By Stephen Smoot
“It’s probably been my favorite season that I’ve had,” shared Christopher Wilburn, head coach of the Pendleton County track team. He explained that his favorite moments this season came from watching his team “battling adversity and seeing all the progress we’ve made.”
A healthy mixture of experienced veterans and hungry, talented youngsters helped to push the program forward. While “younger kids battled each other,” junior and senior leaders helped to teach the finer points of success in each meet. Team members all season have been “really good at picking someone up” when their performance did not go as hoped.
Of course, somewhere in those fond memories likely is the one of Wilburn being voted coach of the year in the Potomac Valley Conference.
Though the team has only existed for a few years and though many of those on it have a limited track background, both the boys’ and girls’ teams performed very well in the PVC meet held at Baker.
“I couldn’t have asked for any more effort,” Wilburn said of his squads, adding that “they bought in. They laid it on the line.”
At the conference meet, the boys earned 127 points. This set them only one and a half behind second place winner East Hardy. It also represents the team’s best point total in conference competition. The girls took fifth place of eight, topping Petersburg, Union, and Harman.
A number of personal and season records set helped to propel the strong team performances.
Wilburn described how one of the best within-the-squad competitions this year has come from Gabe Harvey and Sawyer Apple in the high and long jump. At the PVCs, Apple took first place in the high jump, setting a personal record of 6-00.00, while Harvey took fourth place with 5-06.00. Harvey got the better results in the long jump with a season record of 18-01.00 and fourth place. Apple placed fifth, just barely behind with a leap of 18-00.
Of their year-long battles, Wilburn said, “Iron sharpens iron.”
The girls also performed solidly in the long jump. Emma Hartman tied for second place, setting a personal record of 4-06.00. Aubree Keiter followed closely in fourth with a 4-00.00 and Arianna Alt took seventh with a 3-10.00.
As a newcomer, Alt impressed Wilburn. He said that in her first week, he could tell she was inexperienced, but “from week one to now, she’s jumped 110 percent. She bought in. She was very coachable.”
Apple has also thrived in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles all season long, regardless of competition. At the PVCs, he took first place in both, setting a personal record of 15.56a in the 110. Harvey turned in strong performances in the 200- and 400-meter race, placing third and second, respectively. In the 400, he set a personal best mark of 52.22a.
Ryan Bruns also competed in both races and set a personal record of 1:05.72a in the 400.
Laney Sites-Woods brought strong results for the girls’ squad in her races. A mainstay in cross country, she placed third in the 400 meters with a personal record of 1:06.63a. She earned fourth place in the 800 with a 3:02.29a.
Callie Dunn and Allison Reuss competed strongly in the longer distance races. Dunn took fourth in the 1600 with a personal record of 6:54.25a. Reuss finished two places behind with a time of 7:29.34a.
Dunn earned second place in the 3200 with a time of 15:14.77a, while Reuss finished fourth, setting a mark of 17:46.58a.
Thunder Gill also demonstrated that he could go the distance in the longer races for the boys’ side. He placed second in the 800 meters with a time of 2:15.71a, third in the 1600 at 5:12.08a, and fourth in the 3200, setting a seasonal record of 11:40.99a.
Sites-Woods, Dunn, Shayne Clutter, and Reuss took first place in the 4×800, setting a personal record of 11:53.70. Hartman, Keiter, Autumn Lockard, and Alt placed third in the 4×100, while Dunn, Sites-Woods, Lockard, and Hartman finished third in the 4×200.
Keiter, Alt, Lockard, and Clutter set a personal record in the 4×102.5 shuttle with a time of 1:29.34a.
The boys relay teams also set records while finishing well. The 4×400 team of Cayson Armstrong, Logan Fisher, Sam Eason, and David Noble took second place with a time of 4:09.04a, while the 4×800 team also took second. It was composed of Gill, Armstrong, Eason, and Titus Nulph.
Others hitting personal records on the day included Armstrong with a 2:19.21a in the 800, Ben Puffenbarger with a 22:16.00a in the 3200, and Garrett Hartman in the discus.
Boys relay teams hitting record marks included the 4×100 team of Bruns, Noble, Fisher, and Eason, the 4×200 of Noble, Fisher, Eason, and Armstrong, the 4×400 and second place winning Armstrong, Fisher, Eason, and Nulph, and also the 4×800 team, also taking second place, with Gill, Armstrong, Eason, and Nulph.
Wilburn shared that Scott Furey, Golden Tornado’s head track coach, offered to allow the Pendleton County track squad to hold its senior night during the Jim Turbin meet, final one of the regular season, in Keyser.
Wilburn said of this season’s success that “I’m hoping that with this success that we will have more athletes to come out,” but without pulling athletes away from other sports.
The Jim Turbin Memorial Invitational will take place on May 10 and the WVSSAC Class A Region 2 meet on May 16.
