By MIKE MARSEE

Contributing Writer

Better days are ahead for Lincoln County track and field and its signature meet. All things considered, however, this day wasn’t so bad.

The Patriot Games got by just fine at a temporary home on an alternate date, and Lincoln County coach Jose Pope was glad to be able to host the meet at Boyle County while Lincoln’s track is being rebuilt.

Even so, he looks forward to the day next year when the Patriots can move back into their facility and show it off to other teams.

“I can’t wait for it to happen,” Pope said.

Lincoln will get a reconstructed track and field facility as part of the improvements to Death Valley, which is home to the school’s football and track programs.

“It’s going to be fabulous,” Pope said. “And we’re getting an extra lane that we need.”

The new track will have eight lanes instead of seven, making it more feasible for Lincoln to host regional meets. Additionally, the high jump pit will be moved from the south end zone to an area near the pole vault pit behind the east bleachers.

The construction prevents Lincoln from hosting any meets this season, but Boyle allowed Lincoln to host the Patriot Games — one of only two invitational meets in the area this season — on the Boyle track where the Class 2A, Region 5 meet will be held May 23.

The meet was originally scheduled for March 31 but was called off due to the threat of severe weather, and Boyle even allowed Lincoln to find another date to reschedule the meet, replacing a Boyle all-comers meet that was scheduled for Tuesday.

“We’ve been very appreciative of Boyle County for doing what they did. It means a lot to every one of us,” Pope said.

Lincoln’s program has been on the rise in recent seasons, with three Class 2A state champions in the past two seasons — Lucy Singleton in the girls 800-meter run and Abigail Bastin in the girls 1,600 in 2021 and Germani Crosby in the girls shot put in 2022 — and medals in eight events at the past two state meets.

And the Patriots are a young team, with only four seniors among 34 athletes in the program.

“We are actually rebuilding,” Pope said. “We’ve got a bunch of underclassmen this year. We’ve just got to keep them all on board

Crosby and Bastin, both of whom are freshmen, will contend for state championships again this season, and eighth-grader Zyanya Crosby is a title threat in the discus as well.

Germani Crosby finished second in the girls shot put Tuesday, and Payton Byrd had a second-place finish in the girls 200 and a third-place finish in the girls 100.

Eight Lincoln athletes — Byrd, Hallie Stafford, Kinsley Reed, Hunter Stafford, Hayden Lane, Jayden Patel, Elijah Johnson and Brycen Mullins — set personal records in a total of nine events.

Mercer County repeated as boys and girls champions, winning nine of 17 boys events and eight of 17 girls events.

Beau Brown, Jai Maria Piazza and Teigh Yeast of Mercer won the most outstanding male and female awards, with each scoring 32 1/2 points.

Each of them won three individual events, and Lindsay Jessie of Mercer won two.

Eight meet records fell Tuesday, six of them to Mercer athletes.

PATRIOT GAMES

At Boyle County

(Area results)

BOYS

Team scores — 1. Mercer County 167; 2. Harlan County 101; 3. Boyle County 80; 5. Danville Christian 27; 7. Garrard County 19; 12. Burgin 6; 14. Danville 2; 14. Lincoln County 2.

