Ending the home portion of their season last Thursday in the Vienna Middle School (VMS) Black and Gold Invitational, David Martin’s Vienna Eagles and Lady Eagles looked to keep at least two plaques and as many medals in western Maries County as possible.

Samantha Ridenhour’s Bland Bears and Lady Bears also looked to help the Maries County cause on Vienna’s 300-meter track.

After the final gun was fired, Both Vienna’s boys and girls captured team titles while Bland’s Bears and Lady Bears placed second to both the Eagles and Lady Eagles.

Vienna and Bland scored team points in all events but the 100m hurdles on the girls side while their Bear and Eagle counterparts racked up team points in each event on the boys side of the ledger.

Racking up 174 team points, Vienna’s Lady Eagles topped Bland (110), Iberia (94), Newburg (84), Dixon (58), Richland (36), Crocker (31) and Chamois (4) in the girls team standings.

Sprinting her way to gold in the girls 100m dash, Bland’s Natalie Lansford set a new Bland Middle School (BMS) record with a winning time of 13.52 breaking the old mark of 14.04 previously held by Aubrey Rehmert.

Vienna’s Scarlett Weeks also scored team points for the Lady Eagles with a fourth-place time of 15.23.

In the girls 200m dash, Vienna’s duo of Alexis Curtis (2nd, 32.35) and Grace Barnhart (3rd, 32.70) led Maries County runners. Bland’s Katie Williams claimed the final team-scoring spot with an eighth-place time of 34.75.

Lansford led three county runners in the top six of the girls 400m dash with a first-place time of 1:09.15.

Barnhart (3rd, 1:21.22) and Vienna’s Kaitlyn Carpenter (6th, 1:24.78) scored team points for the Lady Eagles in the girls 400m dash.

Five county runners scored team points for Bland and Vienna in the girls 800m and 1600m runs.

Bland’s Ava Prater led Maries County in the girls 800m run with a second-place time of 3:03.41 followed by Vienna’s Emerson Jeremy (3rd, 3:06.67), Bland’s Skylar Stevens (4th, 3:12.71), Bland’s Gracie Jarvis (5th, 3:23.34) and Vienna’s Clara Jones (7th, 3:24.46).

Prater also won the girls 1600m run in a time of 6:42.61.

Maries County runners following Prater in the girls mile included Vienna’s Sophia Neubert (2nd, 6:52.28), Stevens (3rd, 6:52.91), Jarvis (4th, 7:05.25) and Vienna’s Elise Kilmer (6th, 7:55.99).

Bland’s Temperance Bray was the lone Maries County athletes in the girls 100m hurdles posting an eighth-place time of 27.27.

Winning the girls 4x800m relay in 12:36.97 was the Lady Bear quartet of Prater, Stevens, Jarvis and Lansford. Vienna’s foursome of Riley McKinnon, Lilly Williams, Carpenter and Neubert posted a second-place time of 13:20.91 finishing behind the Lady B ears.

Vienna won the girls 4x400m relay in a time of 5:28.53 by the Lady Eagle team of Emerson Jeremy, Rowan Walker, Barnhart and Weeks.

Also placing fourth in the girls 4x200m relay was the Vienna quartet of Emerson Jeremy, Rowan Walker, Barnhart and Weeks in a time of 2:15.39.

Sprinting to a fifth-place time of 1:10.17 in the girls 4x100m relay was the Vienna team of Liberty Rowden, Isabel Delvalle, Alison Campbell and Grace Veasman.

Placing right behind them was the Lady Bear 4x100m relay team of Kali Mayfield, Cali Maxey, Marianne Francis and Katie Williams in a sixth-place time of 1:10.88.

Vienna also won the sprint medley relay in a time of 2:29.20 by the team of Liberty Rowden, Rowan Walker, Curtis and Jones.

Bland followed with a second-place time of 2:33.67 from the team of Mayfield, Maxey, Francis and Williams.

Curtis won the high jump for Vienna clearing 1.27m while Lansford made it a one-two finish for Maries Country placing second clearing 1.22m.

