MORGANTOWN — In what is one of the largest meets of the entire track and field season, the Morgantown High School track and field team held the 2023 Morgantown Invitational at Mylan Park on Saturday.
Prior to the start, nearly 500 runners, 496 to be exact, registered to compete from 18 schools. While that number probably changed a bit by 10:30 Saturday morning, a state-meet-like feel fell upon the complex.
“We are just so happy to be able to have the amount of teams we have here today,” MHS coach Steve Blinco said. “In track and field, you run in any conditions. The meet settled in with 17 schools from West Virginia and one from P.A. (Canon McMillan). We would love to get more out-of-state competition in the coming future also.”
The pole vault event was actually held in the WVU shell building due to the warning of high wind conditions. The gusts of up to 50 miles per hour increased gradually throughout the morning session, and throughout the rest of the day.
The meet split into two sessions, with the MHS seniors and their families being honored for their Senior Day in between.
The opening session consisted of both preliminary and final races, with some notable finishes coming from local-area schools in multiple events.
MHS senior Jonna Butcher started the day off by taking first place in the girls’ high jump. She was followed by fellow senior Will McGahey who took first in the boys’ discus throw. In fact, in the boys’ discus event, five of the top six finishers were from either Morgantown or University High.
On the track, MHS senior Izayah Everett finished second in the girls’ 100-meter dash with a time of 12.58.
MHS, usually heralded for their distance runners, has seen an uptick in talent overall in the team this season, something Blinco says didn’t make it easy to form the team due to large numbers.
“We had about 170 kids sign up for the beginning of the season, and we settled in right around the 130-140 mark,” he said. “It’s great to have that many kids out and be interested. Not every kid is going to college to do this, but it’s also important for some kids to be a part of a team, get some exercise, and be with their friends.”
University boys then showed a strong outing in the 4×800 meter relay, finishing first with a time of 8:25.47, nearly 25 seconds ahead of second-place Morgantown.
MHS senior Irene Riggs took first overall in the 1600-meter race with a time of 4:50.98. Morgantown girls held five of the top seven spots in the final results. UHS sophomore Clair von Boetticher earned sixth overall.
For smaller schools like Trinity Christian and Clay-Battelle, the Morgantown Invitational is a great chance to compete in a state championship-like meet, something Trinity head coach John Barnett knows will help his team in the back half of the season.
“It’s awesome to be able to come to a facility like this and compete against these other schools,” he said. “We talked last week about wanting to see maximum effort, each workout, each practice, each meet. Everything that we do we want to get better with each thing we do every day.”
TCS sophomore Joshua Jorge finished seventh overall out of 40 racers in the boys’ 400-meter dash with a time of 53.72.
Coach Blinco said having this major of a meet at their facility helps support the vision for the future of track in north-central W.Va.
“This is a very large meet, and we have our eyes on the state track meet here one day,” he said. “And by having these larger ones it shows to everybody that we can do it, are willing to do it, and, most importantly, that we want to do it.”
Jefferson High School earned first place overall as a team for both the boys and girls, with Morgantown taking second for both.
Full results can be found at ncwvtf.com
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