One of the Best AAA Boys Races West Virginia has ever seen!
The AAA boys kicked off the afternoon in Ona, WV.
Some people were calling it the most exciting race of the day. Others called it the fastest state meet in recent history.
The individual title was expected to be contested between Morgantown’s Cody Pelliccioni, Fairmont Senior’s Dayton McVicker, Jefferson’s Brandon Doughty and Cabell Midland’s Jacob Burcham.
When the gun went off all four young men sprinted to the front. By the first mile, they had put a gap on the rest of the field as they came through in 5:08.
At the 4-H extension building, roughly 1.5 miles into the race, everybody was still holding serve, but Doughty was beginning to fade from the pack.
At the two-mile mark, Pelliccioni and Burcham had taken charge of the race. The two had put a 30 meter gap on McVicker and Doughty was approximately 20 meters behind the senior from Fairmont. Pelliccioni and Burcham came through the two-mile in a scorching 10:02--running 4:54 for the second mile.
At the next checkpoint--about 1000 meters left to go in the race--Pelliccioni had opened up a stride or two over the hometown boy. However, Burcham had a fifty meter surge for the ages as he opened up a small lead on Pelliccioni and slowly started to pull away from him.
When Burcham entered the track, the Cabell Midland crowd welcomed him with loud cheers. Burcham responded as he started his kick and finished seven seconds ahead of Pelliccioni, the 2008 state champion.
Burcham nearing finish line to take AAA individual State Championship
Burcham ran 15:12.16 overall and covered the last 1.1 miles in 5:11. Pelliccioni came across in 15:19.75. McVicker coasted in for a third place finished (15:29.84). Doughty would enter the track next and finished fourth (15:55.58). A barrage of runners would come onto the track and make for an exciting finish for all-state honors. Preston sophomre Brody Born held off Cabell Midland’s Tyler Salmons and Jefferson’s Eric Graf to grab fifth with a time of 16:19. Salmons nabbed sixth with a time of 16:22. Graf finished seventh (16:23). Cabell Midland’s Jeremy Waugh finished eighth (16:32). University’s Jordan Stobbe-Brown grabeed ninth (16:33). Cabell Midland senior Ryan Smith was able to out kick Preston’s Peter Schwarzenberg and Jefferson’s Ryan Graf to grab the final all-state spot in a time of 16:33.
Cabell Midland AAA Boys State Champions
Cabell Midland coach Chris Parsons said Burcham ran his race according to plan. “We knew we had to push the pace early,” Parsons explained. “We thought we could eliminate McVicker and Doughty by running fast early. We didn’t have a plan for beating Cody, though.”
According to Morgantown coach Mike Ryan, Pelliccioni ran the race he intended to run. “Jake is a great athlete,” he said. “We stuck to our strategy and it wasn’t enough today.”
Once the excitement was over with the AAA boys race, the AAA girls got things under way.
At the first mile mark, the front pack was Fairmont Senior’s Alyssa Scherich, Elkins’ Letitia Propst and Preston’s Kaitlyn Workman. The three young ladies came through in 6:14. As they raced through the two-mile mark, all three ran stride for stride, coming through in 12:29.
Lead pack L-R Propst, Scherich, and Workman
With 1000 meters left to go in the race, Scherich was fading, while Propst and Workman were still battling. When they came onto the track, Propst had opened up about a 20 meter lead on Workman.
Propst would finish the race in 18:55, capturing her third individual title. Workman crossed in 19:01 for second place. Scherich was 12 seconds behind in third (19:13). University freshman Amelia Paladino finished fourth (19:18). Bridgeport’s Morganne Phillips would cross in 19:25, which was good enough for fifth. Phillips was right ahead of Morgantown’s Sydney Pineault, who the same time in sixth. University freshman Emily Lynch would hold onto seventh (19:33). Preston’s Ashley Schultz was eighth (19:39). Rounding out the top ten was North Marion’s Emma Harrison crossing in 19:42 for ninth and Cabell Midland’s Jorden Thornton in 19:42 for tenth.
Propst winning her third individual state title
As for the team race, University was able to edge rival Preston by four points to take home their first state team title since 2008. It was the third straight race that UHS was able to beat the Knights by a small margin.
University Girls AAA Girls State Champions