’Jacket girls in lead at state track meet

Winfield, CM tops in their classes

From Staff Reports
CHARLESTON — They were few in number but the first day of the West Virginia High School State Track and Field championships at the University of Charleston Stadium did have a couple of upsets.

One of those came from a local athlete as Williamstown’s Madison Postlewaite came away with a first place in the Class A pole vault.

The Yellowjackets were predicted to finish one-two in the event, as senior Kate Billups was expected to win her third consecutive championship. That failed to happen, however, as Postlewaite — a sophomore — cleared a height of 9-feet, 6-inches to take the title away from her older teammate.

Postlewaite and Billups were also involved in the other upset of the first day of action as the duo combined with sophomores Courtney Longwell and Keeper Gray to win the shuttle hurdle relay in a time of 1 minute, 10.45 seconds.

South Harrison came into the state meet with the fastest qualifying time, but the Hawks finished fourth in the event in a time of 1:13.03.

The upset propelled the maroon and gold to a seven-point, 36-29, lead over defending state champion Doddridge County after the first day’s events.

Charleston Catholic is third with 23 points followed by Wheeling Central and St. Marys with 16 points apiece.

The remainder of Friday’s meet went as predicted, especially for the athletes of the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Doddridge County’s Levi Grandt began his final state meet with a splash by breaking the Class A mark in the 3200 meter run, winning in a time of 9:22.26.

The Bulldog senior led from start to finish, eclipsing the old mark of 9:38.45 set by Bobby Herron of Wheeling Central in 2005.

Ritchie County’s Kelli Sealover made it three in a row in the Class AA pole vault, beating Roane County’s Ashli Knotts by a foot. The Rebel senior cleared 10-feet, 6-inches in her final state meet.

As expected the 4 by 800 meter relay foursome of Nathan Rees, Ben Wise, Kurt Gray and Alex Cole ran away with the victory for Ravenswood, which posted a winning time of 8 minutes, 15.32 seconds.

Also as expected Parkersburg South’s Kelsey Watkins took her first step toward an individual championship in the 100 meter high hurdles when the Patriot senior crossed the finish line in 15.41 seconds to post the fastest qualifying time in the preliminaries.

South’s Sammy Hicks wasn’t able to pull out the win, however, in the shot put as the sophomore’s toss of 34-feet, 10.5-inches came up short of Hurricane’s Christina Austin, who won the event with a throw of 37-8.

Adding her name to the list of local winners was St. Marys’ junior Jennifer McFarland. The Blue Devil outdueled Doddridge County’s Emily Coffman to win the 3200 meter run, winning in a time of 12 minutes, 36.27 seconds.

Other locals garnering individual places include St. Marys’ Tiffany Sigler, who placed third in the shot put, Williamstown’s Autumn Chidester (4th, shot put), Doddridge’s Stephanie Myer and KayCee Hill (5th, pole vault), Roane’s Jeremiah Coon (2nd, high jump), Ritchie’s Cody Masters (4th, pole vault), Parkersburg’s Brandon Flint (4th, discus) and Megan Ayers (6th, discus), the Bulldogs’ Adalia Trudgeon (4th, 3200), Ravenswood’s Alyssa Palmer (5th, pole vault), Williamstown’s Matt Kiger (4th, discus and 6th, shot put) and Jakeb Elliott (6th, discus), Parkersburg South’s Watkins (5th, long jump), Roane’s Jessica Roberts (5th, 3200), St. Mary’s Travis Malone (2nd, shot put), Ravenswood’s Nathan Rees (4th, 3200) and Roane’s Randy Price (6th, 3200).

In the other team races, Preston finished day one with a 10-point, 38-28, lead over Hurricane in the Class AAA girls division while defending state champion Winfield goes into today’s finals with a 16-point, 37-21, advantage over second place Berkeley Springs.

On the boys’ side Richwood holds a one-point, 27-26, lead over Wheeling Central. Doddridge is third with 24 and Valley Wetzel is fourth with 20.

Defending Class AA champion Winfield, which will move up to Class AAA beginning next fall, leads Webster County by 22 points, 42-20. Ravenswood finished the first day in third place with 14 points.

In Class AAA, Cabell Midland has a 41-29 lead over Wheeling Park.