Golf, track are where Putnam wins championships

HUNTINGTON -- With the end of June upon us, the 2008-09 school year is officially coming to a close. This week, the top prep sports moments from the year will be highlighted by area.

With 14 sports available for each team, not all the memories can be touched on, but here are the best of the best from 2008-09.

Today, we travel to Putnam County where golf and track reigned supreme, but plenty of memories were made over the course of the year.

Golf

Hurricane ran away with the Class AAA golf title as Aaron Barna and Brian Anania led the team to the championship over Wheeling Park.

The success was not just limited to the Redskins, however.

In Class AA, Poca's George Hamrick was named to the all-tournament team while Buffalo's Garrett Burdette enjoyed the same honor in Class A.

Track and Cross Country

In Class AAA, both Hurricane's girls and Winfield's boys finished third overall in the team standings at the state meet with several individuals performing well.

Hurricane's girls were led by Josie Crouch, who tied for third in overall individual points with 19.5 after winning the 800-meter dash and finishing third in the 400-meter dash.

Crouch was also the anchor leg for the state champion 4x800 relay team, which included Sahara Assi, Alex Dent and Sarah Davis.

Assi, Dent and Crouch also teamed with Chloe Barber to take fourth in the 4x400 relay.

Jaclyn Schiffour won the pole vault while Dent added a second-place finish in the 1600-meter dash for the Redskins.

Winfield's Valerie Kirk finished second in the 100-meter hurdles while the 4x102.5 shuttle hurdle team finished third.

On the boys' side, Winfield's Caleb Martin won both the 110-meter hurdles and the 300-meter hurdles while anchoring the state champion 4x110 hurdles team.

In Class A boys, Buffalo's Corey Good won the 300-meter hurdles while Buffalo also took the title in the 4x110-meter shuttle hurdles.

Hurricane also was the state runners-up and MSAC champion in girls cross country.

Football

Hurricane started the year off very strong, jumping out to a 6-0 record, but losses in four of its last five games ended the Redskins' season in the first round of the playoffs.

The first loss came against eventual state champion South Charleston by seven, but one-point losses to Nitro and Spring Valley followed before a season-ending win over Brooke put Hurricane in a first-round playoff game against Capital. The Cougars proved too tough in a 35-14 win.

Terrell Martin was one of the state's most exciting players and finished as a Kennedy Award candidate for Hurricane.

Winfield got off to a slow start in its first year at Class AAA, losing its first five games. However, the Generals won four of five to end the season 4-6.

In Class AA, Poca's Caleb Arthur was electric at running back, but the Dots' defensive woes were too much for Arthur's legs to overcome in a 2-8 season. The team allowed more than 20 points in each game in 2008.

Buffalo finished at an even 5-5 in Class A with losses to four Class A playoff teams (Parkersburg Catholic, Matewan, Fayetteville, Man).

Boys basketball

Winfield made a trip to the Class AAA state tournament in its first year at its new classification after going to Spring Valley and defeating the Timberwolves, 68-49.

At the state tournament, the Generals were paired with South Charleston, and Winfield took a 32-26 lead into the locker room at halftime. However, Aaron Dobson led the Black Eagles back in the second half to end Winfield's year at 16-10 with a 64-52 loss.

Hurricane started 1-14 during its season, but won six of its last nine games to end the year 7-17.

In Class AA, Poca excelled even minus former star Noah Cottrill. The Dots had an eight-game winning streak in the middle of the year and found themselves in the top 10 on several occasions, finishing the year 15-10.

Buffalo ended its season at 10-10 following a loss to Huntington St. Joe in the Class A sectional.

Baseball

For Hurricane, the regional baseball tournament ran the gamut of emotions.

A 4-2 win in the region semifinal over Cabell Midland gave the Redskins energy heading into the championship against Nitro.

Hurricane jumped out to an early 5-2 lead before rain halted play for three days. When the teams returned to the field, the lead increased to 8-3, but Nitro stormed back to score the game's final six runs for a 9-8 win that ended Hurricane's year at 27-8.

Winfield had come within one win of ending Hurricane's year in the double-elimination sectional tournament after getting a win in Game 1, but the Redskins rallied with two straight wins to advance to the region tourney.

The Generals had a solid year in their new home at Class AAA, finishing 16-15.

In Class AA, Poca finished 6-26 while advancing to the regional semifinal where they lost to state semifinalist Sissonville.

In Class A, Buffalo finished 21-11 but suffered a disappointing end to the season in a Region IV, Section 1 loss to Wahama.

Softball

Buffalo made the most noise in 2009, advancing to the Class A, Region IV finals against Man. However, the eventual state champion Billies squeaked out a 1-0 win to end the Bison' season at 25-9.

In Class AA, Poca advanced to the region semifinal, but fell to Herbert Hoover 4-1.

In Class AAA, Hurricane ousted Winfield in the three-team section before falling to Lincoln County in the championship.

Girls basketball

All four Putnam County teams were right about average during 2008-09's basketball season.

In Class AAA, Hurricane finished with a 12-11 record after starting the season 4-0. Meanwhile, Winfield suffered through an 8-11 year after the off-season troubles with the coaching situation surrounding former coach Paul Sutherland.

Poca ended the year at 13-10 in Class AA while falling to Tolsia in the Region IV final.

Buffalo ended its year at 13-10 following a 98-28 loss to Huntington St. Joe in the section semifinal.

Soccer

Hurricane's boys were the MSAC runners-up to Cabell Midland, but finished with a 2-0 loss to Huntington in the sectional to end the year 16-5.

On the girls' side, the Redskins advanced to the section championship before falling to Cabell Midland, 1-0. Hurricane finished 10-7-2.

Winfield's soccer teams were among the state's elite for most of the year, but both saw their years end in the section championship.

The boys ran into a 1-0 loss to Parkersburg in the section title game to end the season 12-5-4.

The girls suffered their lone loss of the season -- a 1-0 setback -- to Parkersburg South. Oddly enough, Parkersburg South won 1-0 despite not attempting a shot on goal. The lone goal was scored on a penalty kick in the 43rd minute.

Poca's girls lost to Huntington St. Joe in the section semifinals to finish the year 9-11.

Tennis

Poca had three players qualify for the boys state tennis tournament in Class AA/A.

Trey McClanahan defeated Notre Dame's Aravind Reddy, 8-1, in the No. 2 singles first round before falling, 8-3, to Bluefield's Ian Lovern.

Brian Sigman also qualified at No. 1 singles but fell in first round action, 8-6. He and his doubles partner Stephen Doss won their first match at No. 1 doubles, but lost to Bluefield's tandem of Lovern and Chad Brady in the second round.

Wrestling

Winfield's Jesse Sigman finished second in the state tournament, losing in the championship to Cabell Midland's Gabe Hardiman at heavyweight.

Poca's Coty Hilty finished fifth at 145.