Winfield tabbed to win AA
By JIM BUTTA, jbutta@newsandsentinel.comCHARLESTON—The road to a state track and field championship in Class AA definitely takes a turn through Winfield as the Generals look to make their final season in the division a successful one when the Mountain State’s best meet at the University of Charleston Stadium begins at 2 p.m. on Friday.
Among those looking to throw a wrench into the Putnam Countians’ plans will be the boys from Ravenswood and the gals from Ritchie County.
The Red Devils of head coach Ben Nesselroad finished a distant second to the Generals a year ago, 76.5-58, but could make some noise in the capital city behind the long distance trio of Nathan Rees, Ben Wise and Alex Cole.
Rees enters the state meet with the second fastest regional times in the 3200 (10:02.95) and 1600 (4:39.55) meter runs. However, the fastest times—10:01.13 in the 3200 and 4:37.51 in the 1600—belong to Weir’s Stewart Jones, who bested the Ravenswood runner in both events at the regional championships last week at Ritchie County High School.
Cole (4:45.81) and Wise (4:45.93) both enter as top six seeds in the 1600, but Rees and Cole are the only two ranked among the top 10 in the 800.
The trio will make the Jackson Countians a force to be reckoned with in the 4 by 400 (3:29.35) and 4 by 800 (8:30.24) meter relays, but Ravenswood will need some help from a number of places to unseat the Generals.
Some other locals worth keeing an eye upon include Magnolia’s Luke Seavy, who has run the best time by two seconds over the rest of the qualifiers in the 800 meter run, Ritchie County’s Mark Britton in the discus and Cody Masters in the pole vault, and Roane County’s Derek Davis in the 110 meter high hurdles, Jeremiah Coon in the high jump and Aaron Atkinson in the long jump.
On the girls’ side Ritchie County finished a distant fourth to Winfield a year ago, 106.5-52. But, the Rebels of head coach Ted VanScoy have a pair of solid performers who are accustomed to winning in pole vaulter Kelli Sealover and sprinter/hurdler Cassie Bunner.
Sealover will be looking to stand atop the winner’s platform for the third straight May when she takes on the field in the pole vault. The Rebel standout has cleared 10-feet, 6-inches this season while her closest rival—Roane County’s Ashli Knotts—has only gone as high as 9-3.
The senior finished third at the state meet as a freshman with a vault of 8-feet, 6-inches, then returned a year later to win her first crown with a vault of 10-feet.
While Sealover will be looking for title No. 3, Bunner will be looking for that elusive first individual crown.
The W.Va. Wesleyan recruit will look to break that stretch on Saturday morning when she competes in the 400 meter dash and 300 meter low hurdles.
Bunner enters her final state meet ranked second in both events. Winfield’s Emily Stewart holds a two-tenths of a second advantage over her Ritchie County rival in the 400 (59.2) while Berkeley Spring’s Meghan Mock’s time of 47.08 is less than a tenth of a second ahead of Bunner in the 300 meter hurdles (47.17).
A year ago the Ritchie standout finished third in the 400 with a clocking of 1:00.05 and was fifth in the 200 (26.36) meter dash. She also ran on the Rebels’ runner-up 4 by 200 meter relay and fourth place 4 by 400 meter relay.
Other locals worth looking out for include Ravenswood’s Emily Rector, Ritchie’s Cheri Bunner, and Roane County’s Jessica Roberts, Morgan Cottrell, Knotts and Stephanie Mitchell.
