CHARLESTON — On Friday, the Morgantown High girls’ track team completed one of the most impressive seasons we’ve seen out of a girls’ team in a long time. It earned the 2022 team state title after accomplishing so much throughout the season.
As a team, they earned 96 points to win the title, beating second place Jefferson by 22 points.
The Mohigans got it started early Thursday with three of the top four finishers in the 3,200-meter run coming out of MHS. Junior Irene Riggs set a new state record with a time of 10:14.16, over 10 second faster than the previous record set by Millie Paladino from University in 2014, and almost 40 seconds faster than second this year. It was the first of three individual state titles for Riggs, as she also won the 1,600 and the 800 races Friday, as well, to earn high-point honors for the second straight year.
Behind Riggs was Allie Martin, of Preston, followed by fellow Mohigans Amelia Summers and Madeline Gump, both sophomores. Combined, they earned 20 points for MHS in just the one race.
Riggs knew that in order for MHS to earn the team title, she would need to trust her teammates to get the job done together as a team.
“I am so, so excited with how our team performed,” Riggs said. “It was so fun to see everyone perform to their potential as we have been training so hard. A team title is something that has been in the back of our heads, so it means so much to have accomplished that.”
The other huge race in the meet that would determine points didn’t actually involve Riggs. The 4×800 relay team for the Mohigans, consisting of Sophie Renner, Madeline Gump, Anna Lester and Amelia Summers, earned the state title with a time of 9:39.72, almost 10 seconds in front of second-place Preston, who clocked a 9:48.92, and third-place University, who clocked in at 9:56.08.
Mohigans distance coach Mike Ryan praised his girls’ performance in every event both on the track and in the field. Morgan Ryan and Belle Duvall each placed in the pole vault to secure key points for their team.
“The girls have really stepped up today and came here ready to compete,” Ryan said. “We have gotten points on the sprint side, Morgan just got third in the pole vault which are huge points. The 4×800 and the entire meet has come down to strategy. Yes, we have the girls to put together a team for a state record, but those girls stepping up allows me to rest Irene and Lea Hatcher for other events to score the points there. The individual 800 was crucial for us as our last opportunity as it worked out.”
The Knights ended up placing sixth overall with 41 points, while University finished seventh with 25 points.
Preston’s Sierra Davis claimed the state title in the discus with a toss of 125-02.
Another Sierra, UHS’s Sierra Lanham, won the long jump with a leap of 17-11.50.
Full girls standings are listed below:
- Morgantown – 96
- Jefferson – 74
- Hurricane – 45
- Parkersburg – 44
- Huntington – 42.5
- Preston – 41
- University – 25
- Woodrow Wilson – 24
- Wheeling Park – 21
- Capital – 20
- Martinsburg – 18
- Buckhannon – 18
- Spring Mills – 18
- Hedgesville – 12
- Bridgeport – 10
- John Marshall – 10
- George Washington – 10
- Ripley – 9.5
- Mussleman – 7
- Riverside – 5
- Spring Valley – 4
- Park South – 2
- Cabell Midland – 2