3200 relay — 1. Mercer County (Marshall Hart, Liam Potts, Mason Sanders, Kyler Sallee) 8:57.64; 3. Boyle County (Wesley Allahham, Max Germann, Diego Montoya, Baron Wiley) 9:15.71. 110 hurdles — 1. Jordan Piazza (Mercer County) 16.60; 2. Thaddeus Mays (Mercer County) 17.11. 100 — 1. Beau Brown (Mercer County) 11.08; 2. Geordon Brown (Boyle County) 11.13. 800 relay — 1. Mercer County (Collin Warren, Brown, Tytus Weldon, Donavan Wright) 1:34.88. 1600 — 1. Hart (Mercer County) 4:42.96. 400 relay — 2. Boyle County (Brown, Brock Driver, John Rahbany, Eli Short) 45.74. 400 — 1. Emmanuel Dut (Danville Christian) 52.89; 2. Noah Imfeld (Danville Christian) 54.08; 3. Tristan Compton (Boyle County) 54.54. 300 hurdles — 3. Sallee (Mercer County) 45.12. 800 — 2. Hart (Mercer County) 2:08.09; 3. Montoya (Boyle County) 2:12.93. 200 — 1. Brown (Mercer County) 21.76 (meet record; old record 22.73, Jamesy Swentzel, West Jessamine, 2018). 3200 — 1. Germann (Boyle County) 10:26.47. 1600 relay — 2. Mercer County (Warren, Potts, Sallee, Sanders) 3:42.99; 3. Boyle County (Trent Blakemore, Compton, Maximus Kilby, Connor Young) 3:46.60. Shot put — 1. Lleyton Penn (Mercer County) 56-2 (meet record, old record 47-11, Penn, 2022); 2. Andrew Hardwick (Boyle County) 50-2 1/2. Discus — 1. Cooper Brummett (Boyle County) 154-10 (meet record, old record 136-0, Christian Bach, Southwestern, 2019); 2. Penn (Mercer County) 138-1; 3. Andrew Sparks (Garrard County) 133-4. Long jump — 1. Brown (Mercer County) 21-0; 3. Wright (Mercer County) 20-4. riple jump — 1. Mays (Mercer County) 43-0; 2. Piazza (Mercer County) 38-1; 3. Jon Konner (Garrard County) 37-10 1/2.

GIRLS

Team scores — 1. Mercer County 124; 2. Harlan County 88; 3. Southwestern 75; 5. Boyle County 42; 8. Danville Christian 25; 8. Lincoln County 25; 11. Danville 8; 12. Burgin 5. 3200 relay — 3. Boyle County (Audrey Muse, Laykin Gatton, Cailyn Godsey, Aubrey White) 12:26.24. 100 hurdles — 3. Jazelynn Doneghy (Danville) 17.81. 100 — 1. Teigh Yeast (Mercer County) 12.97; 3. Payton Byrd (Lincoln County) 13.55. 800 relay — 1. Mercer County (Jai Maria Piazza, Yeast, Ralasia Piazza, Katie Lewis) 1:50.09 (meet record; old record 1:51.79, Mercer County, 2021); 3. Boyle County (Sharon Heist, Shelby Thompson, Jazlyn Mitchell, Janelle Roberts) 2:01.43. 1600 — 2. Addison Hill (Danville Christian) 5:57.33. 400 — 1. Yeast (Mercer County) 1:00.61 (meet record; old record 1:01.83, Yeast, 2022); 2. Heist (Boyle County) 1:06.99. 300 hurdles — 1. J. Piazza (Mercer County) 45.86 (meet record; old record 47.52, J. Piazza, 2021). 200 — 1. J. Piazza (Mercer County) 26.14 (meet record; old record 26.96, Maddy Dunn, Pulaski County, 2019); 2. Byrd (Lincoln County) 27.68. 3200 — 1. Hill (Danville Christian) 13:09.03. 1600 relay — 2. Boyle County (Gatton, Heist, Maleeah Smith, Annabelle Tarter) 4:35.62. Shot put — 1. Lindsay Jessie (Mercer County) 34-5 1/2; 2. Germani Crosby (Lincoln County) 34-0. Discus — 1. Jessie (Mercer County) 112-5 (meet record; old record 101-0, Valerie Kendrick, Rockcastle County, 2018). Long jump — 1. J. Piazza (Mercer County) 17-5 1/2; 2. R. Piazza (Mercer County) 15-9. Triple jump — 1. Yeast (Mercer County 36-2 1/2; 2. R. Piazza (Mercer County) 34- 1/2. High jump — 2. R. Piazza (Mercer County) 4-8.