MORGANTOWN — For Steve Blinco, getting updates about the Penn Relays was like the old childhood game of telephone.
The Morgantown High girls’ track coach knew something good was happening but was getting second-hand information. He was in Blacksville at another meet with some of his Mohigans runners while waiting on the results of his vaunted 4×800 relay team.
“I didn’t have great service,” Blinco, said. “I was having trouble connecting. I knew they were going to run a fantastic time, but I couldn’t get the results. Then some texts came through and I saw the times — it was great to see how they had done.”
All this relay team did was break the West Virginia state record, for the second time this season, at one of the largest track events in the country. The event was hosted at the University of Penn on April 28-30 and the team of Lea Hatcher, Amelia Summers, Jennifer O’Palko and Irene Riggs finished fifth during the high school girls 4×800 relay Championship of America. Their time of 9:18.17 is the current state record.
“I think they are finally starting to understand this is really something huge,” Blinco said. “I wish other people would realize how big of a deal this is — this is special, this is something that doesn’t come along all the time. These girls could be Olympians.”
To put things into perspective, the relay team from MHS finished behind a team from Jamaica, a team from North Carolina and two teams from New Jersey.
“I think the girls realize that they are carrying the state flag,” Blinco said. “To me, you are representing so much more than Morgantown High. There’s so much negativity about West Virginia, any time we can do these things; it really helps us — we serve as ambassadors.”
The entire state of West Virginia knows about the results, too. Blinco said that all four girls are recognized at other track events — like celebrities.
Hatcher, the lone senior on the relay team and lead runner who is committed to run at Penn State next year, said this relay team is a close-knit group that enjoys running with each other and doing things together off the track. She also said she knows that the younger runners on the team need to understand that not every race they run is going to be perfect.
“With this being my last season of high school track, it has been so exciting to see the growth this team has had throughout the past few months,” Hatcher said. “Each of us have grown so much, not only as individuals, but as teammates, and learning to make the most of every opportunity.”
This relay team set the state record during the first meet of the year at Parkersburg before establishing the new state mark at the Penn Relays.
Summers, a junior and who runs the second leg of the relay, said running at the Penn Relays was hectic because the field was so large. In fact, she said that she had a tough time spotting Hatcher through all the traffic that was on the track. However, once she got the baton, she helped set the pace for the Mohigans.
“I personally had no clue what our time was,” Summers said. “We were just trying to cheer on our teammates. That entire experience (at the Penn Relays) itself is big. When we actually looked at the time, we were like oh, wait, that’s a state record.”
Jennifer O’Palko, the lone sophomore and who runs the third leg, said the sport of track was explained simply early on in her career as she just runs fast and turns left. However, her ability to block out all external things have helped her run fast.
“I’m just thinking about the girls ahead of me and I am trying to catch them,” O’Palko said. “I don’t want to lose ground. I remember when I got the baton, we were fifth or sixth and I knew we had a chance to place. It really made me push more during my leg.”
The last leg of the relay was run by Irene Riggs, a junior, who also briefly held the nation’s fastest time for the individual 3,200 run this season with a time of 9:54.69. She said owning the fastest two-mile in the nation, even for a brief 24-hour period, gave her a sense of confidence and it was a big breakthrough for her personally.
“I think last cross-country season I knew we would have a great relay,” Riggs said. “We just continued to grow and progress.
“We want to go down and win states. My postseason goal for myself is to try and PR in the two-mile one last time.”
That goal hit another benchmark Thursday night at the Class AAA Region I meet at Mylan Park.
MHS built upon the success of the season in the 4×800 meter race by taking another first place result. The time of 9:53.97 was good enough to be over 20 seconds faster than second place University High.
As for the entire list of state qualifiers, the top three teams in each event qualify for the state meet. Then the remaining times from the regional races (places 4th, 5th, 6th etc.) are compared with time from every region from around the state of WV to determine who will fill out the rest of the field for each event. Results will be finalized and updated as received.
Now the Mohigans will await the state meet in Charleston at Laidley Field next week. Class AAA will begin events on Thursday, May 19 and conclude on Friday, May 20.
By ERIC HERTER
TWEET @DomPostSports
