The West Stanly track teams opened the 2019 season with a trio of meets.

The Colts started with a scrimmage type meet March 4 at East Rowan. The dual meet gave both schools a chance to enter all their athletes in multiple events.

Winners for the Colts were Onii Bivens (100 meters, 200 meters), Collin Cooper (200 meters), Madison Kee (400 meters, long jump, triple jump), Leo Martinez (800 meters), Maddie Miller (800 meters), Pierson McManus (1,600 meters), Noah Almond (1,600 meters), Daniel Brattain (3,200 meters), Jake Hinson (300-meter hurdles), Dalton Hatley (shot put and discus), Carmen Bishop (high jump), Hayden Greene (high jump) and Cole Carter (triple jump).

The Colts dominated in the distance events. In the 800-meter race the Colt men took the top seven spots and the top 14 spots on the women’s side. In the 1,600-meter race, the men swept the top eight spots and the women the top six spots. The Colts also won the men’s 400-meter relay, 800-meter relay, 1,600-meter relay, the women’s 800-meter relay and the 1,600-meter relay.

The Colts headed to Albemarle March 12 for the Albemarle Invitational. Other schools competing were West Montgomery, Gray Stone and North Stanly. Results were not available.

The Colts finished the series of meets at the Marvin Ridge Invitational March 16. This annual meet is a test against some of the top 3A and 4A schools in the region. The Colts came away with one school record and a medalist, as well as numerous personal records.

The Colt women finished 11th out of 28 schools, while the Colt men finished 15th.

West’s distance runners opened the meet with the 3,200-meter relay. The foursome of Pierson McManus, Rachel Efird, Maddie Miller and Natalie Almond fresh off their fourth-place medal finish in the indoor state meet kept the success going. The Colt group each ran season-best splits, leading to a fifth-place finish and a regional qualifying time of 10:47.

Freshman Onii Bivens ran the 200 meters in 27.14, a tenth of a second faster than regional qualifying, breaking a 41-year-old school record of 27.30 set by Carol Coble in 1978.

Bivens then moved to the jumping pits with a 15-10 long jump personal record, which was good enough for a third-place medal. Her jump also met regional qualifying standards.

Two more regional qualifiers came from the Colt women distance women.

Senior Pierson McManus 12:17 and freshman Natalie Almond 12:45 both met the 13-minute qualifying standard while setting new personal records. McManus ran splits of 6:08, 6:09 to get within 10 seconds of her sister Lefler’s school record. McManus ran a personal record 5:46 earlier in the week in the 1,600 meters to qualify the Colt senior in three events.

Jordan Poole was a finals qualifier in the 100-meter dash for the Colt men. The Colt sophomore ran a 11.29 in the preliminaries, then ran 11.30 for seventh place in the finals.

Notable performances came from Korbin McNeill in the 1,600 meters, 4:55, Dalton Hatley in the discus, 121-6, and Carmen Bishop in the high jump, 4-8.