Ovathletics.com spent last weekend at the WVSSAC State Track and Field Championships. Weather conditions could not have been more opposite from the opening day on Friday to the closing day Saturday. Friday was sunny with 70-degree temperatures. Saturday was rainy and 60-degree temperatures. Though the weather was quite different, the level of competition stayed the same throughout the weekend.
This was another outstanding event put on by the WVSSAC. We thank them for the media access during yet another great State Championship setting. What a unique set up it is, too, at Laidley Field in Charleston. Teams set up their tents in and under the stands. It would be my preference to be under the stands as it allows the athletes to stay out of the sun (Friday) and out of the rain (Saturday).
With the weather and team setups and environment now out of the way, it is time to move onto to the track and field action. The Ohio Valley had many representatives across the track and field events over the weekend. Friday saw many qualifying runs, but some finals and champions were crowned as well on this day.
Opening the meet was the girls 4×800 relay. Morgantown’s team of Anna Lester, Madeline Gump, Sophie Renner, and Amelia Summers completed the event in 9:59.92 to start the meet off with a championship. Haley Kramer, Claire von Boetticher, Helen Honecker, and Adelyn Tager of University finished second in 10:13.35. On the boys’ side of the contest University picked up a victory with the team of Gavin Whorton, Ethan Conroy, Jack Overfield, and Drew Zundell finishing the 2-mile relay in 8:15.66.
Another finals event for Friday was the AA girls long jump where Oak Glen’s Kensington McConnachie won with a distance of 17’2.5”. Second place went to Paytyn Neal of Fairmont Senior with a jump of 16’7”.
Fairmont Senior picked up another second-place finish on the girls’ side in the shuttle hurdle relay. The team of Kanayia Maheny, Catelyn Haney, Sophie Starn, and Neal finished with a time of 1:07.59.
Ashton Collett of John Marshall picked up a third-place finish in the boys AAA long jump event with a leap of 20’11.5”.
Morgantown’s Irene Riggs started her winning weekend with a victory in the girls 3200-meter run. Her 10:10.02 broke her state meet record from last year. Her teammates Amelia Summers and Madeline Gump finished second and third respectively (10:56.58 and 10:58.98).
Wheeling Central’s Aiden Scott, who had a good weekend as well, started with a second-place finish on the A boy’s end of the 2 miles, running a 10:00.84.
Magnolia’s sophomore Matthew Anderson got into the scoring with a third-place finish in the A disc competition throwing the disc at 140’2”.
Kami Ward of Oak Glen started Saturday off with a win in the girls AA 400-meter dash with a time of 58.80. JJ White of Wheeling Central gained some points in the boys A 400 meter with a second-place finish in 51.27. In the boys AA field, Fairmont’s Grant Broadhurst won the event with a 51.42.
Riggs continued her championship weekend with a win in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:50.25, almost 10 seconds ahead of the next competitor.
The girls AAA high jump was up next. This event saw Mya Baruwa, Parkersburg South, win the event with a jump of 5’2”.
Valley Wetzel’s Tristan Bates and Gavin Derby both had good showings in the boys A long jump with third and fourth place finishes (19’11.25” and 19’11”). Their seeds were accurate as they were only a 1/2” apart.
Scott continued his good showing on the distance side of the A part of the meet with a second-place finish in the mile run with a time of 4:33.31. On the AAA side of the event, Zundell (University) won the 1600 in 4:08.44, breaking the state meet record of 4:08.80. His teammate, Ryan Blohm came in third with a 4:13.94.
Jenna Blain of Magnolia won the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 46.66. Morgantown’s Alex Tadros won the AAA portion of the event in 40.32.
Magnolia got back into the boys scoring with a win by Dubale Greathouse in the A high jump with a height of 6’4”. On the girl’s side of the high jump, Alexa Loy (Wheeling Central), won the A event with a jump of 5’0”.
