Bruce McKean
Contributing Writer
The Pocahontas County High School Track Teams headed to its fourth and largest track meet so far this season – the Nicholas Invitational – April 25. Fourteen schools, six in Class A, six in AA and two in AAA competed in the meet at Veterans Memorial Park in Summerville. PCHS also headed to Charleston Friday and Saturday to participate in the Gazette-Mail Relays, and the great results of both PCHS squads in Charleston will be reported in next week’s edition of The Pocahontas Times.
The PCHS girls scored 50.5 points at Nicholas County and finished #4 of the 14 schools. The top-three squads were: #1 Class AA Nicholas County – 87 points, #2 AAA Greenbrier East – 84, and A Richwood – 60.5, and the Richwood girls are tied with Union at #9 in WV Class A this past week. Scoring ranged from 29 down to only one point for the #5 through #14 squads.
The PCHS boys tallied 22 points and finished #9 of the 13 schools who scored in the boys meet. Nicholas County dominated the meet with 94 points and took #1, way ahead of #2 Greenbrier East with 44.75 points and #3 AA Braxton County with 43. Scoring ranged from 36.5 to six points for the #4 through #13 squads.
PCHS freshman Rita Guamis was back on the track after not running in the East meet, and Guamis brought home two individual gold medals in the 100m (13.38 seconds) and 200m (28.03). Guamis bested thirty-six girls in the 100m, and 34 sprinters in the 200m. The boys also took gold in the 4x400m (3:38.50). Their previous best time of 3:40.43 was ranked #4 in WV Class A this week.
PCHS junior Cora Hedrick took silver over 22 runners in the 1600m (5:51.53) and improved upon her #9 in WV Class A time of 5:51.98. Sophomore Bridget Carroll also placed second of 30 throwers in the discus (99:08) with her best throw this season. The girls 4x200m team (2:03.44) also brought home silver.
Senior Kyle Lester came in third of 31 runners for bronze in the 800m (2:10.70). Hedrick also finished third in the 3200m (13:06.40), which was slower than her currently #7 WV Class A ranked 12:53.10 time. Senior Danny Kimble improved with a bronze throw of 122:06 in the discus. The girls 4x400m team (4:39.25) also won bronze.
Hedrick took a third individual medal by placing fourth of 32 runners in the 800m (2:34.38). Hedrick finished close behind Richwood’s Madison Frame and Caitlin Cowell who now rank #4 and #9 respectively in West Virginia. Senior Brady Jones threw his best toss this season in the shot put (42:06.50), and it placed fourth. Both PCHS 4x800m teams placed fourth (girls 11:18 – slower than their #8 WV 11:07.96 time) and (boys 9:09 – slower than their #5 WV 8:47.96 clocking).
Sophomore Jacob Jones placed fifth in the 300m hurdles (44.12), and the time equals a mid-top-10 time this week. The boys 4x200m team won a fifth place medal in the 4x200m (1:41.66).
No PCHS athlete placed sixth, so I would like to recognize the seventh place finishers who fell just short of scoring but are improving each week: sophomore Logan Woodruff (400m – 58.12) and (high jump – 5:02), freshman Laila Calhoun (300m hurdles – 55.09), sophomore Irish Simmons (high jump – 4:00), boys 102.5m shuttle hurdles team – 1;13.34,
Nicholas County did not report their point system for scoring their meet nor the names of the members of each relay team when they reported the meet results to RunWV.com, so that information was not included in this article.
Coaches Laurel Dilley, Abe Rittenhouse, Aaron Pugh, Eric Rose and Josh Abbott next take their teams to the Class A Potomac Valley Conference Meet at Keyser High School on Wednesday, May 3. The PVC meet will begin at 4:30 p.m.
