The 98th Boys and 38th Girls West Virginia High School Track & Field State Championships were held on May 18th-19th, 2012 at Laidley Field Track in Charleston WV. Some of West Virginia's brightest stars shined during this two day tournament. There were fourteen records set in the girls and eleven in the boys. In all, we had a combined total of twenty-five records set over the course of the meet, with nine records being set in the Class A Girls, two in the Class AA Girls, three in the Class AAA Girls, seven in the Class A Boys, one in the Class AA Boys, and three in the Class AAA Boys.

A concise snapshot of Day 1 highlights with meet records noted

In the Class A Boys, the Buffalo High School boys 4x800m relay team of (Isaiah Robinson, Evan Childers, Jonathan Torman, and Dylan Rich) repeat as State Champions. They also broke the Class A Boys State Meet Record in this event in a time of 8:09.05. The previous State Meet Record was held by Doddridge County High School of (Troy Wilsoncroft, Levi Grandt, Jason Oldaker, David Orejuela)
back in 2005 in a time of 8:21.58.

Maggie Drazba, a junior at St.Marys High School, won the Class A Girls 3200 meter run in a new State Meet record time of 10:59.09. Finishing second by over one minute and 15 seconds behind her teammate was senior Jenny Brewer of St. Marys High School in 12:14.90, third was junior Nele Frey Doddridge County High School in 12:20.91, fourth was Ashley Cassidy of Tucker County High School in 12:21.30, fifth was senior Bethany Carroll of Doddridge County High School in 12:25.97, and the sixth place finish went to senior Sarah Smith of Cameron High School in 12:28.34.

The Doddridge County High School boys & girls track teams won the Class “A” titles at the Gazette / Friends of Coal Relays on April 27^th to April 28^th, 2012 at Laidley Field, Charleston, WV.

The Morgantown High School girls track team won nine events and the team title, while Morgantown’s Natasha Trott (sprints) won four events to help the girls’ team to a first place finish at the Dave Ice Girls Invitational at Nelson Field in Bellaire, OH.

The Fort Hill boys and the Keyser girls track teams finished first at the AMAC Championships on April 25^th, 2012 at Keyser High School Track in Keyser, WV.

Joseph Kirtner, a senior at Winfield High School, placed seventh in the High School Boys 1600 Meter Run in a time of 4:14.12 at the Eastern Relays on April 28, 2012 at University of Louisville in Louisville, KY.

The top three middle school distance runners in the state went head-to-head at the Chic-Fil-A Classic this past Thursday at Laidley Field in the 3200-meter run.

Jacob Burcham, a junior distance standout at Cabell Midland High School, placed second in the High School Boys' Mile Run Championship in a time of 4:09.49 at the Penn Relays Carnival on Friday, April 27th, 2012 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, PA.

Maggie Drazba, a junior distance standout at St. Marys High School, placed seventh in the High School Girls’ 3000-meter run in a new PR of 9:55.66 at the Penn Relays Carnival on Thursday, April 26th, 2012 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, PA.

One of the most successful and all-around female prep track & field athletes in West Virginia of all time, Buckhannon-Upshur’s Emily Godwin continues to build upon her success. This season Godwin has already competed in eleven meets; winning gold 39 out of 44 events.

A.j White, a senior at Hurricane High School, set a personal record in the discus with a throw 165’ 2” at the BB&T Classic on April 20, bettering his personal best of 164’ 1”, established just three days earlier at the Holzier Clinic Sports Medicine Clinic Invitational.

West Virginia Track and Field

2012 Middle School Leaders

(Updated 4/24/12)

Cover Photo of Samuel Thomas of Horace Mann by Mike McMillion

CHARLESTON - Bethany Drury of St. Albans High School won the girls shot put and discus this past Friday at the BB&T Classic Track & Field Meet that was held at the Laidley Field in Charleston, WV. The meet was hosted by George Washington High School.

The Frankfort High School girls’ track & field team competed at the Chuck Zonis Invitational on April 21st, 2012 at the Mike Callas Stadium at North Hagerstown High School in Hagerstown, MD.

Frankfort’s Bria Welker and Katie Jan combined to win six events out of sixteen events scored, while Welker brought home high point honors by scoring a possible forty points.

Cover photo of Brynn Harshbarger by John Olson

The Wheeling Park High School boys track team won nine events and the team title, while Morgantown’s Natasha Trott (sprints) and Brynn Harshbarger (distance) combined to win four events to help the girls’ team to a first place finish at the inaugural Two Rivers Athletic Conference Track & Field Championship at Erickson All-Sports Facility in Parkersburg.

The Winfield High School boys track team won nine events and the team title, while Buckhannon-Upshur’s Emily Godwin won four events to help the girls’ team to a first place finish at Friday’s Capital City Classic.

Amelia Paladino, a sophomore at University High School, ran a PR of 10:47.92 in the 3200-meter run at Russ Parsons/Clear Channel Radio Invitational for the WV#3 girls’ high school finish of all time.

(Weekly Recap)

Meet Highlights: Included are the performances entered for each meet that met the national silver or gold standard for the week of 4/8/12 to 4/14/12. We will update as results come in. Please check back.

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.

Taco Bell Boys 4x800m Relay Video

Matt_Lucas_Video_4 x 800m

Maggie Drazba a junior from St. Marys High School in St. Marys, WV, just ran a US#5 best time and new West Virginia state record of 4:51.88 in the Girls 1600-meter run at the Pizza House Invitational being held at the Ritchie County High School Track in Ellenboro, WV. The previous State Record was held by Kaylyn Christopher of Preston High School in 2007 in a time of 4:54.82 at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV.

Cam Viney a senior at Elkins High School came up big at last years WV State Track Meet, by winning high point honors over an elite field. Viney “a sprinter/hurdle specialist” is the defending WV State Champion in the 400 meter dash and 300 meter hurdles, and was State Runner-up in the 200 meter dash and 110 meter hurdles.

Richwood High School senior Andrew Shaffer completed a triple in the distance events at the Ripley Invitational this past Thursday. The class-A distance standout ran new season best times of 4:33.20 in the 1600m and 10:04.59 in the 3200m, and he ran a PR of 2:05.55 in the 800m.

Will Shaffer and the Skyhawks of Scott High School of Madison West Virginia competed at the Beach Run Invitational on April 7th, 2012 at Doug Shaw Stadium in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Shaffer, a junior, placed first with a PR of 4:26.35 in the high school boys’ 1600-meter run.

Joseph Kirtner, a senior at Winfield High School, won three events at the Teays Physical Therapy Invitational on Thursday at Hurricane High School. He ran 2:01.01 in the 800m, ran a new season best time of 4:22.48 in the 1600m, and anchored the 4 x 800m relay.

Brynn Harshbarger, Morgantown High School junior, won the girls' individual 3200-meter run title at the South Hills Classic meet on Saturday, March 31st at Baldwin High School in Pittsburgh, PA. Her time of 11:01.19 is tops among West Virginia High School girls’ all-classes for the 2012 outdoor track & field season.

Jacob Burcham followed up where he left off during the Indoor track season with a strong 1600-meter performance at the Carlos Akers Memorial Track & Field Meet with a US #4 performance in a time of 4:11.49. The time wasn’t a personal best, but it’s still early in the season.

In case you haven’t heard the bad news yet, the 2012 track season will be without Charleston Catholic distance stand-out Sami Harris.