17 Boys and 11 girls earn trip to state track meet

The #7 ranked 2010 PCHS Boys Track Team came within five points (180 toﾠ185) of upsetting the #3-ranked Richwood (RHS) team last year at regionals after taking the crown in 2009. The newly #6-ranked Warriors took theﾠcrown back this year from the #7-ranked Lumberjacks (202 to 148) this pastﾠThursday at Laidley Field in Charleston. The scores of the other fiveﾠboys teams ranged from 64 points for third place Fayetteville to 8 pointsﾠfor seventh place Valley (Fayette).

The PCHS girls, a close third in '09 to second place RHS, repeated theirﾠsecond place finish of last year to champion RHS (84-PCHS to 243-RHS) this
year. The scores of the other five teams ranged from 50 points for thirdﾠplace Midland Trail to 2 points for seventh place Valley (Fayette).

The PCHS Boys 202 points this year breaks the 2009 team's school recordﾠ183 points. The #2 ranked Doddridge County Boys, who placed first inﾠRegion 1, scored 212 points, the only boys team to best the Warriors pointﾠtotal.

The other two Class A boys regional champs were: unranked Tucker Countyﾠ(Region 2 - 131 points), and #1 St. Marys (Region 4 - 156).

The PCHS Girls 90 points last year, broke the PCHS regional scoring recordﾠof the 2009 team (88 points and a third place). The other three girlsﾠchamps this year were: #3-ranked Doddridge County (Region 1 - 151ﾠpoints), #10 Tucker County (Region 2 - 184.5), and #1 Williamstown (Regionﾠ4 - 217).

Region 4 had the greatest depth and most high-ranked teams again this yearﾠand won 45 girls and 44 boys at-large berths, Region 1 - 16 and 13, Regionﾠ2 - 7 and 4, and Region 3 - 0 and 4.

Seventeen boys (eight seniors, four juniors, four sophomores and one freshman) willﾠadvance to states by finishing in at least third place or by securing an
at-large berth in 16 events versus 16 boys in 16 events last year. Elevenﾠgirls (one senior, one junior, five sophomores and four freshmen) qualified in nineﾠevents versus 14 girls in 10 events last year.

Leading the teams to states in four events are Seniors Tanner Graham andﾠNoah Pugh and juniors Curtis Pyles and William Kelley. Contenders forﾠstate meet high scoring honors or most team gold medals are seniors TannerﾠGraham and Evan Rose.

First place finishes: Graham - 200m(23.39) and 400m(52.64); Evan Rose - shotﾠput(45-03) and discus(131-06.75); 4x200m(1:38.65) (Seth Painter, Kelley,ﾠPugh, Kyler Doss); 4x400m(3:44.47) (Alex Rodriguez, Pyles, Kelley,ﾠGraham); and 4x800m(10:02.62) (Plyes, Parker White, Skylar Knisely,
Rodriguez).

Second place finishes: Olivia Workman - 400m(1:10.97); Graham - 100m(11.81; Pylesﾠ- 800m(2:09.96); Clayton Irvine - 3200m(11:36.32); Jesse Taylor - 110mﾠhurdles(17.14) and 300m hurdles(45.09); Kelley - high jump(5-06); DevinﾠRose - shot put(38-01) and discus(115-11); 4x200m(2:07.21) (Emily Gibson,ﾠKristen Beverage, Jennifer Fertig, Lindsey Myers); 4x400m(5:04.45)ﾠ(Workman, Clair Mosesso, Rachel McComb, Myers); and shuttleﾠhurdles(1:19.87) (Gibson, Workman, Samantha Walton, Lindsey Kinder).

Third place: Walton - 100m(14.38); Rachel McComb - 1600m(6:46.17);ﾠMerandia Shinaberry - 300m hurdles(1:00.57); Fredricah Gardner - shotﾠput(26-00); Rodriguez - 400m(54.65); Irvine - 1600m(5:28.13); White -ﾠ3200m(12:22.67); Pugh - 110m hurdles(17.15) and 300m hurdles(45.96);ﾠLakota Jonese - high jump(5-06); 4x100m girls(1:01.74) (Beverage, Gibson,
Kinder, Walton); 4x100m boys(48.17) (David Kiner, Jesse Hoke, Seth andﾠKyler Doss); and shuttle hurdles(1:05.86) (Taylor, Plyles, Kelley, Pugh).

At-large berth: Kyler Doss - 100m(11.98)

PCHS will attempt to improve upon their 2009 sixth place boys finish (43ﾠpoints with 22 teams scoring) and 2010 fifth place finish (51 points withﾠ21 teams scoring). Looking back through the runwv.com records throughﾠ1998, the PCHS boys tied the 2010 best state finish in 2004 with a fifthﾠplace finish (33 points with 23 teams scoring), and 2010's 51 points wasﾠthe highest point total. The PCHS girls best state finish was in 2007
with a ninth place finish (26.5 points with 20 teams scoring). 2002 was theﾠlast year for the combined Class A and AA meets that usually had more than 30ﾠteams scoring.

The best performance by a girl at states was in 1998 when Tosha Combs tiedﾠfor the #5 place high scorer and scored all 18 points (first in 400m andﾠsecond in 800m) for a 12th place PCHS finish with 32 teams scoring.

The best performance by a boy at states was last year, 2010, when seniorﾠAbe Rittenhouse scored 22 points (first in 3200m, second in 1600m, secondﾠin 4x400m and fifth in 800m). Junior Abe Rittenhouse scored 19.25 pointsﾠin 2009 (first in 3200m, second in 1600m, fourth in 4x800m and sixth inﾠ4x400m). The officials ruled that Rittenhouse was tripped by a Wheeling
Central runner in the 2009 4x400m, so without the trip, PCHS and Rittenhouse wouldﾠhave finished even higher. Rittenhouse came in #4 in the 2010 Class A five highﾠpoint honorees. Aaron Schneid, of Wheeling Central, was fifth high scorerﾠlast year with firsts in the shot and discus, and will be Evan Rose'sﾠbiggest obstacle to winning a state championship in the two events.

The state meet at Laidley Field in Charleston begins Friday, May 20, with a 2 p.m. start time and Saturday, May 21, at 9 a.m.

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