MORGANTOWN — 17 schools from three states gathered in Morgantown on Saturday for the annual Morgantown track and field Invitational meet hosted by Morgantown High at the Mylan Park track and field complex. All five area schools competed and were joined by teams from many areas in all directions in and out of West Virginia.
“Today we have three states represented and it’s a good crossover of big and small schools,” MHS head coach and meet organizer Steve Blinco said. “It’s fun to see different competition with the northern panhandle, some southern schools, it’s nice to see different teams coming to compete and having a good time.”
The Morgantown Mohigans took home first overall in the boys’ standings with 134 points, 43 points ahead of second place Canon-McMillan (Pa.) with 91 points. UHS took third with 82 points. Preston finished seventh with 48.5 points and Clay-Battelle 16th with eight points. Trinity finished with 19.5 points in 11th.
MHS junior Seth Wisman took first overall in the discus throw with a distance of 143-4. The 4×400-meter relay team of Corey Mangrum, William Rittenour, Joaquin Summers, and Keonn Arnold took first for MHS with a time of 3:34.23.
UHS junior Tyler Umbright took the top spot in the 800-meter race with a time of 1:59.64. He also joined the 4×800-meter relay team alongside Ethan Conroy, Jacob West and Drew Zundell as they finished first by 35 seconds. Zundell also won the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:19.43, with his teammates West and Conroy in second and fourth, respectively.
Senior Zac Hall of Clay-Battelle took second place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.15.
On the girls’ side, Canon-McMillan took the top spot with 133 points, ahead of Morgantown in second with 102 and University in third with 76 points. Preston High finished with 40 points to place eighth, while Trinity earned 10th with 25 points and C-B with two in 16th.
The Hawks and Mohigans occupied six of the top ten spots in the girls’ 3200-meter run, led by UHS junior Adelyn Tager with a time of 11:08.96 and followed by MHS freshman Allison Hawkins at 11:13.43.
Hawk senior Claire Von Boetticher took first in the 1600-meter run with a time of 5:26.29 ahead of her teammate, junior Caroline Ballard who ran a 5:27.84. Preston junior Hallie Simmons was third at 5:32.16.
Trinity Christian freshman sprinter, Elecia McCurrie, set high school records for the venue in the 100 and 200-meter sprints with a 12.28 in the 100 and a 25.31 in the 200.
“She is a great athlete and teammate and such a rare talent,” TCS head coach John Barnett said. “She does everything right and is focused in practice. She’s driven and she makes her teammates around her better, which is something that isn’t always seen.”
McCurrie said being able to compete against talented runners in a meet such as the Morgantown Invitational is special.
“Even though I’m a freshman I have some really big goals,” she said. “I want to break the state record this year. This meet is amazing, I’m able to get some competition that I usually wouldn’t get.”
One thing Blinco said stands out about the Morgantown Invitational is the chance for schools of all sizes to be able to come and compete against each other.
“The talent in the state is spread out among so many schools and events,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a runner at a big school or a smaller school, when you line up to race you’re all on an even playing field in a lane by yourself and trying to beat the people beside you. It’s great to see schools of all sizes doing well.”
Another important piece of the day was the inclusion of the meet sponsor, The Nailer Foundation.
“Tom Nailer, who was the president of the foundation, passed away last April right after our meet had happened,” Blinco said. “We brought his family out here today and it’s nice that they joined us for this meet. We appreciate the sponsorship year in and year out, it means a lot to us.”
