Cabell Midland 4 x 800m relay tream - John Olson Photo
Taco Bell Boys 4x800m Relay Video
Matt_Lucas_Video_4 x 800m
COLUMBIA, SC - Jacob Burcham a distance standout at Cabell Midland High School anchored the Knights to a second place finish in the 4 x 800-meter relay during the opening day of the 20th Annual Taco Bell Track & Field Classic at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, SC.
Brian Lawhon, a junior, who ran the opening leg; finished his leg in sixth place. Senior Tyler Salmons and junior Dino Mason exchanged hands in sixth place before handing off to junior Jacob Burcham, the US#4 in the 1600-meter run. Jacob received the handoff in about fourth place and got out to a very fast start to close up the gap quickly. He passed the second place runner from Colonial Forge with about 450 meters to go and caught Colby Coulter of Lexington with a little less than 300 meters to go. Colonial Forge tried to make one last surge with 100 meters to go, but it was to no avail as their runner had dead legs. Lexington’s Coulter caught Burcham with one last push at about 10 meters to go to take the win with a new Meet Record of 7:51.72.
Colby Coulter of Lexington and Jacob Burcham of Cabell-Midland - John Olson photo
The Knights just got edged out by Lexington, SC by only seventeen hundredths of a second. The top three teams in this event went under the Meet Record of 7:54.40 that was previously held by Ridgeview High School. The Midland relay team bettered the WV State Record time by a narrow margin of twenty-five hundredths of a second to a time of 7 minutes, 51.89 seconds. Burcham ran his impressive, but unofficial 800-meter leg in 1:50.94.
The previous State Record was held by Hedgesville High School in 1995 in a time of 7:52.14 at the West Virginia State Track Meet at Laidley Field in Charleston, WV. The Hedgesville 4 x 800-meter relay team consisted of Scott Johnson, Matt Yost, Michael Cushwa, and Andrew Johnson.
Note: State Bests are eligible to any West Virginia High School athlete and can be set at any meet.
Cabell Midland will be going into the WV State Track Meet as the heavy favorite. The Knights have won the 4 x 800m relay five out of the last six years.
Congrats to the Midland boys for their US#12 ranking and a new WV#1 all-time!!! WVRunners would like to wish you the best of luck at Penn Relays!!!
Cabell Midland will be running the 4 x 800-meter relay at the Penn Relays Carnival on April 26th-28th at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, PA.
