Nathan Rees

Ranking the top Girls performances in North Dakota for All Events taking place over the past week.

Ranking the top Boys performances in North Dakota for All Events taking place over the past week.

A look at the returning athletes positioned to shape this year’s outdoor season.

A look at the returning athletes positioned to shape this year’s outdoor season.

Shawnee Carnett Sets New School Record in the 800m   Concord University men and ladies relays teams set four school records at the Coastal Carolina University Invitational on Friday during day one of the two day meet.   On Saturday Shawnee Carnett blazed to a first place finish in the 800m run in a new school record time of 2:14.18 eclipsing the old record by nearly 5 seconds.   The Lady Mountain Lions 4 x 800m relay team placed 2nd with a school record setting time of 9:39.64. The 4 x 800 team was comprised of Rachel Williams, Lindsey DeVaughn, Chelsea Calloway, and Dani Pye.   The men's 4 x 800m relay team set the school record with a time of 7:55.59 while finishing 3rd. The relay team was led by Szymon Rola (pictured) as he ran a 1:55 flat first leg. The other strong legs were run by Nathan Rees, Craig Pritt, and Robbie Peters. The ladies 4 x 200m relay team ran a record 1:46.59 while placing 10th. Brittany Pratt, Lydia Powell, Erin Barnett, and Shawnee Carnett were members of the shool record setting team.   The men's 4 x 200m relay team also placed 10th, but it was good enough to set a new school record with a time of 1:33.66. The team members are Dennis Cole, Orlando Bryant, Jason Brackett, and John Gadomski.   The Mountain Lions will be competing today in hopes for some more strong showings.  

Concord University Men took  team honors at the Marietta Open #1 as several WVIAC teams were in action. The Mountain Lions claimed first place with 126 points while holding off a challenge by Roanoke College of Virginia with 114 points. Wheeling Jesuit placed sixth with 52 points and Alderson-Broaddus finished 7th with 15 points.   Winning their respective races for Concord were RJ Anderson in the 55M dash in 6.49, Nathan Rees took the 800m in 2:05.52, Robbie Peters claimed the mile in 4:33.87, and Sterling Snyder completed the 5000M in a winning time of 15:53.76.   Ashton Boger of Wheeling Jesuit took 1st in the pole vault with a height of 13-05.75.   On the ladies side, the women of Concord University came in 3rd place with 117 points, Wheeling Jesuit University was 6th with 46 points, University of Charleston placed 7th with 29 points and Alderson-Broaddus took 8th with 15 points.   WVIAC individual lady winners were Rachel Williams of Concord in the mile with a time of 5:42.46, Sherry Borsos of Alderson-Broaddus won the 5000m in 19:45.28, Brittany Pratt of Concord leaped to 16-01.50 to take the long jump event, and Megan Pratt threw 51-07.25 to claim the weight throw.   Concord University ladies also claimed two relay races as they won the 4 x 200m relay in 1:51.39 and the 4 x 400m relay in 4:25.95.   Several WVIAC teams will be back at Marietta College this Saturady to compete in the Marietta Open #2.      

  62 performances met or exceeded the Milesplit National Silver Standard. (updated 5/27/09) WV Athletes Achieving National Elite Performances   Numerous State meet records fell in the 2009 West Virginia State Championships.    State Meet Records Updated 5/23/2009   Meet Recaps:   AAA Boys   Hedgesville Senior High School easily took the boys AAA race by a 24 point margin over Jefferson 92 - 68. It was a total team effort as Jordan Reed claimed the only races for Hedgesville. Reed sprinted to the win in the 100m in 11.36 after posting a 10.85 in the preliminaries. Reed came back and slammed the field in the 200m with a time of 21.98. Reed gathered 24 points after earning points in Hedgesville’s runner-up relays in the 4 x 100m and 4 x 200m.   Zach Tennant a senior from North Marion was the outstanding performer as he broke West Virginia State meet records in the 1600m and 3200m. Tennant took 1st in the 1600m in 4:13.84 bettering the old record of 4:14.03 by Preston’s Eric Ryan in 2005. Tennant blistered the 3200m in 9:14.84 eclipsing the 29 year old record held by Mike Kominsky of Oak Hill in 1980 by 2 ½ seconds . Tennant was pushed in the 1600m race by 800m winner Craig Pritt a senior from Preston. Pritt’s time was 4:17.77. Pritt took first in the 800m in 1:55.02.   AAA Girls   The AAA girls broke 5 West Virginia State track meet records. Three were in relay events and two were by individuals. Taylor Brown a junior from Jefferson was involved with two of those records. Brown broke the State Meet record in the 300m hurdles with a clocking of 44.34. The previous record was held by Chelsea Carrier of Buckhannon-Upshur in 2006 in 44.57. Brown led Jefferson (66 pts.) to victory in a tightly contested meet with Woodrow Wilson with 61 points. Jefferson’s 4 x 100m relay team broke a 29 year old record of 49.20 held by the 1980 Wheeling Park ladies with a time of 48.58. Members of the new State Meet record relay team are: Chelsea Bryan, Taylor Brown, Chelsey Flinchum, and Brittany Carr.   Ari Kasprowicz, a senior from Preston, set the new standard in the 3200m in 10:49.15 by breaking her former teammate, Kaylyn Christopher, time of 10:55.52 that was set in 2006.   The Hurricane ladies smashed the 4 x 800m relay record by over 5 seconds with the new benchmark of 9:31.14. Preston held the previous record of 9:36.53 which was set in 2007. Members of the record breaking relay were: Sahara Assi, Alex Dent, Sarah Davis, and Josie Crouch   Wheeling Park ladies set the girls 4 x 102.5m shuttle hurdle relay State Record in 1:04.18. Members of the State Meet record shuttle hurdle relay are: Miranda Rios, Ashley Dolan, Alicia Bonar, and Hannah Gompers. Open the article to read the Double and Single A recaps.

