The Bridgeport Indians boys track & field team finished as state runner-up and the Tribe girls claimed fifth place over two days at the state meet at Laidley Field in Charleston.
 
The Tribe boys scored 73 points to finish behind Point Pleasant (78) and ahead of Winfield (68) and Elkins (64) in what was a tight race as expected.
 
"Looking at the times coming in, we though we had a chance, but hats off to Point Pleasant," Bridgeport boys coach Grant Burton said. "Really proud of the boys. For two days, they competed their butts off. We can't be more thankful for our coaches. They put them in this situation to come down and perform."
 
The girls put up 53 points to trail Greenbrier East (125), Winfield (81), Fairmont Senior (59) and East Fairmont (53.5).
 
"These girls, overall, were young, so to qualify the numbers that we did to come down here, they definitely performed," girls coach Allie Burton said. "I'm proud of them. Our relays went out there and competed. AAA was a dogfight for escond and I think we did what we could. Haydn Henderson getting a win in the long jump was awesome. Aria Selario and our distance kids were great."
 
The boys 4x200 meter relay, comprised of Kieran Moore, Gavin Williams, JT Ritter and Will George, won the state championship in a time of 1:29.75, beating Princeton (1:30.93).
 
"I knew going in that we had a chance to win, so I just tried to keep up and maintain with all the other athletes we ran against," Moore said.
 
"Looking at everyone's times and how well we did (in regionals) at Keyser, I though we for sure had a chance and I thought we were going to win," Williams said. "We faced a couple of bad handoffs, but it doesn't matter. We kept up with them."
 
"I knew that I was in the outside lane. (Princeton) was ahead of me by a little bit, so I just wanted to catch up to him," Ritter said. "And then once I got him, I put it into gear and kept going."
 
"His future is going to be really bright," Grant Burton said of Ritter. "I'm really proud of the way he showed up this weekend."
 
"I saw JT coming in and he had a good five meters over anyone," George said. "In my head, I just told myself that this was any other day. I just took it home. When I got the baton, I said, 'Game over.'"
 
Even knowing he had the lead, George brought a different mindset.
 
"I imagine someone is in front of me, usually someone that I've lost to myself. Rather than what's actually there, that's what I'm thinking to motivate myself," George said. "All of these guys did wonderful today."
 
The win came shortly after Williams (11.27 seconds) and George (11.32 seconds) placed second and third in the 100 meter dash and before they went 1-2 in the 200 meter dash, with George winning in 21.99 seconds and Williams second in 22.15 seconds.
 
"You know everyone wants to win, but being teammates, they pushed each other all year long. Both of them showed up and showed out, so I couldn't be more proud," Grant Burton said.
 
"It definitely helped us a lot," George said of being in a sprint final before and after the relay. "This whole season is (Gavin's) first year of track and it definitely helped me improve in these relays. It ave me some motivation to actually give me the confidence that we were able to win it."
 
The same four sprinters were also Bridgeport's entry in the 4x100 relay and placed third in 43.70 seconds.
 
Kieran Moore was fourth in the boys 300 meter hurdles in 41.06 seconds, while teammate Sawyer Culicerto took seventh in 42.25 seconds.


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