The must-see event in West Virginia high school track started out just like everything else does these days — on social media.
When University High School’s Josh Edwards and Nick Plant of Ohio’s Canfield High School met each other at a track event, they quickly developed a plan to settle which one of them was the fastest.
That’s where the social media platform Snapchat came to the rescue. Plant said that is where he and Edwards got the idea to race one time before they both leave for collegiate running careers.
“We were both in Youngstown and we just started chatting,” Plant said. “It kind of developed from there.”
Plant, the current Nike indoor high school national champion in the 800-meter run, and Edwards, the current Nike indoor high school national champ in the 3200 run, raced during the fifth-annual Morgantown High School Invitational held at Mylan Park Track & Field complex. The two runners decided to run the 1600 as they split the distance of the best event for both.
The cold weather, rain and snow at the event had an effect on Edwards who admitted he is currently battling an illness.
“I just raced dumb,” Edwards said. “I was just going to hang behind him, but I could tell he was slowing down, and he wanted me to take the lead. I tried to put as much distance between us as I could. I knew he had a lot of leg speed. I should have realized we were going out a little bit slower. For me to win today, I should have hammered out all four laps.”
Plant, who has signed to run at Virginia Tech, took the early lead over Edwards, a University of Oregon signee, for the first two laps, but then Edwards raced to the lead at the beginning of the third lap and held that lead until the final 300 meters. That is when Plant made his move and held on for the victory. Plant ran the race, his only event in the invitational, with a time of 4:11.92 while Edwards finished with a time of 4:14.62.
Edwards and the Hawks finished third in the invite with 85 points. Jefferson won the meet with 147 while Morgantown finished second with 93.
Morgantown’s Lucas Howell broke the meet record in the pole vault as he cleared 14-feet-6. Also winning an event for the Mohigans was the 4×110 shuttle hurdles team of Seth Wisman, Jarrett Lawrence, Hayden Casdorph and Alex Tadros.
Colin McBee won the discus for the Hawks while the 4×400 relay team of Edwards, Rocco DeVincent, Brock Price and Drew Zundell grabbed a first place as well.
On the girls’ side, Morgantown’s Irene Riggs set a pair of meet records. She won the 1600 run with a time of 4:49.37 which is also a facility high school record. She also won the 800 run with a time of 2:18.33 which was also a meet record.
“I was really excited to come out and race today,” Riggs said. “Once you get out there, you don’t really notice the weather. It just goes out of your mind, and you focus on racing.”
Riggs’ day was even more impressive considering that this was her first outside competition of the season.
“I really wanted to be as close to 4:48 (in the 1600) as possible,” Riggs said. “I would like to get below 4.45 this season.”
The Mohigans were just edged out by Jefferson on the girls’ side. The Cougars scored 106 points while MHS tallied 100.5. University finished fifth with 46 points and Preston was sixth with 29 points.
Morgan Ryan grabbed a victory for MHS in the pole vault, Sophie Renner won the 3200 run and the 4×100 relay team of Yelena Davidson, Grace Devall, Lilly Staples and Izayah Everett also picked up a victory.
Sierra Lanham won the 100 Dash and the long jump for the Hawks. Preston got a nice day from Sierra Davis who set a meet record in the discus with a throw of 109-foot-10.
