West Virginia High School Cross Country State Championship Preview

I have a lot of extra material I did not have the opportunity to use in my West Virginia High School Cross Country State Championship previews for the The Daily Mail, so below are some quotes from my interviews with Capital runner Peyton Panger and several coaches across the Kanawha Valley.

For my boys state preview, click here
For my girls state preview, click here

Peyton Panger, Capital junior
-enters state championship ranked No. 2 in girls AAA according to www.runwv.com

-on the state championship course, knowing how to handle its difficult terrain
“You have to realize that once you get up that hill you’ve gotten through one of the hardest parts of the race and you just have to keep your game face on and don’t get discouraged early on.”

“On that course, usually when you get to the two-mile mark you’re thinking ‘OK, the hardest part of the race is over, I’m feeling good. I think I can do this,’or if you’re not feeling good on the course, when you hit the mile mark, you’re just like ‘Can this be over now?’”

-on her preparedness for the state meet
“I do think I have the right mindset going into this. I’m more confident than I feel I ever have been and I worked harder than I ever have, run more hills, done more miles and it’s put me in such a different place than it has in the previous years. I feel more prepared than ever and I’m excited for this weekend.”

-on the Capital girls and boys teams both reaching the state meet for the first time in program history
“It feels wonderful that the whole team is going, especially since both boys and girls teams -- I think this is the first time ever that both teams have been able to go, and it’s a really exciting time for the cross country team at Capital. I’m really excited about it.”

Jason Henley, Hurricane coach
-on the preparedness of his girls team after winning the AAA Region 4 meet last week
“I always feel good going into the state meet when they’ve run very close to what it is they need to do, the week before at regionals. They were pretty close to that.”

-on senior Tori Dent, the team's top runner who is ranked eighth in girls AAA
“To get to the point where she’s our No. 1 and she’s got an opportunity to be all-state again this year, it’s been a big deal. She’s worked really, really hard to get herself back to that kind of condition after sitting out last track season.”

-on freshman Anna Gordon, ranked 13th in the state
“She’s the fastest freshman in the state right now.”

-on the defending champion Cabel Midland boys, ranked second in the state, being a traditional power
“Midland’s strong. They have that tradition of excellence that they’ve always had. To be able to knock them off of a podium spot, whether it’s the first spot or second spot, would take a monumental effort from any other team.”

Kelsey Spang, Winfield girls coach
 -on No. 3 Winfield's preparedness after finishing second in the AAA Region 4 championship behind second-ranked Hurricane
“I think this last meet really showed them and proved to them they are just within the grasps of possibly reaching that title.”

Scott Welch, Charleston Catholic coach
-on team's keys to success
“I think the girls are going to have to be mentally tough, they’re going to have to work through their nervousness, their anxieties that they often get. They have the capability of being a top-three team, but they’re going to have to step up their game a little bit. They don’t necessarily have to run fantastic, they don’t have to improve by leaps and bounds, but they can’t – they have to be tough enough where they don’t take a step backwards, because you can’t afford to do that at states.”

-on freshman Hannah Gacek
“She’s been our No. 2 solid runner all season long. She probably works harder than anybody in practice. She’s been kind of under the radar, because Payton Mullen’s in the front, so she doesn’t get a lot of attention, but I think she’s ranked 17th or 18th in the state, which is pretty good. She’s been so consistent.”

Chris Parsons, Midland coach
-on boys team's performance at Region 4 Championship meet, which the second-ranked Knights won
“Our guys, they all ran personal records. That’s the fastest they’ve ran all year and so all the hard work that they’ve done prior, it’s all starting to pay off. Going into the state meet, that’s when you really want to put it together. They’re ready to race.”

-on boys AAA No. 1 University
“They got their whole team back. They’re good. They got good runners one through seven all the way across the board. We’re really solid one through seven. We don’t really have any weak runners, so it’s just a matter of matching up to them and going head-to-head, but at the same token you can’t overlook any of the other teams either, the Hurricanes, Morgantown’s got a good little team and Jefferson’s always tough.”

-on team's depth and consistency
“We’ve run well all year. We’ve not had a bad meet. Somebody might be off a little bit, but someone else steps in and that’s what’s good about this team, because we have that depth that if someone doesn’t quite pull through, someone else can step in there and take over, so that’s been a big plus for us.”

St. Albans Softball Finding New Identity

It might be the furthest away high school sports season at this point in the calendar, but area softball teams, like St. Albans, are making the best of the three-week summer training period. For my Daily Mail article on SA's summer update, click here.

For the Red Dragons, the program will look to replace the production and leadership lost by graduated pitcher Ali Haynes and catcher Mariah Caudill. The duo represent the winningest battery in Kanawha County history.

Not all is lost, though, with seven returning starters.

Instead of scheduling games for the summer practice time, SA coach Greg Garber said he's focusing on teaching his newest players.

“We choose to use our three weeks each year according to our needs,” he said. “Some years we play a lot of games. This year, we’re just trying to incorporate the new ones coming in to how we do things. We’re also using it to look at different positions for next year.”

With Haynes gone, senior Madi Marshall and sophomore Katie Holstein figure to be the top two Red Dragons arms.

“Madi will be the first one we look at, and I expect her to throw quite a bit," Garber said. "Katie Holstein has made a lot of progress. We played a couple JV games against a couple good teams like Cabell Midland and she did real well in those games.”

