Running in the 3rd and final heat of the 800m prelims on Friday nignt at the NCAA DII Track and Field Championships, held at Cal State Stanislaus Warrior Stadium in Turlock, CA, Shawnee Carnett a sophomore from Concord University ran a stadium best time of 2:09.60 to earn the #1 seed for the finals that will be run today at 10:25 pm EDT.

Watch Live here by clicking on the link and scrolling down to the bottom : http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule

Jacob Burcham starting the bell lap in the Boys AAA 3200 meter where he finished up with an impressive 57 second last 400 split and took the victory with a 9:11 (his last 800 was 2:00 flat!).  Brandon Doughty (in gold) showed all guts, leading the first 5 laps of the race and pushing Burcham all the way to the tape.  More photos and info to come!

Day One results are posted. There were several exciting and closely contested events. We will have complete recaps of each class division and photos after the conclusion of the meet.

Please visit the official West Virginia State Track and Field Championship web site (WVSSAC Track Web Site), or use this handy reference to the links on the WVSSAC site. We plan to have a preview article posted soon.

2011 State Track Meet

State Track Games Committee Report

2011 Order of Events

2011 State Track Meet Qualifiers

AAA Boys            AAA Girls

AA Boys              AA Girls

A Boys                A Girls

2011 Heat Sheets

State Track Records

Reynolds and Burcham Lead Cabell Midland to Victory

Valerie Kirk led the Winfield girls to the WV Region IV AAA title with wins in both hurdle events. Winfield accumulated 111 points to runner up Hurricane's 96.5 points. Jacob Reynold and Jacob Burcham each scored impressive triple individual victories to lead Cabell Midland to the region title with 128 points to Parkersburg South's 112 points.

Greenbrier East and Woodrow Wilson Region Champs

The Greenbrier East ladies with only one individual winner took the Region III AAA title with 112 points to 2nd place Nicholas County's 100 points.The boys from Woodrow Wilson high school in Beckley won a tighly contested race with 122 points. Two points separated the next three teams. George Washington boys claimed 2nd place with 108 points and Greenbrier East and South Charleston tied for 3rd place with 106 points.

Godwin Wins Four Events

Emily Godwin and Karissa Knabenshue led the ladies from Buckhannon-Upshur to victory in the WV Region II AAA championship while Brandon Doughty and Dante Price of Jefferson carried the guys to another cougar title. The Buckhannon-Uphur girls team slipped by Martinsburg by a score of 123 to 106.5 and the Jefferson boys team slammed the field with 176 points. Washington was a distant 2nd with 59 points.

Wheeling Park Sweeps

Wheeling Park swept the boys and girls Region I AAA titles held at Preston High School in convincing fashion. The boys blew the competition away with 196.5 points easily outdistancing the team from Fairmont Senior with 88 points. The girls had a tigher battle but made it a sweep with 126.5 points to Morgantown's 104 points.

Baynes Now Sets Sight on Another State Title

Junior high jumper Errin Baynes of Wheeling Park recently set the U.S. #2 mark for the high jump this season at the Mars Invitational in Mars, PA.  Baynes is the defending WV AAA state champion in the high jump and has his sights on another state title. High jumping over 7' puts Baynes in an elite goup of American high school high jumpers that have cleared the magical 7' mark.

Ritchie County Boys and Williamstown Girls Win Conference Championships

Drazba Runs WV#1 3200m in 11:06.87

Mark Britton of Ritchie County threw a US #28 best in the discuss with a personal best throw of 181' 4 " to lead Ritchie County to the Little Kanawha Conference track and field championships. Britton, a senior, added the shot put conference title to his resume with a winning heave of 51' 1". Britton is a two time defending state champion in the discuss. In 2009, Britton was a double state champion in the throws when he won the shot put to go with the discuss. This national caliber athlete has had a stellar career and it isn't over yet. Ritchie County beat out a stubborn St. Mary's team by a score of 129 to 116 to take the crown.

Wlliamstown ladies smashed the field by winning the LKC title by an 89 point victory margin  with 176 points to 2nd place finisher St. Mary's 87 points. Maggie Drazba of St. Mary's ran a WV #1 best time in the 3200m with a 11:06.87 clocking. Andrea Chidester (100m - 13.00), Madelin Gardner (200m - 27.52), Megan Steele (high jump - 5' 0"), LIn Postlewaite (pole vault - 10'  0"), and Shila Allman (shot put - 33' 6.5") were individual winners for the conference champions from Williamstown.

