Locals break records, take home hardware on Friday in Charleston

May 20, 2023

The Williamstown 4x8 team opened up the 108th annual West Virginia state track meet with a bang here Friday in Charleston. The quartet, from left, of Brianna Winsett, Lexi Wynn, Alyssa Sauro and Ava Lightfritz finished in 9:42.46 to break the previous state record of 9:48.85 held since 2012 by St. Marys’ Ali Johnson, Olivia Taylor, Beverly Knight and Maggie Drazba.(Photo provided)

CHARLESTON — The Williamstown girls track program, which is seeking a fourth straight Class A crown, opened the 108th annual West Virginia state meet here Friday at Laidley Field with a bang.

"We are here for business," quipped Yellowjacket head coach Zach Hall about his 4×8 team of Ava Lightfritz, Brianna Winsett, Lexi Wynn and Alyssa Sauro running a record-breaking 9:42.46, which snapped the mark of 9:48.85 held since 2012 by the St. Marys quartet of Ali Johnson, Olivia Taylor, Beverly Knight and Maggie Drazba.

Sauro won the 3200 by besting Doddridge County's Lexi Lamb 10:33.25 to 11:15.41. Virginia Haddox of St. Marys (11:53.70) was fourth, Winsett (12:09.33) was fifth, while Doddridge County's Katie Cottrill (12:19.59) was seventh.

After day one, the Williamstown girls hold a 53.5 to 38 lead over Doddridge County.

They were able to gain 16 points in the shot put. Kyndra Johnson won it all with a heave of 35-11.25, while Reagan Corbett (33-6.25) was third. A’Kai Williams of Doddridge County placed runner-up (33-10.25), Gilmer County's Kiley Richards was fourth (33-5). Also placing was Ritchie County's Macy Hilvers (7th, 31-6.5).

In the single-A girls pole vault, Doddridge County's Abby McDonough cleared 10 feet, 6 inches to claim gold. Ritchie County's Sydney Kopshina and Williamstown's Izzy Zide tied for second after clearing 9 feet. Yellowjacket Grace Boone (8-6) was fourth, Bulldog Nora Sias (8-0) was fifth, while Williamstown's Remy LeFebure (7-6) finished in a tie for seventh.

Williamstown's Shelby Smith and Brookelyn Reynolds finished 1-2 in the 100 prelims. Payton Currey of Doddridge County qualified third. Also running for state places on Saturday will be Doddridge County's Jaycee Lipscomb and Wirt County's Sarah Sharp.

In the 200 prelims, Smith and Reynolds took the top two spots. Magnolia's Jenna Blain was third.

Currey was fourth and Gilmer County's Kadessa Stitt will place as a freshman after qualifying in eighth.

In the 100 hurdle prelims, the top three qualifiers were all local with the Blue Eagle Blain being followed by Ritchie County's Marissa Scott and the Bulldog McDonough.

Paden City's Mady Still also will score in the event.

The Magnolia quartet of Shaela Holliday, Kaylee Williams, Emma Spitzer and Reese Hale qualified second in the shuttles. Paden City (Jocelyn Sawinski, Katie Householder, Haven Anderson, Still) qualified third. Tyler Consolidated (Bridget Doak, Taylor Donaldson, Trinity Kanz, Bella Garuccio) and St. Marys (Ryleigh Haught, Anna Kimball, Caleigh Campbell, Kamryn Armstrong) also will place in the top eight.

Also scoring in the 4×8 were Doddridge County (3rd, Cassie Cumberledge, Bailey Holden, Emily Gola, Katie Cottrill, 10:16.74), Ritchie County (4th, Andrea Davis, Kaitlyn Sullivan, Chesnee Williams, Bentlee Williams, 10:31.39) and fifth-place St. Marys, which ran a 10:38.04 with Natalie Bartrug, Sophie Greenleaf, Armstrong and Virginia Haddox.

Parkersburg's girls continued their domination of the shuttles in Charleston. Daysha Hastings, Claire Tatterson, Lily Wharton and Addison Gherke topped the field by more than 3 seconds after clocking in at 1:02.06.

Not only did the red and white quartet of head coach Lia Fleek earn 10 points, but they broke the school record of 1:03.43 set back in 2016.

Also, Gherke and Wharton finished two-three in the 100 prelims behind Hurricane's Lily Haught.

