Day 1 - 100th State Meet Opens with Records

It was a record-breaking day at Laidley Field.

With some of the best weather conditions of the 2014 season, West Virginia’s finest didn’t waste the opportunity, bettering five meet records as the 100th state meet got under way in Charleston.

Abby Watson of Hurricane shattered the state meet record in the Class AAA shot put with a winning toss of 42 feet, 9 inches. Her winning effort topped the old mark of 41-6.75 by Bethany Drury of St. Albans in 2012 and bettered runner-up Mackenzie Leigh of Buckhannon-Upshur and her 41-3.25.

Another record-breaker was Doddridge County’s Isaac Britton in the Class A boys’ discus. His fourth-round throw of 164-7 was enough to win for the third consecutive year, but the senior wanted more and got it on his final throw. His sixth rounder covered 165-11 to erase the record 164-11 by Williamstown’s Zach Hall from 2003.

“I wanted a state record really bad,” Britton said. “I was hoping for a 165 or above.”

And as expected, Amelia Paladino of University set a meet record, returning to the site of her epic 10-minute 3,200-meter run from three weeks ago. The WVU recruit eclipsed her own mark by almost 15 seconds, running 10:25.29 after anchoring her team in the 4x800 relay in the morning.

“I was trying to run tactically for this 3,200, considering I have a bunch of races tomorrow,” said Paladino, who is also entered in the 1,600 and 800 runs on Saturday. “I wanted to give everybody a good race.

“Part of me running fast is so other girls can get great times, too. I hope I provided that today. ”

Abby Colbert of Jefferson finished second, as she did at the state cross country meet, running 10:56.75. Peyton Panger of Capital stayed close to Paladino early and was third in 11:02.32.

In AA, Kelsey Chambers of Oak Glen pulled away from a pack of five late in the race for victory in 11:41.83, while Samantha Stout of Webster County was next in 11:53.84. Payton Mullens of Charleston Catholic claimed the gold medal in Class A with a 12:08.70.

Other 3,200 winners included Andrew Milliron of Jefferson, who negative split his way to victory in the Class AAA race in 9:25.55 to University’s Andy Paladino and a 9:33.75. Abe Merinar of Bridgeport ran 9:35.16 to win in AA, and Hunter Riffle of Doddridge County eked past Hayden Harrison of Buffalo on the final lap, clocking 9:44.47 to a 9:44.92.

In the field events, Maddie McClintic of Greenbrier East opened up big in the Class AAA girls’ long jump and was never threatened. A sophomore and runner-up a year ago, McClintic spanned a winning 17 feet on her first jump and followed it up with another (16-8.25) that was long enough to win. Audrey Barber of Hurricane was second at 16-5.5 as the next four jumpers were separated by only 2 inches.

In addition to his runner-up effort in the discus, Nathan Stout of Gilmer County won the Class A shot put with a toss of 51-8. Martinez Grant of Jefferson was victorious in the AAA long jump with a leap of 22-5, while Dylon Rippeto of Parkersburg South claimed the AAA discus at 165-3.

Jayden Allender of Ritchie County won the AA boys’  high jump at 6-4, while Bryson Dennison of Braxton County topped the AA pole vault field with a 14-0 clearance. Marc Logan of Oak Hill cleared 6-4 to win the Class AAA high jump over Parkersburg South’s Evan DeGraef, who also was over 6-4.

Buck-Up’s Leigh threw 135-8 for the win in the Class AAA discus, Bailey Aab of Herbert Hoover won the AA high jump in a jump-off at 5-0 and Kayla Haywood of Bridgeport edged past Liberty’s Alexandra Allen in the AA long jump, with a 17-4 best versus the runner-up’s 17-1.25. Other winners were Madelin Gardner of Williamstown at 10-0 in the Class A pole vault, Aiyana Kachmarek of Tucker County in the Class A shot put at 34-5.5 and North Marion’s Skylah Haught in the AA pole vault at 8-6.

For the girls, the shuttle hurdle winners were Tucker County (1:06.80) in Class A, Nicholas County (1:06.45) in AA and Hurricane (1:04.90) in AAA. On the boys’ side, St. Marys ran 1:02.64 to win Class A, while Fairmont Senior was the only team under a minute (58.47) in claiming AA and Huntington was the AAA victor in 57.06.

The AAA 4x800 was exciting as Hurricane and Morgantown battled all race long. Hurricane finally prevailed in 9:40.62 to Morgantown’s 9:42.14. Charleston Catholic was a solid winner in the A 4x800 relay, pulling away later for a victorious 10:11.74. Oak Glen claimed AA with a 10:05.61 clocking.

In the opening relays for the boys, Charleston Catholic completed the Class A sweep in 8:25.16, while Keyser won AA in 8:19.94. University stayed away from Jefferson for the win in AAA, running 8:06.78 to the 8:09.85 for second.

In prelims, two meet records were bettered. Sarah Ferguson of Class A Doddridge County covered the 100 hurdles in 14.84 to eclipse the 14.90 by Bishop Donahue’s Lacey Hampton in 2010, while Torie Derrow of John Marshall ran 14.59 in the AAA prelims to take down the 14.60 mark by Emily Godwin in 2012.

Brooklyn Hammer of Williamstown was closed to record time in leading the girls’ Class A 100 dash in 12.49, while Mykera Days of Martinsburg was quick with a 12.13 in AAA.