By Stephen Smoot
As the regular season comes to a close and Wildcat track looked ahead to regionals on May 12. The squad competed in the Potomac Valley Conference meet. Then they competed at East Hardy, and after that at the expansive Jim Turbin Memorial Invitational held Saturday in Keyser.
A number of Wildcat competitors saw improvement between the PVCs and the Keyser meet, hoping to hit their peak as the postseason gets underway. One should keep in mind that the PVCs tend to pit Class A and AA teams against each other, while the Jim Turbin meet brings in schools much larger than Pendleton County. This makes the times more significant than where the competitor placed in many instances.
Cameron Wyatt ran the 100-meter race in both meets, placing sixth in the PVCs with a time of 12.07 seconds. He improved to fifth in the Jim Turbin and timed at 11.81.
Also racing in the PVC in the 100, but not in the finals in Keyser was Travis Owens, who placed 11th with a 12.68, Britton Lough at 12th with a 13.03, Jonah See at 13th with a 13.11, and Ryan Bruns at 16th with a 13.61.
Wyatt also finished fifth in the 200 with a time of 25.63, followed by Owens at sixth and 26.07, Lough at ninth with 27.54, See in 10th at 27.55, and Bruns in 11th at 27.92. No runners competed in the finals of this race in Keyser.
Sam Eason placed fifth in the 400-meter race at PVCs with a time of 58.95, placing 12th in Keyser with a 59.32. Logan Fisher took sixth in the PVCs with a time of 59.94, while taking 17th at Jim Turbin with a time of 1:02. Cain Nulph ran for 14th in PVCs and 19th in Keyser, hitting a time of 1:08.08 in the earlier, but improving to 1:02.9 in Keyser.
Eason ran the 800 in both events, taking seventh at PVCs with a 2:34.27 and 19th in Keyser with a time of 2:31.29, an improvement of just under three seconds.
Nulph placed sixth at PVCs in the 1600 with a time of 6:01.25, but no one from Pendleton County competed in the finals in that race in Keyser.
Cayden Minor-Figueroa competed in the 300-meter hurdles in both events, placing fifth with a 53.26 at the PVCs in Baker and then seventh in Keyser with a two second improvement at 51.48. See placed sixth in Baker with a 56.61, but Fisher made the finals in Keyser, placing ninth with a 52.07.
None of the relay teams made the finals in Keyser, but in Baker, the 4×200 team of Owens, Cayson Armstrong, Eason, and Wyatt took third with a 1:43.07. In the 4×400, Wyatt, Armstrong, Nulph, and Eason took second with a 4:07.48.
Wildcats placed in both events in field competition. At Baker, Spencer Hartman took seventh in shot put with a 34-02. David Noble followed in ninth with a 31-11.00, then Ben Puffenbarger in 18th with a 23-11 and Garrett Hartman with a 22-05 at 19th.
Puffenbarger and Garrett Hartman threw the shot for 25-7 and 24-0 in Keyser, respectively.
Wildcat discus thrower Spencer Hartman placed 11th in Baker with an 83.07, Noble 13th with 80.09, Fisher 18th with 69.03, Puffenbarger 19th with 68.07, and Garrett Hartman with a 51.02. Discus results in Keyser saw Puffenbarger with a 60.04, Fisher at 62.10, and Garrett Hartman threw for 60 feet even.
In the long jump, Noble leapt for a 16.07 and fifth place at PVCs, Minor-Figueroa seventh with a 15.11 and Bruns placed ninth at 15 feet. In Keyser, Minor-Figueroa placed 12th with a 14.11, which was tops in Class A at the event.
