By Stephen Smoot
During the past month, Wildcat track and field has traveled to Elkins, Frankfort, Keyser, and elsewhere as the team makes its mark. As the season has progressed, upperclassmen have started to get into postseason form while others continue to show strong improvement.
On April 11, the squad competed in cold, overcast, and blustery conditions in Elkins. They did see much friendlier conditions with 70 degree temperatures on the 18th at Frankfort and summerlike weather on the 24th in Keyser.
The Elkins Invitational featured a group of teams from a number of area schools, including Grafton, Lewis County, Petersburg, Tygarts Valley, and Pocahontas County, among others. Only Fort Hill, Allegheny, Hampshire, Frankfort, and Northern joined the Wildcats in Short Gap.
Pendleton County joined Moorefield, Keyser, Southern, and Petersburg in Keyser.
The event in Frankfort focused on relay teams and field events, but the other two followed the conventional slate of events.
In individual running events, Gabe Harvey started off the year at an event at East Hardy setting a personal record in the 200-meter race of 24.27. A month later at Keyser, he set another personal mark in the same event with a 24.04. Also at Keyser, Harvey placed fourth in the 100-meter race with a personal record of 11.88.
In the 400-meter race, Harvey ran for a 59.82 in Elkins while Logan Fisher had a 100.7. Three Wildcats competed in the 400 in Keyser. Cayson Armstrong earned a seventh-place finish with a personal record time of 59.31 seconds, followed by David Noble with a time of 1:04.34 and Ryan Bruns scoring at 1.11.58.
Pendleton County’s distance runners performed very well at Keyser. Thunder Gill earned second place in the 800 meters with a season best 2:12.85a. Titus Nulph placed fourth, also setting a season record with a time of 2.22.20a. Gill took third in the 1600 at Keyser with a time of 5:05.71a, improving on his Elkins time of 5:11.62a. He had set a personal record at East Hardy with a 4:57.47a.
One of the strongest potential contenders to compete in the state meet later in the month is Sawyer Apple. Regardless of the level of competition, he has blown the doors off almost everyone in the 110-meter and 300-meter hurdles. He set a season record at East Hardy with a 16.13 in the 110 and a personal record of 41.99 in the 300. By Keyser, Apple set a season mark of 15.79 in the 110-meter hurdles, placing first in both that and the 300-meter hurdles.
The 4×800 relay team of Gill, Armstrong, Sam Eason, and Nulph set a personal record in the difficult conditions in Elkins with a 9.34.96 and just fell four seconds short of that mark in Keyser two weeks later.
Wildcat shot putters started off the season setting personal records and have continued to perform well all season. Ryland Copley threw for a 30’03” in Keyser, only a whisker shy of his personal best of 30’9″. Eason enjoyed his personal best at the April 24 event, throwing for 27’3″, almost two full inches improved since East Hardy and 3’3″ better than in Elkins.
Copley has also shown consistency in his discuss efforts, scoring an 89’9″ for a season record at East Hardy, then tossing for an 87’9″ in Keyser. Eason’s discus distance improved by two inches to 52’6″ from East Hardy to Keyser while Garrett Hartman added four inches between the two events for a mark of 38’11” in Keyser.
Shot putter performed remarkably well at Frankfort. Copley earned a personal record of 31’11”, Noble threw for a personal best of 30’35”, Ben Puffenbarger for 25’55” and a personal record, and Hartman tossed a 23’10” for a personal best.
Harvey and Apple have also made their mark on the high jump this season. Apple and Harvey placed second (5’4″) and third (5′), respectively, in Elkins. Harvey took second in Keyser after adding a full half foot to his Elkins mark. Apple additionally improved his jump by six inches. Harvey placed second and Apple third in Keyser, as well.
Advancement for both came in the long jump as Harvey improved from 17’8″ in Elkins to 17’10” in Keyser. Apple reached 17’8″ in Keyser, 14 inches higher than Elkins.
The squad next competes in the Potomac Valley Conference meet.