The Big Reds finished seventh in the 4×8 with a time of 10:21.54 thanks to Aubrey Lantz, Katie Rutherford, Olivia Perkins and Ellie Hines.

Lucie Cline of Parkersburg South got the Patriots on the board with a pair of points after going 32-5.75 to finish seventh in the shot put.

Ripley's Frankie Winter, who wasn't projected to win, brought home the Class AAA discus title to Jackson County. The Viking had a heave of 165 feet, 9 inches to easily top runner-up Isaiah Hagley of Cabell Midland's 153 feet, 4 inches.

Viking teammate Connor Casto, who went 6-2 in the pole vault to finish fifth, qualified fourth in the 110 hurdle prelims

The Parkersburg South boys took fifth in the shuttles with a time of 59.88 thanks to Miciah Jones, Jordan Foster, Kyle Wheeler and Triston Walker.

In Class A boys action, Williamstown's 4×8 team of Frank Conner, Julian Johnson, Chase Trembly and Zach Cannon ran an 8:27.45 to finish second behind Buffalo.

Cannon, a senior, also posted a 9:58.83 to nip Wheeling Central's Aidan Scott (10:00.84) for the 3200 title. Johnson finished third with a time of 10:02.65. Magnolia's Laden Davis (4th, 10:03.06) and Doddridge County's Carter Sias (5th, 10:03.45) also placed.

The ‘Jackets currently lead a tight top five with 34 points and are followed by Doddridge County (27), Ritchie County (24), Wahama (18) and Buffalo (15).

Area programs Doddridge County (4th, Gunner Kimball, Josh Berke, Krystian Eidel, Carter Sias, 8:36.68), Ritchie County (5th, Heath Knight, Cayden Moore, Dalton Settle, Dylan Malolepsey, 8:42.45), St. Marys (6th, Sam Tagliarini, Reece Westfall, Preston Lawhon, Logan Eddy, 8:44.5) and Magnolia (7th, Lucas Zombotti, Jordan Davis, Shiv Patel, Landen Davis, 8:44.46) also scored in the 4×8.

St. Marys’ Braden Hashman was followed by Wood County Christian's Brayden Wise and Blue Devil teammate Peyton Girard as the first three to cross the finish line in the 110 hurdle prelims.

In the shuttles race, it was Girard and Hashman joining teammates Brayden Hall and Jake Delancey to stand atop the podium after clocking in at 59.82. Doddridge County (2nd, Riley Curran, Brandon Hileman, Seth Cass, Seth Richards, 1:01.74), Ritchie County (3rd, Ethan Haught, Rowan Mallery, Jonah Hamilton, Bruce Moyer, 1:01.88), Williamstown (7th, Brogan Law, Carter Montgomery, Cooper Billingsley, Malachi Stewart, 1:05.59) and Paden City (8th, Mickey Guerra, Oskar Lehtonen, Adri Lila, Logan Smith, 1:05.99) also placed.

Three local thinclads will place in the 100 after qualifying — Wood County Christian's Christian Erlandson, Ravenswood's Wyatt Milhoan and Wahama's Gavin Hieronymus. Milhoan and Erlandson also qualified for the finals in the 200.

White Falcon Rowen Gerlach was unable to defend his title in the shot put. Gerlach threw 53 feet, 4 inches, but it wasn't enough to top Miles Kidwell of East Hardy and his 53-7.75. Ritchie County's Austin Bartlett took third (48-6.5), Williamstown's Aiden Corbett was fourth (47-10) and Doddridge County's Braden Murphy (46-3.5) was fifth.

Gerlach was able to defend his title in the discus after topping Bartlett by 5 feet (148-5 to 143-5). Magnolia's Matthew Anderson was third (140-2), Bulldog Adam Burnside was fourth (136-1), Tyler Consolidated's Tristen Tuttle took fifth (135-0), Yellowjacket Jett Nestor was sixth (133-3) and Bulldog Jayden Underwood earned a point for placing eighth (124-9).

In Class AA, Roane County's Hope Mason was fifth in the high jump and fellow Raider Maddie Hall was sixth. They each cleared 4 feet, 10 inches.

The Raider boys were third in the shuttles with a time of 1:00.22. Lane Watson, who was fourth in the 110 hurdle prelims, was joined on the team by Skyler Delk, Cobun Cottrell and Luke Watson. In the pole vault, John Bowen scored six points for the Raiders by clearing 12 feet, 6 inches, which was good for third.

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