Cabell Midland Sweeps Conference Titles

Jacob Burcham ran the 40th fastest time in the U.S. this year in the 800m with a 1:53.88 while posting a West Virginia #1 best time. Burcham also took the 400m in 51.11 to lead Cabell Midland to a convincing win for the boys at the Mountain State Athletic Conference Championships.  Cabell Midland with 102 points easily outdistance 2nd place finisher South Charleston with 82 points. Jacob Reynolds (200m - 22.49), David Jobe (1600m - 4:33.42), and Tyler Sammons (3200m - 10:05.11) won individual conference titles.

The girls took the MSAC by 1 point over Hurricane by a score of 89 to 88. Kinsey Hall in the 200m dash was the lone individual winner for the girls with a time of 28.10.

WHEELING, W. Va. (Results)– The West Virginia Wesleyan men’s track and field team garnered 222 points en route to a conference title while Seton Hill’s women’s posted 179.75 points to earn the conference crown Saturday.

Steeple Chase athletes are the real deal. Check out all the photos of this lady and more.

File photo Harris, McCauley, and Drazba at the WV State XC Championship

Harris, Drazba, Propst, and McCauley are familiar names in distance running in the State of West Virginia. These four girls are used to being at the top of the rankings. Currently sophomore Sami Harris of Charleston Catholic with a 11:16.32 leads the girls 3200m rankings by a slim margin over Maggie Drazba (11:16.81) of St. Mary's.

Photo courtesy of Sholten Singer/The Herald-Dispatch

Cabell Midland's Jacob Burcham has served notice that his freshman year was no fluke when he posted the fastest 1600m time of his career at the Carlos Akers Memorial Invitational with a first place time of 4:13.69. At the time of this article Burcham's time was the 10th fastest in the U.S. this year. The sophomore running on his home track in Ona, WV also won the 800m run in 1:57.47. Last year Burcham was the fastest freshman in the nation and came close to setting the national records for freshmen in the mile wilth a 4:15.10 at the New Balance Outdoor Nationals.

The season is young, but nice rankings are already developing. If your performance is not posted, please get me the results. Only HY-Tek or Race Tab meets are updated quickly. All others are subject to not making the rankings. Click on the article to view.

It may have been a cold weekend for the first full week of outdoor season, but the performances were summer like. 

File Photo

Karissa Knabenshue, a senior from Buchannon-Upshur, has started where she left off last year. The 2010 WV State champion in the shot has the State's best shot put throw and discus. Knabenshue earned Milesplit elite standards with throws of 133' 2" in the discuss and 39' 3" in the shot at the Kim/Nutter Classic as she set meet records. Her shot put heave broke the old record of 39' 1"  set by Roxanne Ward of Parkersburg in 2000. Her discus throw broke Kim Dent's old mark of 119' 8" set in 2007. Knabenshue got it started last week at the Holzer Clinic First Call Invitational with a personal best discus throw of 145' 3".

Fairmont Senior Dayton McVicker capped an amazing indoor season placing 6th in the 2 mile run at the New Balance Indoor Nationals today at the Armory track in New York City. McVicker's time in the full 2 mile race was 9:16.29. On February the 12th, McVicker gave us a glimpse of how his training was going when he posted a fast 800m in 1:58.72 at a West Virginia Flyers indoor meet on February 12th.

Attention Coaches, Meet Directors, Athletes, and Admins:

Please e-mail me your outdoor schedules so WVRunners can get you the coverage your meet deserves.

Include as much information as possible such as meet host, meet location, meet name, web links (if applicable), time schedules (if known), and any other information available. We have found that a lot of high schools and universities are looking for meets and our Milesplit Network is one of the best ways to find a meet to enter. Meets already posted are found under the calendar tab at the top of the page.

I want to wish all of you a Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Year from WVRunners. Coverage will crank back up in a week.

Burcham Finishes 16th - Earns All-American Honors 

Photo courtesy of Cabell Midland

UPDATES:

Jacob Burcham's Splits at NXN:
Split 1 - 28th - 2:23.98
Split 2 - 16th - 5:47.25
Split 3 - 28th - 9:47.73
Split 4 - 24th - 13:21.15
Split 5 - 16th - 16:44.9

Jacob Burcham and coach Chris Parsons of Cabell Midland are in Portland, Oregon for the Nike Cross Nationals. Jacob is ready to go. Here is his pre-race video.

