Photo by Nathan Morgan/Daily News Local track and field teams compete during the KHSAA Class 2A State Track Meet, Friday, May 17, 2013 at the University of Louisville's Owsley Frazier Cardinal Park in Louisville, Ky.

LOUISVILLE — Friday was largely about new experiences for the local contingent at the Class 2A state track and field meet.

There weren’t many area participants who took the University of Louisville’s Owsley Frazier Cardinal Park by storm, but a host of competitors made the most of their appearances on the grand stage.

Nearly all of Warren East’s runners were first-time participants, including all but one member of the 4×100 and 4×200 meter relay teams.

“I think it was more than what some of them expected it to be,” WEHS coach Tara Henshaw said. “Some of them made the comment that they’re all serious at state. They came up and they learned, but the bad thing is they can’t come back and learn from their mistakes.”

Several of the Raider rookies were seniors, which Henshaw said is a common occurrence.

Many athletes get caught up in other sports and don’t make it over to the track until they’ve completed the rest of their seasons, Henshaw said. She hopes this year’s turnout can help get those athletes on the squad earlier in their careers.

“I think there’s more than we think, but you just never know,” she said. “You know they’re good at basketball or football, but what’s their true athletic ability? Track will show that. I hope this kind of opens the eyes of a lot of kids at East right now and encourages them to come out.”

One of those newcomers was senior LaTerrance Cracket, who made the jump from the football field for his final year. Cracket recorded 43 tackles and six interceptions in 2012 for WEHS football.

“It was my senior year,” he said. “I usually just play football, but a couple of friends joined track, so I wanted to run with them. We wanted to do good. We did pretty well in regional, and we just didn’t do as good as we thought.”

Cracket competed in four events Friday – the 100-meter dash, 200 dash, 4×100 relay and 4×200 relay. He scored his lone points with a seventh-place finish in the 4×200 that broke the school record by more than a second, alongside Devonte Duvall, Aaron Wilson and Ryan White-Dejarnatt.

The top eight finishers in each event earn points for their team.

Despite it just being his first season, Cracket was ranked first in the state in the 100-meter dash in April before a hip injury stalled his progress.

“It was pretty exciting,” he said. “Then I got hurt, so I sat out a couple weeks and thought it could heal. It just didn’t get back the way I wanted it to.”

Warren East finished 37th as a team on the boys’ side with three points. Senior Aaron Wilson finished eighth in the 300 hurdles in his final race.

The Lady Raiders finished 31st with five points. Freshman Shelby Chobot was third in the pole vault with a measure of 9 feet while also competing in the long jump and triple jump.

South Warren was led by senior newcomer Shiya Nwanguma, who transferred to the school this year from Pennsylvania.

Nwanguma, who first participated in track in eighth grade, shined bright in her first Class 2A state appearance with a fifth-place finish in the girls’ shot put and sixth-place finish in the discus throw.

The University of Louisville showed interest in her after her performances, SWHS coach Rick Winquist said.

“It was all right, and I did do my best,” said Nwanguma, who also played basketball in 2012-13. “You’re always going to want to do better. I’ve always enjoyed it, and I ended up being OK at it. I’ve kept that interest ever since I started, and we’ll see where it leads.”

The Lady Spartans finished 27th with eight points. Chelby Draper was eighth in the pole vault.

The South Warren boys were 27th with 8.5 points. Jake Edmunds paced the Spartans with a third-place finish in the 800 run, finishing with a time of 1:59.38.

Edmunds also pushed the 4×800 relay team – along with Jonathan Boustani, Cameron Buckner and Ross Allen – to a seventh-place finish, and he competed on short rest in the 4×400.

“That was a tremendous performance,” Winquist said. “For him to pull triple duty like that, he had a big day.”

South Warren’s Ben Huzyak tied for eighth in the boys’ pole vault, and Brock Gant made strides as a freshman by competing in four events, Winquist said.

Franklin-Simpson logged a fourth-place finish in the girls’ 4×100 meter relay. The team of Sydney Gooch, Autumn Babb, Tiara Gamble and Mackensie Daily finished with a time of 51.67. That same squad was ninth a year ago.

Gooch, a 6-foot-1-inch junior basketball standout, joined track a year ago and was skeptical at first, she said.

“I didn’t think I would like it because I thought it was all about running, but it’s not,” she said. “It’s about more than that. You can talk to people from all over and meet new people. You get outside of your box a little bit.”

The Logan County boys placed 22nd as a team with 11 points, highlighted by a fourth-place finish in the final event of the night, the 4×400 relay, from the team of Dylan Cole, Sye Head, Michael Sydnor and Colton Spencer.

Spencer, Head, Noah Thomas and Levi Crossley were fifth in the boys’ 4×800 relay, and Sydnor took seventh in the triple jump.

Hayley Mayher finished eighth for the Lady Cougars in the discus.

Edmonson County got a fourth-place finish from Carlie Lindsey in the girls’ shot put and a sixth-place finish by the boys’ 4×800 relay team (Jacob Thien, Kenny Stethen, Chance Stockdale and Cody Hymer).

Lexington Catholic won the boys’ team title. Louisville Central won the girls’ title.

The Class 1A and 3A meets take place today at U of L.

— Zach Greenwell covers prep sports for the Bowling Green Daily News. Follow him at twitter.com/zach_greenwell or visit bgdailynews.com.