Redskins make statement in Class AAA girls; other Kanawha Valley teams in contention
Hurricane's Jaclyn Schiffour cleared a height of 9 feet to win the Class AAA girls pole vault at the Gazette/Friends of Coal Relays Saturday at Laidley Field.
Several Kanawha Valley teams stamped themselves as state meet contenders Saturday, and Hurricane showed it isn't quite ready to yield its spot at the top of the heap.
Several Kanawha Valley teams stamped themselves as state meet contenders Saturday, and Hurricane showed it isn't quite ready to yield its spot at the top of the heap.
The Redskins, led by the distance tandem of Josie Crouch and Alex Dent, held off charges from three other schools and emerged with a second straight team title at the 74th Gazette/Friends of Coal Relays at Laidley Field.
Taking the other girls championships were Oak Hill (AA) and St. Marys (A). Capturing boys crowns were Jefferson (AAA), Ravenswood (AA) and Doddridge County (A). Oak Hill and Ravenswood each won seven of 13 events held Saturday.
Hurricane, which is also the defending girls Class AAA state meet champion, entered the weekend Gazette/FOC Relays as the No. 2 team in the RunWV.com power rankings. The Redskins tried to disprove that, finishing with 81 points to outdistance Buckhannon-Upshur (70), Halifax County, Va. (671/2) and Jefferson (65).
Jefferson, which was ranked ahead of Hurricane last week, saw its chances diminish when sprinter Brittany Carr pulled up with a hamstring injury in the homestretch of the 100-meter dash. She had the third-fastest qualifying time for the finals of the 100 and 200.
Ultimately, Crouch and Dent paved the way for Hurricane's victory. Crouch won the 800 Saturday and finished second to Spring Valley's Savannah Rutherford in the 400. Dent led the 1600 Saturday in a sharp 5:08.57 (more than 10 seconds lower than her previous season best) after placing second in the 3200 Friday. Both also ran legs on Hurricane's victorious 4x800 Friday.
Jaclyn Schiffour got things off to a solid start for the Redskins by winning the pole vault.
"From middle distances up, we really did what we felt like we could do,'' said Hurricane coach Steve Caldwell. "Josie and Alex both had great weekends. The relays were fair, though the 4x8 was exceptional, and the field events didn't do real great.
"But overall, it was a pretty solid effort. You've got to set everything up for what's going to happen in three weeks [at the state meet]. We've got a ways to go, but we've got this week and next week to iron out anything. Hopefully, we'll get everybody where they need to be.''
Charleston Catholic should also figure into the top teams for the state meet, which is set for May 22-23 at Laidley. The Irish finished second in the Relays to a dominant St. Marys team in girls Class A, and third in the boys meet.
Several Kanawha Valley teams stamped themselves as state meet contenders Saturday, and Hurricane showed it isn't quite ready to yield its spot at the top of the heap.
The Redskins, led by the distance tandem of Josie Crouch and Alex Dent, held off charges from three other schools and emerged with a second straight team title at the 74th Gazette/Friends of Coal Relays at Laidley Field.
Taking the other girls championships were Oak Hill (AA) and St. Marys (A). Capturing boys crowns were Jefferson (AAA), Ravenswood (AA) and Doddridge County (A). Oak Hill and Ravenswood each won seven of 13 events held Saturday.
Hurricane, which is also the defending girls Class AAA state meet champion, entered the weekend Gazette/FOC Relays as the No. 2 team in the RunWV.com power rankings. The Redskins tried to disprove that, finishing with 81 points to outdistance Buckhannon-Upshur (70), Halifax County, Va. (671/2) and Jefferson (65).
Jefferson, which was ranked ahead of Hurricane last week, saw its chances diminish when sprinter Brittany Carr pulled up with a hamstring injury in the homestretch of the 100-meter dash. She had the third-fastest qualifying time for the finals of the 100 and 200.
Ultimately, Crouch and Dent paved the way for Hurricane's victory. Crouch won the 800 Saturday and finished second to Spring Valley's Savannah Rutherford in the 400. Dent led the 1600 Saturday in a sharp 5:08.57 (more than 10 seconds lower than her previous season best) after placing second in the 3200 Friday. Both also ran legs on Hurricane's victorious 4x800 Friday.
Jaclyn Schiffour got things off to a solid start for the Redskins by winning the pole vault.
"From middle distances up, we really did what we felt like we could do,'' said Hurricane coach Steve Caldwell. "Josie and Alex both had great weekends. The relays were fair, though the 4x8 was exceptional, and the field events didn't do real great.
"But overall, it was a pretty solid effort. You've got to set everything up for what's going to happen in three weeks [at the state meet]. We've got a ways to go, but we've got this week and next week to iron out anything. Hopefully, we'll get everybody where they need to be.''
Charleston Catholic should also figure into the top teams for the state meet, which is set for May 22-23 at Laidley. The Irish finished second in the Relays to a dominant St. Marys team in girls Class A, and third in the boys meet.
Kirsten Mullins led the 100 (in 13.18 seconds) and 200 (27.54) for Catholic's girls, and Emily Sherrard took the pole vault. Mullins was the meet's high-point winner, but the Irish still wound up 741/2 points behind St. Marys.
"St. Marys, in my opinion, unless something strange happens, they've got it locked up,'' said Catholic coach Scott Welch. "They look tremendous in everything. I know Williamstown's not here, and they're incredibly strong. We're trying to formulate plans to take our talent we have and how to mold it. Kirsten's running with a really sore knee and we wanted to see her gut this out. We're pleased and proud of her. We've got two weeks to do a lot of work and organize our strengths.''
St. Marys won seven of Saturday's 13 events and had points in all 13.
"Finally this year, every event we can score in,'' said coach Glenda Cottrill. "We have two or three people in each event that can score. Of course, you're going to dominate if you have that. Last year we realized that [with] our freshman program, we're going to be good. We saw what we had in the feeder program.''
In the boys meet, the Irish came in third with 85 points, trailing top-ranked Doddridge (120) and Pocahontas County (99). Seth Ritchie won the 800 and Andrew Blair the 1600, and Catholic led the 4x400 in 3:42.58. Brian Mosteller, who had the best qualifying time in the 200, aggravated a hamstring injury placing second in the 100 and wasn't available the rest of the meet.
"We're rather pleased with the boys team, too,'' Welch said, "but we have the capability of being better than that.''
St. Albans made a run at the boys AAA title, trailing No. 2-ranked Jefferson by three points entering the final event, only to finish 13 back. Andrew Bailey was the meet's high-point winner for the Red Dragons, leading the 400 (50.19) and 800 (1:56.58) in season-best times. Josh Luciano won the discus.
Winfield was third in boys AAA, and hurdler Caleb Martin produced season lows of 15.04 in the 110 highs and 39.53 in the 300 intermediates.
Only two meet records were set Saturday - both by girls title teams. Oak Hill's Shakilya Cosby ran 57.67 in the AA 400, and St. Marys was clocked at 4:23.02 in the Class A 4x400.
Other Kanawha Valley winners Saturday were: boys AAA, George Washington in the 4x100 (44.04) and 4x200 (1:30.88) and boys A, Corey Good of Buffalo (400, 300 hurdles).
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