Doddridge County junior Isabella McGrady swims the butterfly at last year’s West Virginia High School State Swim Meet in Morgantown. McGrady is the top seed in the 100 butterfly for this year’s event. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

PARKERSBURG — As a coach of her alma mater and someone who plastered her name throughout the record books while swimming for Parkersburg High School, Emily Martin is just fine seeing individuals like sophomore Delaney Snodgrass move to the forefront of the program.

Beginning Thursday and concluding Friday inside Peak Health Aquatic Center at Mylan Park in Morgantown, Snodgrass ranks as the top seed in her two individual events – 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle in Division I. The sophomore is the defending champion in both events.

Her male counterpart at PHS, sophomore Levi Morr is also seeded No. 1 in those same two events on the boys side.

“Delaney is swimming phenomenally – her times at regionals were right at her best times, and she has not begun to taper yet,” Martin said. “At regionals, she broke the school record. It was a high school best time, but not a lifetime best time. But she has really peaked to perform. She doesn’t always need someone to push her to swim her best.”

“Grace Cox broke my 500 free record then Delaney has now broken it a few times. When Grace broke my records, I was on deck and that was probably my favorite moment of coaching. Then Grace was there when Delaney broke the 500 free for the first time. There were the three of us together – it really felt like the passing of the torch.”

Parkersburg South junior Camryn McLain is seeded fourth in the 100 breaststroke at the West Virginia High School State Swim Meet, beginning Thursday in Morgantown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

Morr is attempting to repeat as a champion in the 500 free. Last year, he swam the 200 IM and qualified for the ‘A’ finals. This year, he has the made the switch to the 200 freestyle.

“We shifted Levi a little bit and it looks like he has a nice path to potentially come home with two individual medals,” Martin said. “The last time I can think of Parkersburg having a male and female pair possibly winning two championships was the era of Grace Cox and David Snider. So it’s been a while.”

With two divisions of classifications making its debut this year at the state swim meet, Doddridge County junior Isabella McGrady is a strong candidate as Division II’s top seed in the 100 butterfly – carrying a two-second gap on second place. She will attempt to medal in two individual events on the same day. On Thursday, she is seeded third in 200 IM.

“I tried to talk Isabella out of doing two events on the same day – she was adamant about competing in those two events,” DCHS coach Justin Robery said. “Last year, she broke a minute in the 100 fly and she is hoping to do that this year. I have no doubt she will pick it up and put up an even bigger gap.

“She is pretty humble for being such a dominant swimmer. She deserves whatever she gets because of the amount of work and dedication she puts in this season. I’m sure she will make her name known at Morgantown.”

Parkersburg sophomore Delaney Snodgrass seeks to defend her state titles in both the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle at the West Virginia High School State Swim Meet, beginning Thursday in Morgantown. (Photo by Kerry Patrick)

With the new format, the meet has scrapped ‘B’ finals. The top eight times in the morning prelims in each event advance to the finals scheduled for the evening session on both days.

Coming off a third place showing as a team at regionals, the Parkersburg South girls are led by Paige Johnson, Camryn McLain and Vivian Grimm.

The top hopefuls for South on the girls side include Johnson in the 100 back, McLain in the 100 breast and the 200 free relay. All three entries are seeded fourth.

“The girls have done what they were expected to do,” South coach Ryan Radcliff said. “They had best times and lifetime bests.”

On the boys side, the number of Patriots qualifying parallel their female counterparts. One in particular, Brent Freels, left quite the impression as South also placed runner-up at regionals. One week after turning in a 58-second finish at placing 10th in the 100 free at the Mountain State Athletic Conference Meet, the junior dropped a whopping five seconds at regionals.

“At regionals, it was the same teams with the addition of three or four teams – we wondered if he would qualify for states,” Radcliff said. “It was kind of crazy what he did in one week. In all my years, I’ve never seen that.”

South senior Remington Blair, who is seeded sixth in the 100 free and seventh in the 50 free, continues to be the studying influence for the boys program.

“I was kind of surprised what the boys have accomplished – they definitely exceeded what other people thought,” Radcliff said. “They will definitely turn some heads at state. Some have been around the program and some were brand new. They trusted the process.”

For PHS, Lily Jones is seeded fourth in the 100 fly, while Adelaide Vann is ranked sixth in the 100 free and seventh in the 50 free.

“The takeaway this season is perseverance,” Martin said. “We were dealt a really big blow at the beginning of the season when the SSAC announced the new structure for the state tournament. That was really disheartening and discouraging, and made it hard for me and the kids to show up every day and put the work in. But we did it.

“Then they announced the north regional and not ours, which put us at a huge disadvantage for qualifying for states. We went in there with our heads held high and we used that disappointment to motivate us – to make us stronger and persevere. Now we just get to go have fun and celebrate our sport and put up the best performances we can.”

For DCHS, McGrady isn’t alone in the pursuit of medals. Addy Robey is seeded fifth in the 100 breaststroke and seventh in the 200 IM. For the Bulldogs on the boys side, Colton Key is seeded third in the 100 breaststroke and fifth in the 100 free.

DCHS had to adapt to a schedule where two meets were cancelled due to the weather and a third invite cancelled because of issues with the pool at the Bridge Invite in Bridgeport.

“These kids are tough,” coach Robey said. “They are their own biggest critics, while I am their biggest fan if they need me. Monday at practice and leading to Wednesday when we leave for Morgantown, they were excited. There is excitement in the air.”

Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsen