Vikings make school history at state track meet
PARKERSBURG — Here Saturday at the state track and field meet inside the University of Charleston Stadium, the Ripley girls nearly brought home a Class AAA championship back to Jackson County while Roane County senior Josie Raines went out with a bang for the Raiders.
The Vikings of head coach Sarah Summers tasted victory in eight events, but the 80 points ended up just shy of Morgantown’s winning effort of 82.
“We’ve worked really hard since the beginning of the year,” said Fields, who also won the 100 (12.45) on Saturday and finished third in the high-point race (20.75) behind George Washington’s Malika Houston and fellow Viking teammate Tori Starcher (32.5). “We knew that we were really going to have a good team, but I don’t think we knew that we were going to be this good.
“But, we tried as hard as we could this weekend and we got eight first-places. I can’t complain about that. We performed really well with what we have.”
Starcher, the Vikings’ distance standout, continued her dominance on the final day of the season with victories in the 800 and the mile.
She went 2:12.94 to top Parkersburg’s Madison Trippett (2:22.85) in the 800. Starcher finished the 1600 in 4:53.91 and Big Red Olivia Collett’s clocking of 5:14.21 was good for fifth.
“I’m really happy with the experience. I won three titles, which is what I wanted to do,” said Starcher, who captured the 3200 on Friday. “It (being part of this team) means so much to me. In the past, Ripley wasn’t as competitive and it’s nice to be up there in the running for a state championship.”
Raines concluded her senior year in style by breaking the 2007 Class AA state long jump record of 17 feet, 11 inches set by Meghan Mock of Berkeley Springs. It was the third consecutive spring the Raider won the long jump.
“It was a personal record, a school record and a state record,” said Raines, who also placed third in the 200, fourth in the 100 and sixth in the 400. “I did it on my third jump after I jumped 17-2 on my first jump. Then I got up to 17-8 and that broke the school record and was a personal best.
“Then I just went for it and got 18-3 and the state record. I honestly didn’t expect a state record. I kind of blew myself away with that one. I wanted it really bad, but I was just trying to win.”
The Vikings also had first-place efforts in both the 4×200 (1:44.79) and the 4×400, which established a new meet record. The Ripley quartet of Fields, Haley Carson, Laurel Miller and the anchor Starcher clocked in at 4:01.82, which was just enough to break the 4:02.07 effort by Buckhannon-Upshur in 1990. Courtney Lanham, Sydni Cunningham, Miller and Fields comprised the 4×200 squad.
Parkersburg’s girls also received a fifth-place showing in the 400 from Trippett.