Neubert won the girls pole vault clearing 1.83m while Barnhart and Rowan Walker tied for second clearing 1.68m for the Lady Eagles.

Weeks (5th, 3.60m) and Raleigh Walker (6th, 3.56m) led Maries County leapers in the girls long jump while Williams placed eighth for Bland with a mark of 3.27m.

Stevens led five county athletes in the girls triple jump with a second-place leap of 8.82m.

Following Stevens was Weeks (3rd, 8.27m), Curtis (4th, 8.11m), Raleigh Walker (6th, 7.75m) and Prater (8th, 7.11m).

Rowden won both the girls shot put and discus throwing events for Vienna with marks of 9.69m and 19.98m respectively.

Also scoring team points for Bland and Vienna in the girls shot put were Mayfield (3rd, 7.94m) and Veasman (6th, 7.42m).

Making up half of the top eight along with Rowden in the girls discus were Veasman (2nd, 18.73m), Mayfield (6th, 15.92m) and Emilyn Lewis (7th, 15.18m).

Vienna’s Eagles also topped the middle school boys team standings with 139.5 points ahead of Bland (116.5), Iberia (103.5), Newburg (65), Dixon (64.5), Richland (61), Crocker (52) and Chamois (3).

Paxten Jeremy led Vienna sweeping both distance events with winning times of 2:27.55 in the boys 800m run and 5:15.41 in the boys 1600m run.

Also placing in the top eight for Bland and Vienna in the boys 800m run were Bland’s Coltin Hazelwood (2nd, 2:30.81), Bland’s Jackson Prater (3rd, 2:39.00), Vienna’s Eli Messersmith (4th, 2:43.71), Bland’s Michael Felton (5th, 2:47.58) and Vienna’s David Martin (7th, 3:15.38).

In relay races, Bland won the boys 4x800m relay in a time of 10:39.25 from the team of Lathan Miller, Prater, Felton and Hazelwood.

Vienna also took third in the boys 4x800m relay with a time of 11:49.27 by the foursome of Tanner Hallahan, Dreygen Messersmith, Gunther Rowden and Eli Messersmith.

Winning the boys 4x400m relay in a time of 4:49.20 was the Eagle quartet of Jack Stratman, Parker James, Dreygen Messersmith and Hallahan.

Bland took third in the boys 4x400m relay in a time of 5:26.04 by the team of Dakota Stockton, Jacob Perserum, Michael Spurgeon and Weston Sadler.

Sprinting to second place in a time of 58.99 in the boys 4x100m relay was the Bear quartet of Cason Taylor, Alden Zabel, Owen Dobson and Sadler.

Placing fourth behind them was the Vienna foursome Drew Crum, Cooper Kleffner, Weston Schwartze and Dreygen Messersmith in a boys 4x100m relay time of 59.52.

During the boys 4x200m relay, Vienna’s squad of Adam Kraemer, Crum, Stratman and Schwartze placed third in 2:01.43, while the Bear foursome of Tharon Kent, Waylynn Weller, Spurgeon and Stockton took fifth in 2:15.06.

Alex Wieberg (6th, 28.36) and Schwartze (8th, 30.60) scored team points for Vienna in the boys 200m dash.

Wieberg also placed second in the boys 400m dash with a time of 1:04.55 ahead of fellow Maries County runners Miller (4th, 1:07.04), Taylor (5th, 1:11.32) and Hallahan (6th, 1:11.65).

Vienna’s Jake Rowden led county hurdlers with a second-place time of 16.55 in the boys 100m hurdles.

Miller led six county jumpers in the top seven of the boys high jump clearing 1.57m for first place.

Following Miller were Felton (2nd, 1.52m), Wieberg (3rd, 1.47m), Rowden (4th, 1.42m), James (6th, 1.42m) and Hazelwood (7th, 1.27m).

Kleffner (3rd, 1.98m) and Clay Curler (5th, 1.52m) placed in the top five of the boys pole vault for Vienna.

VMS Track’s next meet is scheduled for today (Wednesday) at Cuba while Bland will return to action tomorrow (Thursday) during Owensville Middle School (OMS) Relays at Owensville High School’s Dutchmen Field.