Breaking News
Local Sports

Several Mid-Ohio Valley thinclads take home titles on day one of West Virginia track meet

By Kerry Patrick 6 min read

CHARLESTON - A hodge podge of winners and near winners for schools representing the Mid-Ohio Valley at the West Virginia High School State Track and Field Meet Friday night at Laidley Field.

Williamstown junior Alyssa Sauro made it look like a walk in the park while winning her third straight Class A girls title in the 3200 - nearly 51 seconds ahead of the rest of the field while turning in a time of 10:41.77.

"Everytime I feel like I am going to slow down, I just tell myself where I want to be at," said Sauro, who has made a verbal commitment to attend the University of Tennessee after her senior year. "This race didn't go as planned. I didn't feel great tonight, but I am still happy with the outcome."

Later in the Class AAA girls field for the 3200, Ripley's Ellie Hosaflook appeared to have enough of a lead coming down the final 100, but Morgantown's Madeline Gump outkicked the Viking senior near the finish line and captured the title by a mere 29-hundredths of a second.

Earlier in the evening, the Parkersburg girls shuttle hurdle relay won a Class AAA state title for the fourth consecutive time. This year's unit included Addison Gherke, Claire Tatterson, Katie Rutherford and Daysha Hastings taking the win in a time of 1:03.68.

"I'm so happy for our team - we have worked so hard to get here," Rutherford said. "We came in here with not a great time, but we proved ourselves and we are so happy."

Gherke anchored the relay. Her eyes had the look of fierce determination as she completed her the final leg just ahead of Huntington, which placed second in 1:04.50.

"Last week at regionals was a rough week for us and I didn't know what was going to happen," Gherke said. "But I believed in all of us. This is my senior year and my last time running shuttles and I just wanted to show I put in the hard work and wanted to win."

Several minutes earlier, Paden City's only four runners in the girls program (Kaitlyn Householder, Madylen Still, Haven Anderson and Jocelyn Sawinski) combined for a Class A state championship in their division of the shuttle hurdles. The Wildcats finished in a time of 1:08.85.

"It didn't even feel real honestly when we heard we won," Sawinski said. "I'm really proud of our team because we have worked hard for this for two years."

This same Wildcat foursome which placed fourth last year were projected to finish third. A hurdle mishap by favorite Tyler Consolidated helped open the door. Paden City competed against TCHS throughout the season but had never defeated the Knights. Until Friday.

"This is an unbreakable friendship," Still said. "At Paden City, people come and they go. We are really lucky the same four girls stayed together for these two years."

Rivalring Sauro's convincing win in the 3200 was Parkersburg South sophomore Mya Baruwa successfully defending her title in the Class AAA high jump. Baruwa cleared 5-4. Her good friend, Hastings from PHS, set a personal best after clearing 5-4 as well.

Baruwa and Hastings were the last two individuals standing with the bar at 5-6, but neither could turn in a good jump in their three attempts. Baruwa, who also set a PR, won the tiebreaker with fewer missed attempts.

"Me and Daysha were having a really good time - we are good friends outside of track and she pushes me in track," Baruwa said. "This feels great - I didn't get beat all year. I'm going for four now, I mean I'm going for a third state title next year.

"I'm going to start lifting for next season because I'm too scrawny for this."

Outside the track surface at the shot and discus pits, Doddridge County junior A'Kaia Williams turned in a throw of 35-8 in the preliminaries of the Class A shot put and made that stand as the top throw one year after she finished runner-up.

"Last year I was state runner-up and this year that is what I assumed what I was going to be because there were multiple throwers who were throwing farther than me," said Williams, who was projected to finish third in the event. "Being a state champ is not a feeling I thought I would have, but I was real excited. I almost passed out."

For the Class A girls discus, a bit of controversy surrounded the final results. Hundred's Aeronna Zarco was determined the winner at 111-02. Williamstown sophomore Reagan Corbett placed second at 108-07, but according to Williamstown coach Zach Hall that distance would have surpassed Zarco's had Corbett's attempt not stopped dead in its tracks after hitting one of the trackers measuring in the outfield.

Hall wanted a ruling pertaining to the distance Corbett was denied by the flight of her throw.

"The guy gets hit in the shoulder, the disc goes straight down - he said he couldn't see it," Hall said.

Hosaflook, definitely, turned in the surprise of the night session. Struggles through the regular season were dismissed after she won the 3200 at regionals.

On Friday, she stayed behind the leader on purpose and was still sitting anywhere from seventh to eighth place more than a fourth of the way into the race.

"It's disappointing, but (Gump) had a great kick on me - my legs were really hurting in that last 100," said Hosaflook, who was projected to finish seventh before turning in a time of 11:01.64. "I had a good time at regionals - better than what I thought it would be, so I thought I guess the 3200 is my event now.

"I got it switched to the 800 and 1600 and thought I was more mid-distance, but I think it is 3200. Between 700 and 900 (meters), that was my plan to go to take the lead and give it everything I had to win a state championship. The cheering was so loud, I didn't hear any breathing or footsteps near the finish line.

"I left it all out there. It's going to be hard to run three miles, 2 1/2 miles or whatever it is of racing (Saturday)."

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com

Starting at /week.