Harlow Wins Shot Put At Buffalo Invitational
Competing at one of the most elite high school outdoor track and field meets in the country, Parry McCluer High School junior distance runner Kebryl Chandler broke three school records at the ASICS Carolina Distance Carnival last weekend in Matthews, N.C.
At the two-day meet that took place on Friday and Saturday, Chandler placed seventh in the 3200-meter run in 8:54.82, breaking his older brother Kovyk’s record of 9:13.26, set when Kovyk was a senior in 2024. The winner of the race was North Buncombe’s Michael Ferguson.
PM head coach Chris Poluikis said Kebryl is “still just getting better and better.” Kebryl’s time was the fastest in Virginia and ranked 45th nationally.
Kebryl also broke the school record in the mile, placing 25th in 4:12.68. There was a camera set up at the 1600-meter mark, just shy of a mile, and Kebryl passed that mark in 4:11.68, breaking that school record as well. Ferguson also won the mile, finishing in 4:04.82.
Five of Kebryl’s teammates joined him for the meet, which Poluikis said is the second-biggest track meet for distance runners, behind the Arcadia Invitational in California. “People are flying in from all over for this,” said Poluikis, noting that nearly all of Virginia’s top distance runners, except for one, were at the meet.
PM sophomore Caleb Cooper finished 83rd in the 3200-meter run in 9:30.58 and came in 165th in the mile in 4:28.38, setting personal records (PRs) in both races. Poluikis noted that Cooper is PM’s third-fastest runner in school history, behind Kebryl and Kovyk Chandler.
Senior teammate Josh Cooper came in 266th in the mile in 4:37.86, and freshman Matthew Cooper finished 495th in a PR time of 4:54.57. Also racing in the mile for the Blues were junior Sam Carpenter (531st, PR 4:56.28) and sophomore Sebastian George (647th, 5:05.58).
Harlow Leads Throwers At Floyd
PM senior Griffin Harlow won the boys’ shot put and placed third in the discus at the Buffalo Invitational to lead the PM throwers on Friday at Floyd County.
Harlow’s shot put toss of 47 feet, 2 inches put him in first place by about two-and-a-half feet, as Eastern Montgomery’s Marshall Tate placed second with a throw of 44-7. In the discus, Harlow’s throw went 124-7.
“Griffin is starting to look better with his throws, though his distances are not what he desires,” said PM throwing coach Danny Cole. “It appears that, with both shot and discus, his main issue now is he is open upon release, and he simply needs to get his left foot down quicker, and I do believe he will begin getting back to some more impressive throws [like] where he ended the spring season last year.”
Senior teammate Brenden Holdren placed 10th in the shot put with a toss of 39-4 and finished 12th in the discus with a heave of 101-8. “Brenden continues to learn more ways to improve his technique and hopefully will begin seeing more progress in the near future,” said Cole.
Hepler set a PR in the discus, placing 13th with a throw of 100-6, and finished 19th in the shot put with a toss of 34-4.5. “I was really glad to see Levi hit a PR,” said Cole.
Cole said his throwers “seemed to be settling into the process of practices and weekly meets.”
The PM throwers were scheduled to compete in the Three Rivers District meet at James River High School in Buchanan yesterday. Several of PM’s runners will race in the All American Relays on Saturday at Radford.
