kids will tell you that.”

SETTING THE TONE

With its place in the calendar so early in the season, the Newton Falls Tiger Invitational has the honor of being the first event of the spring for many athletes and teams each season.

Getting off to a strong start will often help set the tone for the rest of the season.

“For us, it’s a conditioning meet,” Falasca said. “We just want the kids to come out and run hard. Honestly, it’s a practice, but if we can pick up a few awards — the most important thing is that they’re getting into (race) condition.”

But the event can also serve as a first introduction to high school varsity level track competition for young athletes that have just come up from the junior high and middle school levels.

“This is a meet where coaches can get their young kids in there and get the butterflies out,” Newton Falls track coach Jon Hill said. “They’re accustomed to Ohio weather in April. It’s always a cold meet. It’s oftentimes snowy, but those new kids that are out of junior high — it’s the big time now. We have a nice mix of schools, so this is a great experience for them to move forward into their league (competition), as well as when May comes when it’s all league, county, then districts, of course.”

Boasting a young squad himself, Hill was happy to get his younger athletes a chance to compete against a varying level of competition from 16 Division I, II and III schools.

The Tigers girls finished seventh with 32 points, while the boys were eighth in a crowded, evenly mixed field with 33 points.

“I feel very strong about my team,” Hill said. “They’re very young, so they’ve been thrown into the fire here and they’ve shown up to compete.”

COLD AND WET

The conditions in Newton Falls on Saturday were less than favorable — temps were in the mid-to-high 30s at the start and a steady, consistent shower poured rain for most of the day — but the teams and athletes all braved the harsh weather, nonetheless.

“The conditions are awful, but everyone’s out here in the same conditions,” Hill said.

NOTABLE RESULTS

The Valley Christian boys 4×100 relay team has won the Division III state championship for three straight years. While Marquez Gibbs is the only returner from last year’s title-winning group, the new Eagles team began spring with another relay victory, winning the event at the Newton Falls meet on Saturday with a time of 47.21…Mogadore Field dominated the boys standings, winning the team title by more than 100 points. Field had 174 points, while Hubbard was runner up with 63 points. LaBrae was third with 59 points and West Branch was fourth with 54.5…Mathews thrower Joseph Linkesh won the shot put by almost nine feet, with a throw of 53 feet, 1 inch…The Badger boys relay team won the 4×200 event with a time of 1:38.23…LaBrae’s David Blackmon won the boys 110m hurdles at 15:68…Windham’s Briah Danei took top honors in the girls shot put with a throw of 34 feet, 4.5 inches…Western Reserve’s Kylee Ramsey won the 300 hurdles with a time of 52.79.

Have an interesting story? Contact Neel Madhavan by email at nmadhavan@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @NeelMadhavan.