By Rich Stevens
MaxPreps.com
West Virginia’s Putnam County is comprised of four high schools – Class AAA Hurricane, Class AA Winfield and Poca, and Class A Buffalo – with impressive resumes for athletic prowess.
This past weekend at the state track meet at University of Charleston Stadium, three of those teams earned championships.
The Winfield boys and girls track teams won Class AA championships and the Hurricane girls claimed the AAA title.
Winfield, which is competing in Class AA for the final time before moving up to AAA next season, has a shot at one more team title this season – baseball.
Still, the Generals baseball team will be hard-pressed to top Saturday’s performance, which featured only one champion – Christian Powers in the 110-meter high hurdles and the 300-intermediate hurdles. Winfield’s Caleb Martin scored in the same two events, finishing third in each.
Hurricane boasted one of the state’s fastest athletes in Terrell Martin. A running back on the football team, Martin finished first in the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash, but couldn’t overcome Woodrow Wilson’s Marquel Ali in the 100. Ali, who suffered a knee injury earlier this school year, recovered to run a 10.8.
“I just thank God for letting me be out there today,” Ali told the Beckley Register-Herald. “I was ready for the show.”
This is the second consecutive 100-meter dash title for Ali.
The Winfield girls literally ran away with the Class AA crown, outscoring second-place Berkeley Springs by 56 points.
The Generals won three of the relay events.
In Class A, the Wheeling Central boys and Williamstown girls were crowned champions.
Sissonville had a good showing behind senior Eric Myers, the area’s top weight man. Myers set a 30-year-old record in the shot put with an effort of 58-7 ¼, surpassing the former record held by Dunbar’s Ed Keiffer, who reached 56-8 ¾ back in 1979.
George Washington’s Brittany Pratt, a pole vaulter for the Patriots and the older sister of Patriot No. 1 tennis player Chris Pratt, won the pole vault in Class AAA girls' competition.
Softball
Almost a week’s worth of rain wreaked havoc on postseason softball, but the state tournament participants have finally been determined.
The most impressive playoff run was by Charleston Catholic. The Fighting Irish, which reached their first state tournament since 1999, has outscored its opponents by 49-3 since sectional play began.
Freshman Ally Hoyer was sharp in Catholic’s 2-1 Region 3 championship game, striking out 11 batters and allowing only five hits.
The Irish face the most daunting task of any Class A school at the state tournament in Vienna. Catholic meets two-time defending champion Wheeling Central at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
The Maroon Knights, the benchmark for small school softball teams, has won a state-record nine championships, including seven straight from 1995-2001.
Huntington is going for its second straight title in Class AAA. Chapmanville, last year’s Class AA champ, was eliminated in regional play.
Baseball
The WESTEST (standardized testing) postponed baseball for a week, but only weather can stop it now as regionals begin tonight.
Twelve regional semifinal games are being played in Class A – Notre Dame vs. Tygarts Valley and Moorefield vs. Pendleton County in Region 2 and Richwood vs. Charleston Catholic and Fayetteville vs. Big Creek in Region 3.
The other eight are in Class AA, including defending champion Herbert Hoover against Winfield, which won the AA championship in 2001 and 2002.
The Huskies are expected to send senior and 2007 all-state player Josh Birthisel to the mound against Winfield’s Chad Wright or Tyler Bailey.
Wright not only leads the Generals in innings pitched, but strikeouts per inning (1 ½). The Generals are the best-stocked Class AA team, having four pitchers with at least five victories apiece and a combined 258 strikeouts in 171 1/3 innings pitched.
On Tuesday, Fairmont Senior is expected to send Mike Ice to the mound to face cross-town rival East Fairmont.
The Polar Bears, who reached the Class AAA state championship game three consecutive years (2003-05), are led by Ice, a junior, on the mound and at the plate.
Ice was named the All-North Central Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year. He has a 1.08 earned run average and pitched a no-hitter against Morgantown earlier this season. If the Bears defeat East Fairmont on Tuesday, they’ll face the winner of the other Region 1 semifinal between Morgantown and Wheeling Park.
George Washington, which hit 47 home runs this season, will face cross-town rival Capital in the Region 3 semifinals. The Patriots have reached the regional for the first time since 1997.
In Class A, Van faces Buffalo in one of the more intriguing matchups among small school teams.
The Bulldogs, who have won five state titles, have played most of the season with heavy hearts after losing longtime former coach James Sexton on Feb. 25. Sexton still served as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs,
Buffalo won the 2006 Class A state championship under current coach Jimmy Tribble.
Rich Stevens, a sportswriter for the Charleston Daily Mail, covers West Virginia for MaxPreps.