Cameron’s only competitor on the weekend was Maci Neely, who was competing in the long jump. She won the A championship with a leap of 15’9 ¼”. Magnolia’s Sienna McKeever was second in the event just 1” shorter than Neely.
Freshman Logan Murray of Oak Glen finished second in the boys AA long jump with a jump of 20’1”.
The pole vault was the next event up on the day. The girls AAA saw Morgantown’s Morgan Ryan win the vault with a height of 10’6”. Sage Landis of Tyler finished second in the AA pole vault with a height of 13’.
Weir’s Kendall Drobish won the girls AA disc with a throw of 115’2”
Blain, Magnolia, got on top of the winner’s podium again in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.05. Neal, Fairmont Senior, picked up a second-place finish with a 16.37 in the AA hurdles.
The 100-meter finals were the next event up on the day. Ward, Oak Glen, won the AA girls championship with a time of 12.37. Morgantown’s Izayah Everett finished second with 12.49.
It took long enough to mention him, but you are going to read about him a lot in the last part of the article. Lorenzo Ferrera, Wheeling Central, won the boys A 100-meter dash with a 10.86. He also won the A 200-meter dash with a 22.69. And was the anchor for both the winning 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams. More on those teams and Ferrera later.
It is more relay events as the 4×200 was next up. Magnolia’s girls’ team of Bindy Campbell, Delanie Postlethwait, Sienna McKeever, and Jenna Blain finished second in a time of 1:52.17.
As I mentioned earlier, I would come back to Wheeling Central’s 4×200 team. JJ White, Riley Watkins, Dominic Gianangeli, and Ferrara won the event in 1:32.77. Weir’s team of Jamari Hubbard-Bass, Max Maley, Jacob Taylor, and Devan Colson won the AA 4×200 in 1:32.91. Wheeling Park picked up a third-place finish in the event when the team of Isaiah Zelaski, Mykel Davis, Will James, and Christian Bryan broke the tape in 1:31.49.
More relay action with the 4×100. The Oak Glen girls’ team of McConachie, Natasha Ward, Aubrey Stoica, Kami Ward won the AA relay with a time 50.35. Morgantown’s quartet of Belicia McKendall, Grace Devall, Josie Johnson, and Everett finished second in the AAA field with a 50.12.
On the boys’ end of the 4×100, Wheeling Central came up big again with a win. The team of Cannon Goddard, Gianangeli, Watkins, and Ferrara won the event with a time of 44.26 to bring home the A relay championship. Weir won the boys AA 4×100 when the team of Kanye Green, Hubbard-Bass, Jacob Taylor, and Colson rounded the track in 44.54.
Riggs completed the half mile in 2:14.68 to give her her third victory of the weekend. Scott finished third in the A 800 event with a time of 2:02.74.
The last sprint event on the day was the 200-meter dash. Blain completed a great weekend when she finished third in the A portion of the girls 200 meter in 26.80. Kami Ward, Oak Glen, who also had a big weekend won the AA 200 in 25.64.
The last running event of the day was the 4×400 meter relay. Winning on the AA girls’ side was the Weir team of Mea Kaufman, Gabriella Spickard, Olivia Baker, and Naomi Young with a time of 4:12.39. Morgantown finished second in the girls AAA when the team of McKendall, Anna Lester, Jennifer O’Palko, and Sasha Hunter ran a 4:06.07.
On the boys’ end of the 4×400, the Wheeling Central team of Paxton Marling, Scott, Luke Minor, and White finished second with a time of 3:37.73.
The Ohio Valley had two great individual performers on the weekend. Kami Ward, Oak Glen, won the high point scorer for the AA girls. Ward won the 100, 200, 400, and was on the championship winning 4×100 team. All told she scored 32.5 points in helping her team finish third in the team standings. Wheeling Central’s Lorenzo Ferrara won the A boys high point scorer award with 25 points. Ferrara won the 100, 200, and was on the victorious 4×100 and 4×200 relay teams. This helped his team finish as runners-up in the A division for the meet.
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