By Van Wade

The Orange Leader

WEST ORANGE — A slew of Orange County athletes punched their ticket to the Class 4A Region III Track & Field Championships after a solid showing at the Area Meet Wednesday at Hooks Stadium.

The meet featured District 22-4A tracksters against District 21-4A standouts.

The top four individuals in each event advanced to the Region III Meet, which will be held April 28-29 at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.

Orange County picked up several first-place finishes Wednesday.

On the boys side, Little Cypress-Mauriceville’s Eli Peveto captured both the 3,200 meters (10:49.24) and the 1,600 meters (4:45.15).

West Orange-Stark’s Jared Dupree, who earned silver at the State Meet last year, went 6-feet-6 to claim the high jump. WOS went 1-2-3 in the long jump with Jeremiah Shaw coming out victorious with a leap of 22-4¼.

Little Cypress-Mauriceville’s Trey Guillory continued his dominance in the triple jump as he went an area best of 45-5½, the top mark among all Southeast Texas schools this season.

For the girls, Orangefield’s Brooklyn Goldsmith claimed the pole vault with a vault of 10-0.

WOS won the Boys Division with 100 points with LC-M second with 92 and Jasper third with 91.

Huntington dominated the girls field with 144 points with Hamshire-Fannett netting second with 106 and Lufkin Hudson third with 100.