By Eric Herter
GIRLS
HIGH JUMP – 2. Joanna Butcher (MHS), 4-foot-10; 5. Marisa Fijewski (MHS), 4-6. SHOT PUT – 5. Sierra Davis (PHS), 29-foot-3. POLE VAULT – 1. Morgan Ryan (MHS), 9-foot-0; 4. Ashley Chisler (CB), 8-0; 5. Isabelle DeVall (MHS), 7-0. DISCUS – 1. Sierra Davis (PHS), 109-foot-10. 3200 RUN – 1. Sophie Renner (MHS), 11:57.98; 3. Clair von Boetlicher (UHS), 12:17.04; 6. Abby Nolan (PHS), 12:57.76. LONG JUMP – 1. Sierra Lanham (UHS), 16-feet-8.75; 4. Lilly Staples (MHS), 15-7; 6. Grace Devall (MHS), 15-2. 400 DASH – 3. Yelena Davidson (MHS), 1:02.5; 4. Ella White (PHS), 1:02.59; 5. Sofia Pancoast (TCS), 1:03.57; 6. Helen Honecker (UHS), 1:03.74. 4×800 RELAY – 2. UHS (Honecker, Haley Kramer, von Boetlicher, Shatyra Turner), 11:13.44. 100 HURDLES – 5. Paige Conrad (UHS), 17.94. 100 DASH – 1. Lanham (UHS), 12.68; 2. Izayah Everett (MHS), 13.03. 4×200 RELAY – 6. MHS (G. Devall, Julia Pastilong, Rylyn Hall, Alexandra Hunter), 1:55.40. 1600 RUN – 1. Irene Riggs (MHS), 4:49.37; 3. Lea Hatcher (MHS), 5:00.14; 4. Allie Martin (PHS), 5:10.50; 5. Amelia Summers (MHS), 5:20.62; 6. Anna Lester (MHS), 5:24.47. 300 HURDLES – 3. Paige Conrad (UHS), 53.40. 4×100 RELAY – 1. MHS (Yelena Davidson, G. Devall, Lilly Staples, Izayah Everett), 51.00. 800 RUN – 1. Riggs (MHS), 2:18.33; 3. White (PHS), 2:27.16; 5. Summers (MHS), 2:30.44; 6. Renner (MHS), 2:32.89. 200 DASH – 4. Lanham (UHS), 27.76. 4×400 RELAY – MHS (Yelena Davidson, Lester, Alexandra Hunter, Lea Hatcher), 4:17.26; 5. Preston (Martin, Hallie Simmons, Sophia Saurino, White), 4:24.93; 6. TCS (Sucora Brown, Bethany Byrne, Jenna Barnett, Pancoast), 4:30.74.
BOYS
LONG JUMP – 2. Daminn Cunningham (UHS), 20-foot-6.75; 4. John Michael Saldanha (MHS),20-1. DISCUS – 1. Colin McBee (UHS), 134-foot-4. POLE VAULT – 1. Lucas Howell (MHS), 14-foot-6; 2. Landon Young (MHS), 13-6. HIGH JUMP – 3. Cunningham (UHS), 5-foot-8. 3200 RUN – 2. Jacob West (UHS), 10:01.44; 3. Gavin Wharton (UHS), 10:03.92. 400 DASH – 3. Brady Mudry (MHS), 53.55; 6. Zachary Workman (MHS), 54.52. 4×800 RELAY – 2. UHS (Jack Overfield, Tyler Umbright, Whorton, Quinn Mudry), 8:44.05; 6. PHS (Lowell Cerbone, Landon Griffith, Alexander Schmidle, Tyler Martin), 9:09.33. 110 HURDLES – 2. Colton Guthrie (UHS), 17.32; 4. Hayden Casdorph (MHS), 17.51; 5. Seith Wisman (MHS), 17.74. 100 DASH – 3. Marquis Mauney (MHS), 11.29. 4×200 RELAY – 2. MHS (Mauney, Alex Fink, Braedon Brooks, Noah Shepherd), 1:36.30. 1600 RUN – 2. Josh Edwards (UHS), 4:14.62; 3. Rocco DeVincent (UHS), 4:19.96; 4. Drew Zundell (UHS), 4:20.44; 6. Ryan Blohm (UHS), 4:25.88. 300 HURDLES – 1. Alex Tadros (MHS), 42.39; 6. Colton Guthrie (UHS), 46.67. 4×100 RELAY – 2. MHS ( Charlie Nenebi, Saldanha, Braedon Brooks, Mauney), 44.57. 800 RUN – 2. Preston Core (MHS), 2:01.77; 4. Mudry (UHS), 2:09.61. 800 RUN – 2. Preston Core (MHS), 2:01.77; 4. Mudry (UHS), 2:09.61. 4×110 SHUTTLE HURDLES – 1. MHS (Seth Wisman, Jarrett Lawrence, Hayden Casdorph, Alex Tadros), 1:04.06. 4×400 RELAY – UHS (Rocco DeVincent, Edwards, Brock Price, Drew Zundell), 3:37.42; 2. MHS (Zachary Workman, Brady Mudry, Core, Tadros), 3:37.84.
