MORGANTOWN — This time last year, Clay-Battelle’s Nathan Swaniger prepared to take the track at the Class A state track and field meet a relatively unknown name.
South Harrison senior sprinter Freddy Canary was the talk of the state all season, and was the overwhelming favorite to capture all three of the individual sprint championships. Swaniger, meanwhile, had barely earned his trip to the meet. As Swaniger stepped on the running surface at Laidley Stadium, a state title was the furthest thing from his mind.
“Last year, everyone knew last year that Freddy Canary was the favorite. I wasn’t really that known,” he said.
Today, Swaniger will make the trip back to the state meet in Charleston to close his senior campaign, but things couldn’t be more different. He owns the fastest Class A mark in the 100- and 200-meter dash this season, and enters seeded third in the 100 and first in the 200 following his regional performance.
“It’s pretty exciting coming in ranked so high. My goal is to go out and run each race as hard as I can and do the best I can do,” he said. “Since I’ve been there, I’m not extremely nervous because I know what it’s like, but there are extra nerves because I’m going in so highly ranked — people are expecting more out of me.”
Swaniger, as well as sophomore Chase Ammons, who enters the meet as the top seed in the 1,600-meter run, enter the meet as favorites to do what only one other boys athlete or team has done at Clay-Battelle — capture a state championship.
The first was sprinter Nathan Tolley, who captured back-to-back 400-meter titles in 2012 and 2013.
“It would mean a lot. It’s been my goal to win a state championship since I was in sixth grade,” Swaniger said. “Other schools have athletes that go out and win state titles all the time. Every time something big happens here, everyone loves it; it’s a big deal and everybody supports that person.”
On the girls’ side for Clay-Battelle, Addison Ammons, Hailey Carreon, McKenna Kirby and Shannon Statler will look to defend their Class A shuttle hurdle relay title. They own the second-best mark in Class A this season and enter the meet as the second seed behind Ritchie County. They entered the meet in a similar position last year before capturing the crown.
“It’s the same four girls, and we’re going in the same order,” coach Ted Cline said. “Their times keep dropping, and we’re expecting to win it. We might not be seeded first, but the pressure isn’t on us as defending champions. It’s on everyone else.”
Ammons and Carreon also enter the 100-meter hurdles seeded in the top four, looking to usurp defending champion Shawnee Jenkins, who captured Trinity Christian’s first state title in the event last spring before transferring to South Harrison. Ammons will also enter the pole vault seeded second.
“It would mean everything. The coaches here bleed blue and gray — we do this for the kids. It means a lot to the program and the kids as well. We’ve had a lot of state champions in my time here, and it’s just good for the school, good for the community and good for the kids,” Cline said.
For Trinity, Kaylie Laskody will compete in four events, and enters the 300-meter hurdles seeded second and the high jump seed fourth. She holds the third-best mark in Class A in both events.
