The 2009 defending West Virginia Class A Region 3 Champions, the #7-ranked PCHS Boys Track Team, reversed their one-two '09 finish with Richwood (RHS) last Wednesday at a stormy Laidley Field in Charleston.ﾠﾠ The Warriors came within five points (180-PCHS to 185-RHS) of upsetting the #3-ranked Lumberjacks.ﾠ

The PCHS girls, a close third in '09 to second place RHS, finished second to champion RHS (90-PCHS to 194-RHS) this year.ﾠ The Meadow Bridge girls, first in '09, dropped to fourth (46) this time.ﾠ The Williamson girls (55) and Mount Hope boys (51) were each third of seven squads on Wednesday.

The PCHS Boys 180 points was three short of last year's school record 183 points.ﾠ PCHS was moved to the weaker Region 3 last season after four years in Region 2. Richwood and PCHS both scored more points Wednesday than the other three regional champions.

The other three Class A boys regional champs wereﾠ #6 ranked Doddridge County (Region 1) - 142.5 points, unranked Tucker County (Region 2) - 142, and #1 Williamstown (Region 4) - 159.

The PCHS Girls 90 points, broke the PCHS regional scoring record of last year's 2009 girls team (88 points and a third place).ﾠ The other three girls champs were #3 ranked Doddridge County (Region 1) - 166 points, unranked Tucker County (Region 2) - 142, and #1 St. Marys (Region 4) - 196 points.

Region 4 had the greatest depth and won 29 girls and 30 boys at-large slots, Region 1 - 20 girls and 25 boys (one tie), Region 2 - only three girls, and Region 3 - one girl and one boy (one tie).

Sixteen boys (five seniors, six juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen) will advance to states by finishing in at least third place in 16 events versus 15 boys in 16 events last year. Fourteen girls (three seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and six freshmen) qualified in 10 events versus six girls in eight events last year.ﾠ Junior Noah Pugh tied Bennett of Paden City (Region 1) in the 300m hurdles for an at-large berth, so one or both athletes should advance to states in that event.

Leading the teams to states in four events are seniors Abe Rittenhouse, defending state champ in the 3200m, Jesse Bolyard, and freshman Olivia Workman. Contenders for state meet high scoring honors are Rittenhouse and junior Tanner Graham.ﾠ Coach Kay Wiley reports that Workman has the best chance to place for the young and improving girls team.

First places:ﾠ Workman - 800m, Graham - 200m and 400m, Rittenhouse - 3200m, 4x800m team, Workman, Chantella Lewis, Amy Rose and Joy Walkup, 4x400m team, Bolyard, Bill Kelly, Jairus Morton and Josh Arbogast, 4x800m team, Alex Rodriguez, Kelly, Morton and Curtis Pyles, and the shuttle hurdles - Arbogast, Bolyard, Jesse Taylor and Pugh.

Second places:ﾠ Workman - 400m, Alicia Cadrette - high jump, Arbogast - 200m, Rittenhouse - 800m and 1600m, Pugh - 110m hurdles, Jerry Simonin - high jump, Evan Rose - shot put and discus, and shuttle hurdles - Emily Gibson, Amanda Nottingham, Meriandia Shinaberry and Erin White.

Third places:ﾠ Walkup - long jump, Turner - shot put, Bolyard - 110m and 300m hurdles, Curtis Bennett - high jump, 4x100m - Seth Painter, Kelly, Seth and Kyler Doss, and 4x200m - Doss brothers, Painter and Pugh).

PCHS will attempt to improve upon their 2009 sixth place boysﾒ finish (43 points with 22 teams scoring) and 20th place (four-way tie) girlsﾒ finish (1 point with 25 teams scoring).ﾠ Looking back through the runwv.com records through 1998, the PCHS boys had their best state finish in 2004 with a fifth place finish scoring 33 points (23 teams scored), and 2009's 43 points was the highest point total.ﾠ The PCHS girls best state finish was in 2007 with a ninth place finish scoring 26.5 points (20 teams scored).ﾠ 2002 was the last year for the combined Class A and AA meets that usually had more than 30 teams scoring.ﾠ

The best performance by a girl at states was in 1998 when Tosha Combs tied for fifth place high scorer and scored all 18 points (first in 400m and second in 800m) for the team and a 12th place finish with 32 teams scoring.ﾠ

The best performance by a boy at states was last year, 2009, when junior Abe Rittenhouse scored 19.25 points (first in 3200m, second in 1600m, fourth in 4x800m and sixth in 4x400m).ﾠ The officials ruled that Rittenhouse was tripped by a Wheeling Central runner in the 4x400m, so without the trip, PCHS would have finished even higher.ﾠ Rittenhouse is currently ranked second in the state by runwv.com in Class A.

The state meet starts Friday, May 21, at 2 p.m. and Saturday, May 22, at 9 a.m., at Laidley Field in Charleston.