CHARLESTON — Hurricane entered the West Virginia High School Track Championships as the team to beat in Class AAA girls.
When the meet ended on a cool, sunny Saturday afternoon, the girls and Redskins coach Steve Caldwell were wearing shirts with this inscription: “West Virginia “AAA” State Champions. Hurricane High Girls Track and Field.”
With clutch efforts from Josie Crouch in the 800 and Brittany Carey in the 200, Hurricane finished with 69 points to secure the first girls state championship and third state title overall for the Putnam County school.
“You can write as many descriptive words that you want, but they don’t apply right now,” said Christy Austin, senior who won the shot put and placed fourth in the discus. “There are no words to describe how we feel right now. I was praying it wouldn’t be my fault.”
Carey, another of the five seniors on the roster of 50, had one goal when the gun sounded. “Run as hard as I can,” she said. She had a time of 26.39 to 26.26 for winner Daytona Maher of Hampshire.
“This is amazing,” Carey said. “This seals the deal.”
Hurricane trailed Preston by 10 points going into Saturday’s action. Crouch made up that defict with a win (worth 10 points) in the 400 (57.40). Savannah Rutherford of Spring Valley was second and Huntington High’s Molly Harrington fourth. The triumph in the 800 put the Redskins ahead to stay. Earlier, Hurricane got points from Jaclyn Schiffour (third) and Megan Loughry (fifth) in the pole vault.
“I had the feeling I could win,” Crouch said. “That adrenalin rush. This is the race I care about. I was boxed in, but coach yelled at me not to worry. We know what we can do. It’s up to the girls.”
When the meet ended, the girls dumped a bucket of cold water on Caldwell. The team will be recognized at an assembly Monday at school.
“I’m going to be bragging so much,” said Alex Dent, who scored in the 1600 and 3200 for the Redskins.
“This is the greatest feeling ever,” Crouch said.
Caldwell welcomed the water and hugs from his team.
“What a great day for Hurricane track,” he said. “I graduated from here. I’ve seen a lot. This is unbelievable. This group worked so hard.”
In other team races, Winfield swept in Class AA boys and girls. Williamstown won Class A girls and Wheeling Central finished on top in Class A boys.
This marked the final year for Winfield in Class AA. The school moves to Class AAA in the fall. This was the fifth straight title for the boys and fifth in six years for the girls.
“We leave Class AA the way we wanted to leave,” Winfield girls coach David Bailey said. “We had a goal and accomplished it. We’ve had a good run.”
“I’m so pleased,” said Shawn Anderson, who coaches the Winfield boys. “I’ve been just a small part of it.”
In other highlights, Sissonville’s Eric Myers eclipsed the state meet’s second-oldest record and put his name alongside Olympic champion Randy Barnes as one of the top weight throwers in West Virginia high school history.
The Sissonville senior smashed two Class AA marks in winning the shot put and discus. Myers threw the shot put 58 feet, 7 1/4 inches to erase the mark of 56-8 3/4 set by Dunbar’s Ed Keiffer in 1979. He threw the discus 176-7, breaking the mark of 169-11 set by Poca’s Ryan Burdette in 2002. His throws were 8 feet farther than his nearest competitor in the shot put and 22 feet farther in the discus.
Meghan Mock of Berkeley Springs won three individual events for the third straight year. She captured the 100 and 300 hurdles Saturday, adding to her win Friday in the long jump. She set a record in the 300 hurdles.
St. Marys’ Jennifer McFarland won the Class A 800 and 1,600 Saturday to add to her 3,200 win Friday night.
Doddridge County’s Levi Grandt added a second record Saturday to the one he set in the Class A 3,200 on Friday night. Grandt won the 1,600 Saturday in 4:26.71, 0.34 faster than the mark set by Wheeling Central’s Bobby Herron in 2005.
Woodrow Wilson’s Marquel Ali won the Class AAA boys 100 for the second straight year, only five months after undergoing knee surgery following football season.
Hurricane’s Terrell Martin won the 200 and 400 and ran anchor on the winning 4x400 relay team.
Point Pleasant’s Bernardo Caputo swept the 100 and 200 and ran lead leg on the winning 4x100 relay team. Mallory Nowlin of Point Pleasant won the 200 and finished second in the 100. Wayne’s Rodney Endicott, who won the 100 and 200 in 2007, was third in the 100 and second in the 200.
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