The final month of the 2019 season has seen members of the Harlan County track and field team repeatedly set new standards. It was only fitting that Tuesday’s regional championship meet should bring more of the same.

Junior Whitney Wilson, in her first year of competition, became the first female individual regional champion in the school’s 12-year history, winning the shot put at the Class 3A Region 7 championship meet and setting a new school record for the third time in four meets with a throw of 30 feet, 6 inches.

“Today was a huge day for Whitney,” coach Ryan Vitatoe said. “To win a region is an achievement, but for a first-year thrower to do it is really special. (Assistant coach) Jennifer Hilton has done an amazing job with the throwers, and I know she’s tickled to death for her group.”

Junior Baili Boggs was the team’s other automatic qualifier with a second-place finish in the 300-meter hurdles, posting a time of 50.81 seconds. The top two per event in each region automatically advance to the state meet, along with the 10 best performances statewide among non-automatic qualifiers.

“I’m really happy for Baili. She’s grown so much in the hurdles this year and she was really on a mission after narrowly missing state last year. She shows what hard work will do,” Vitatoe said.

In addition to Wilson’s shot put mark, four other school records also fell Tuesday.

Boggs set a new record in the 100-hurdles with her third-place finish in 17.41 seconds. Sophomore Kassydee Owens set a new triple jump record with a jump of 33 feet, 5.5 inches, finishing third and just one inch out of second place. Like Wilson, both Boggs and Owens have now set new school records three times in the last four meets. Owens teamed with Phebe McHargue, K.K. Johnson and Morgan Blakley to set a new school standard in the 4 x 400-meter relay, finishing fourth with a time of 4:25.92.

On the boys side, the 4 x 800-meter relay team of Caleb Brock, Zack Carmical, Cooper McHargue and James Chasteen set a school record with a time of 8:41.97, earning a fourth-place finish.

“I’m proud of both of my teams,” Vitatoe said. “This is one of the toughest regions in the entire state, and they competed their tails off. When you have this many PRs and school records, you know your team really gave their all. As a coach, you can’t ask for more than that.”

With several other third- and fourth-place finishes, Vitatoe is optimistic the team will have a few at-large qualifiers once all the region results statewide are tallied.

“We have several more on the cusp for at large berths. These kids compete so hard, and they are all deserving to move on,” he said. “I’m hopeful we get a few more in.”

The Class 3A state championship meet is set for June 1.

Complete regional championship meet results are available online at https://ky.milesplit.com/meets/343789/results/655857/formatted#.XOc46ohKiM8