The Mount Vernon girls’ track and field team was seventh out of 14 teams in the Division 1, Central District 1 meet, and six athletes advanced to regionals.

Advancing athletes included Kennedy Howard in pole vault, Bailey Thayer in pole vault, Marissa Rutter in the 100 and 300 meter hurdles, and the 4x100 meter relay team that included Rutter, Nadia Nougi, Savannah Rose and Amaris Middleton.

“Kennedy and Bailey both advancing to regionals was a wonderful surprise. Bailey ended up having a PR to help her earn third place,” said Coach Kathy Thayer. “Our 4x100m relay team continued to improve their time from the OCC meet by improving to 50.07. They are close to breaking the school record as well.”

Rutter continued to be a force on the track for the Yellow Jackets this season. The OCC Runner of the Year was exceptional at the district meet as well, as she took the district title in the 100 meter hurdles.

“Marissa Rutter ran a new PR in the 100 meter hurdles to become the district champion barely edging out second place,” Thayer said. “She also took second place in the 300 meter hurdles improving her prelim time from 45.92 to 45.49. I see this time dropping at regionals.”

Girls highlights:

100 meters: Makayla Pugh was 22nd with a time of 14.32.

200 meters: Kendall Goeppinger was 24th with a time of 30.66.

400 meters: Ainsley Bonaudi was 16th with a time of 1:07.86.

800 meters: Ava Burson and Addison Barber were 20th and 21st with respective times of 2:52.91 and 2:53.25.

1600 meters: Ella Salvucci was eighth with a time of 5:29.64.

3200 meters: Lucy Rush was seventh with a time of 11:54.49.

100 meter hurdles: Rutter took the gold with a time of 14.62.

300 meter hurdles: Rutter was second with a time of 45.49.

4x100 meters: Mount Vernon took the silver with a time of 50.07.

4x200 meters: The Yellow Jackets were sixth with a time of 1:47.65. The team included Sydney Statler, Nougi, Rose and Middleton.

4x400 meters: Mount Vernon was fifth with a time of 4:10.01. The team included Rose, Statler, Rutter and Megan Packard.

4x800 meters: Mount Vernon had a time of 10:53.70. The team included Barber, Burson, Ainsley Bonaudi and Lucy Rush.

Shot Put: Haylie Watts was 18th with a toss of 26 feet, 6.5 inches.

Discus: Quinn Hardy was ninth with a toss of 92 feet, six inches.

Pole Vault: Thayer was third with a height of nine feet, eight inches.

Long Jump: Taylor Couch was 19th with a leap of 14 feet, 4.25 inches.