  Pictured is AAA champion Cody Pelliccioni   The WV 2008 State Cross Country Championship held in Ona, WV at Cabell Midland High School had a few surprises, a few expectations, and one Status Quo. Overall there were 19 National Elites as recognized by Milesplit, there was one State course record, and there was a repeat individual champion. It was a warm and beautiful day for running and the amazing performances put on by the harriers of West Virginia were evident.   Be sure to check out all of the links to athletes, teams, photos (WV 2008 State XC Photo Album), and more embedded in the article.   We will start with the AA-A boys race which got things started.  

Recap of Meets from 10/6 - 10/11 Ashland Invitational - Capital, Winfield, Ravenswood, Spring Valley, Huntington, Wayne  and George Washington traveled to Kentucky to participate in the Ashland Invitational and came away with the individual top prizes and the boys team title. Megan Truelove , senior, of Winfield took first place in 19:55.9 while seniors Chelsea Jarvis and Christine Azevedo of Capital claimed 2nd and 3rd place respectively in 20:12 and 20:51. Mason County Kentucky girls team took top billing with 36 points. Ravenswood girls claimed 2nd place with 71 points and followed closely by Capital with 74 points. Senior Nathan Rees of Ravenswood won the boys race in 17:03 and was followed by 2nd place finisher sophomore Patrick Jividen (17:11) and senior Matt Burton (17:24) of Winfield. Winfield boys led a West Virginia sweep as WV teams took the top 4 places. Winfield had 46 points, Ravenswood 54, Hurricane 115, and in 4th place was Huntington with 119 points. Times Invitational - Fairmont Senior boys and girls took the win with North Marion finishing second. Letitia Propst a sophomore from Elkins won in 19:50 and senior Zach Tennant of North Marion took top honors for the guys in 16:34.2. He was followed closely by David Ciarolla a senior from Fairmont Senior in 16:39.4 Wheeling Park Fall Classic - Wheeling Park took the top honors for the girls with Wheeling Central Catholic taking second place with a score of 43-49. Courtney Yaeger of Wheeling Park came in first with a time of 20:17.6. Logan Wojcik, a junior, from Wheeling Park and senior Russell Mulley led their team with finish times of 17:53 and 17:54 respectively. Wild & Wet Invitational - Sarah and Lydia Martinelli juniors from University High School placed first and second leading their team to a commanding win over 2nd place Berkeley Springs by a score of 23-54. Sarah finished first in 22:08 followed by Lydia in 22:23. Lenny Roach of Berkeley Springs finished in first place by 18 seconds over 2nd place Ronald Reed a senior from Weir with a time of 17:23. Reed came across in 17:41. Washington Invitational - In dominating fashion Jefferson completed the sweep winning first place team honors and individual honors at the Washington Invitational. Alyssa Boucher won the girls race in 19:33 followed by teammate Andrea Nickerson in 19:57. The ladies placed 4 runners in the top 10. Cory Hampshire continued his torrid streak by winning the meet in 15:58. Hampshire won the meet by 52 seconds over Kory Farmer who would lead the rest of the team with a 2nd place finish in 16:52. The Maroon and Gold boys of Jefferson put all 7 runners in the top 10 and had 5 of the first 6 finishers in the meet. Bull Run Invitational - After running at the Washington Invitational 3 days earlier, Jefferson traveled to Maryland to put on another fine showing at the Bull Run Invitational. Cory Hampshire finished 4th overall and 3rd in the Elite race with a time of 16:53. Alyssa Boucher placed 12th overall in 20:53. Battle for Parkersburg - The battle for Parkersburg was an all out war as Parkersburg took 1st place in the boys race (22-33) and Parkerburg South taking 1st place in the girls race with a score of 27-29. In the overall scoring, Parkersburg won the Battle for Pakersburg with a combined score of 51 points to Parkersburg South's 60 points. Parkersburg individuals claimed both top prizes as Andrea Sall won the girls race in 19:17.8 and Dustin Meyers grabbing the boys title in an impressive16:58.2 Harrison County Championships - Bridgeport Senior took the boys race with 27 points and Liberty Harrison edged out Bridgeport for the girls win 41-43. Leading the Bridgeport boys effort was Matt Mason in a quick 16:50 and followed closely by 2nd place finisher Seth Edgell in 16:56. Erica Voreh led the ladies with a time of 19:38 Liberty Raleigh Invitational - Shady Spring girls led by Chelsea Callaway put on a dominating performance with a first place win over 2nd place Woodrow Wilson 22-37. Callaway ran the fastest time in the State this year with a time of 18:30. Derrick Chaffin led his Richwood team with his first place effort of 16:18. Richwood (22 points)  won in convinicing fashion. Woodrow Wilson took 2nd with 73 points.