Jacob Burcham 2010 Pre-Race Interview

Watch live as Jacob Burcham take on some of the best cross country runners in the Nation at the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN)

Pre-meet coverage - 10:05am (Portland time) 1:05pm (Eastern time)
Girls Championship race - 10:25am (Portland time) 1:25pm (Eastern time)
Boys Championship race - 11:35am (Portland time) 2:35pm (Eastern ti...me)

Watch Nike Nationals Live

2010 NXN Live Results

Cabell Midland's sophomore Jacob Burcham finished 5th today in 15:23.1 at the Nike Cross Nationals Southeast Regional held at WakeMed Soccer Complex in Cary, North Carolina. Burcham qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals that will be held on December 4th in Portland, Oregon at the Portlands Meadows 5K course. The top five placing individuals who are not on automatically placing teams advance to NXN as individual qualifiers.

2010 NXN Southeast - Jacob Burcham (WV) Interview

2010 NXN Southeast - Championship Boys Race

Sets WV#1 Time Ever at South Region

Cody Pelliccioni, senior from Morgantown, finished 7th and ran his personal best 5K in 15:04 at the Foot Locker South Regional held at McAlpine Greenway Park to punch his ticket to the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships that will be held at Balboa Park in San Diego California on December 11.

Tthis is the fastest time by a WV runner in the history of the Foot Locker South Region. Justin Simpson of Oak Glen set the previous best mark in 2002 in 15:06.9 when he placed 7th and represented West Virginia at the Foot Locker National Meet. Simpson ran in the open race this year and finished 8th in 15:34.

2010 Foot Locker South: Seeded boys

Footlocker South WV Entries

State Champions Sarah McCauley and Letitia Propst lead girl entries. Cody Pelliccioni, Dayton McVicker, and Brandon Doughty lead male entrants.

The 32nd Annual Foot Locker Cross Country Championships are in Charlotte, N.C. on Saturday, Nov. 27th.

Congratulations to 2010 WV State Champions Drew Woodford, Sarah McCauley, Jacob Burcham, and Letitia Propst and to the teams of Grafton Boys, Philip Barbour Girls, Cabell Midland Boys, and University Girls. More coverage coming later this weekend.

  Grafton Boys AA-A WV State Champions

 Philip Barbour Girls WV AA-A Girls State Champions

 Cabell Midland Boys  WV AAA State Champions

  University Girls WV AAA State Champions

2010 WV XC State Meet Live Results

WV Runners State Meet Web Site

Cabell Midland is providing live results for the 2010 West Virginia State XC Championships for those of you who can't make the trip to Ona. West Virginia Runners would like to thank Cabell Midland for the outstanding job of hosting the State Championships. We look forward to seeing you there.

File photo of Letitia Propst by www.tristaterunnur.com

Letita Propst, senior from Elkins, is closing in on the end of her illustrious cross country career. Propst is a two time West Virginia AAA State Champion in cross country. The Elkins sensation earned her first title as a freshman in 2007 and repeated in 2008 as a sophomore with her 5K personal best time of 18:28.14. Propst seems to be back to her winning form by winning her last three cross country meets and five meets this year. She most recently won the NCAC meet held on October 6th at Preston with a time of 20:14.18. Her fastest clocking of the year was 18:57.90 at the Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational in Pittsburg, PA on September 11 when she wrapped up 4th place out of a 133 runners. Other meets this year that Propst has won are: West Virginia Insurance Invitational, Don Swiger Invitational, Geico Classic, and another NCAC meet.

Cody Pelliccioni, senior from Morgantown, is having an awesome season. On September 11, Pelliccioni placed 2nd at the Red, White & Blue Classic in Pittsburg, PA in 15:22. To prove it wasn't a fluke, he finished 3rd at the Great American Cross Country Festival this past Saturday in Cary, NC. with a personal best time of 15:14.40 and a WV #2 season best. The AAA boys race is shaping up to be a great race among several contenders.

Burcham moving into 2nd at the Midwest Meet of Champions

 
Jacob Burcham of Cabell Midland finished 2nd at the Midwest Meet of Champions with an impressive 15:05 clocking, just behind the 14th nationally ranked Zach Wills of Ohio who ran 15:01. With his performance Burcham was recognized by Milesplit's XC Super 50 rankings. Considering Burcham played football last year, this is amazing.

Burcham Video MMOC Runner-Up

Milesplit XC Super 50 Individuals

I am missing results from several meets. In order to have a good ranking system, WVRunners need all the results.

These are the ones I know I am missing:

Milesplit photo of the start of a Cross Country meet

Top 50 Times run in West Virginia this season for High School Boys and Girls

File Photo by Karen Thornton courtesy of Cabell Midland

Sophomore Jacob Burcham of Cabell Midland placed 3rd at the Trinity/Valkyrie Invitational held at Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville with a West Virginia #1 time this year in 15:19.08.

Check back later for meet recap by our Kentucky Milesplit site.