By Stephen Smoot
In between damaging storms that afflicted much of the state during the past several days, the WVSSAC Region II track championships took place at Doddridge County High School last Friday.
Storms almost provided a damper on events, with lightning interrupting competition between the jumping and running events.
Christopher Wilburn, head coach, praised the full contingent of Wildcats who traveled to the regional event, saying, “I couldn’t say that anyone had a bad performance at regionals.”
The story of Pendleton County’s performance starts with a good apple. Sawyer Apple placed first in both the 110-and 300-meter high hurdles, earning him a trip to Charleston. On the former, he ran it in 15.39a. In the latter event, Apple had a 41.54a, a personal record.
Gabe Harvey also qualified in multiple events. He qualified in the 200 meters, finishing with a 23.97a. Harvey also earned fourth place and qualification for his time of 51.68a, also a personal record.
In the same event, Logan Fisher did not qualify, but set a personal record at 58.25a.
Thunder Gill also qualified for states in the 800-meter race, placing fifth with a time of 2:10.19, a seasonal record.
Wilburn noted that a number of competitors set personal and season records even if they did not qualify. The 4×400 boys’ team of Harvey, Fisher, Apple, and Cayson Armstrong set a personal record and placed fourth but did not qualify. The 4×800 team of Armstrong, Gill, Titus Nulph, and Sam Eason also set a personal record but did not advance to states.
Several girls on the squad performed well, but did not advance. Callie Dunn set a personal record and placed seventh in the 3200-meter race.
The girls 4×200 team of Arianna Alt, Aubree Keiter, Autumn Lockard, and Emma Hartman placed fifth and earned a personal record time of 2:01.03a.
The 4×400 girls relay team timed well enough to qualify for Charleston, but was unfortunately disqualified. That team featured Hartman, Dunn, Alt, and Laney Sites-Woods. Wilburn said the groups, especially Alt and Dunn, “really picked it up.”
The 4×800 team of Shayne Clutter, Dunn, Allison Reuss, and Sites-Woods placed fourth and set a personal record time of 17:50.16a.
“It was really exciting to see their reaction,” said Wilburn of his team as they watched each other earn qualification and set records. He enjoyed their “reaction to when they PRed and everyone got excited.”
“The energy we had was infectious at that point,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to Charleston,” shared Wilburn, who also added “hopefully, we can bring back some medals.”
