<strong>By Wes Kerr
</strong><strong>LowcoSports.com</strong>

May River’s track squad cleaned up in its home meet Saturday, winning five events and capturing the boys’ team title to lead the local contingent at the Shark Invitational.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

Fareed Abdullah, Mills Campbell, and Sean Hamby all struck gold to propel May River to a 131.5-point performance, besting runner-up Beaufort High by 20. Abdullah took the 200m dash with a time of 23.07 seconds, Campbell placed first in the 3200m (10:39.13) while finishing two seconds ahead of Beaufort seventh-grader Gavin Moore, and Hamby won the 400m hurdles (1:02.99).<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

The Shark boys added to the impressive day with a victory in the 4x800m relay, recording a time of 8:39.63 to notch a 31-second win over Hilton Head High. Beaufort’s Nash Mills earned a first-place finish in the 1600m (4:34.04), and the Eagles went 1-2 in the 800m with Charlie Bennett (2:04.91) taking gold and Mills right behind.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

The relay success carried throughout the Lowco contingent on Saturday, as Beaufort’s boys triumphed in the 4x400m (3:41.53) and Bluffton took the 4x100m (44.53). The Bobcat boys earned a solid fourth-place finish in the meet, powered by the relay win and a Camuri Simmons gold in the 100m (11.24).<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

Hilton Head came in fifth and won the distance medley relay (11:55.99). Battery Creek finished the meet in eighth place, Whale Branch tied for ninth, and John Paul II‘s Abe Brown, Jeremiah Young, and Anderson Dewig set personal bests.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

Beaufort’s girls paced the area competition, accumulating 116 points to match James Island for second while Effingham County took the top spot in the meet. Layla Warren delivered a dazzling performance in the hurdles, capturing both the 100m (15.97) and 400m variants (1:14.05) to lead the Eagles.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

May River followed behind in fourth with a win in the 4•800 relay (10:46.94). Battery Creek matched the Sharks’ 63 points thanks to runner-up finishes by Myra Smith in the 200m (27.65) and Keona Sanders in the 400m hurdles (1:17.97), while Hilton Head took the sixth position, sparked by a Cynthia Gudaitis triumph in the 3200m (12:04.66) and a distance medley relay victory (14:14.00).<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>

Tacoya Heyward’s win in the 100m (12.59) led Bluffton to a seventh-place finish, Whale Branch came in ninth, and John Paul II took 10th as the 4•400 relay team set a new personal record.