Senior Whitney Jones, who started last season in the outfield, could also figure into the pitching equation, Garber said.

Returning senior third baseman Alyssa Bonham will get the first look at Caudill's vacated catching spot. Last season, Bonham took reps in practice and caught some junior varsity games, Garber said.

At first, senior Haili McCown returns. Sophomore second baseman Madi Chandler is expected to move to shortstop, with Marshall in the circle.

In the outfield, junior Amber Kemplin returns after starting last season in right field.

Some pieces have departed, others are expected to change positions, though the Red Dragons figure to be contenders as always.

St. Albans Summer Shootout Preview

The 11th annual St. Albans Girls Basketball Summer Shootout will take place Tuesday and Wednesday.

Each year, the tournament draws many of the Mountain State's most talented teams. For a full breakdown on the tournament, ready my Daily Mail article here. This year's field features each of the three West Virginia high school state champions in Huntington St. Joe (A), Bridgeport (AA) and Parkersburg South (AAA).

“We’ve got a great AA, AAA field," said Scott James, SA girls basketball coach and tournament organizer. "We’ve got some of the strongest programs in the state in AA. I know on Tuesday, we’ve got a great group in Robert C. Byrd, Bridgeport, Tolsia, Clay County, East Fairmont, Sissonville, they’re all in one group Tuesday morning.”

Another top matchup includes AAA Parkersburg South vs. A St. Joe.

“We’re allowed to mix it up," James said of the different classes playing each other. "It isn’t just A vs. A. Like on Wednesday afternoon, I have Parkersburg South and St. Joe playing each other, so it’s a great field. It’s a powerful field.”

In total, 44 teams from 39 schools will participate in the tournament. Some schools will bring an "A" and "B" team, thus more teams representing than schools present.

Below, I compiled a lost of 29 schools that will be present, as related to me by James.

AAA: St. Albans, Nitro, George Washington, Capital, South Charleston, Riverside, Winfield, Hurricane, Huntington, Parkersburg, Parkersburg South, Preston

AA: Bridgeport, Westside, Poca, Robert C. Byrd, Scott, East Fairmont, Fairmont Senior, Tolsia, Sissonville, Clay County, North Marion

A: Charleston Catholic, Parkersburg Catholic, Gilmer County, Pocahontas County, Huntington St. Joe

In addition, Ironton will also join the field.

In addition to top teams, the field boasts some of the state's top individual players in Notre Dame commit Mychal Johnson of St. Joe, recent Marshall verbal commit Hope Lester of AA runner-up Westside and rising Parkersburg South sophomore guard Taryn McCutcheon, the lone freshman on last season's Class AAA First Team All-State squad.

For more information, be sure to ready my Daily Mail article.

St. Albans Fine Tuning Zone Read

The St. Albans football team will look for greater success this fall with second-year coach Steve Stoffel Jr. and his zone-read offense.

A traditionally power-I program, Stoffel implemented the spread offense last season. The Red Dragons showed flashes of understanding and brilliance, but ultimately sputtered to a 2-8 record following an 0-7 start. For my Daily Mail article on SA's progress, click here.

The Red Dragons return quarterbacks Noah Reed and Taylor Clark, who split time last season. Jacob Grigsby and Ryan Broderick will also battle as Stoffel said the competition for the starting QB role is open to whomever provides the best opportunity to win regardless of experience or past roles.

No matter the quarterback, there will be plenty of talented targets, including Grigsby should he not take the signal-caller position.

“We got three of our top four receivers back," Stoffel said. "Dakota Kelly will be a senior, who’s put in tremendous time and effort for his senior year, for not only him, but for his program. We’ve got Cole Medley, who is one of our top four receivers last year. We’ve got Jacob Grigsby, who may play quarterback, who was the third-leading receiver back, and then we have some other kids that started in skill positions back."

Terrell Lovejoy and Kevic Watkins list among other players Stoffel said he expects to make an impact at skill positions.

SA will take production from anyone it can at running back, following the graduation of talented tailback Drew Kirby.

“We have about five kids that we think will compete quite well to play that position," Stoffel said. "We will play as many as it takes to replace the 1,100-yard rusher that we lost. I’m looking forward to the competition.”

An improved offensive line will set the tone for the running backs.

“This year, we’ve still got decent-sized kids and we move a lot better," Stoffel said. "The kids put in the effort to get better and quicker and we got eight or nine kids we think we can play with up there right now.”

Like most programs during the summer, there's plenty of optimism surrounding the St. Albans football team. Stoffel said he hopes to make the most of the current three-week training period.

The Red Dragons will practice with Capital in a 7-on-7 at the University of Charleston's Laidley Field 4 p.m. Thursday.

Buffalo Volleyball Working Hard Through Summer

I feel like when most think of summer high school workouts, we're thinking of football two-a-days, summer shootout tournaments or cross country runners battling the dog days heat. However, there's another sport -- volleyball -- that takes to it hard during this time, taking advantage of the allowed three-week practice period.

This week, I talked with Buffalo volleyball coach Brian Null and senior Katie Higginbotham about how the Bison are handling the summer as well as expectations and preparations for the upcoming fall season. For my full article in the Daily Mail, click here.

Buffalo missed the State Tournament the past two seasons, but has made the trip to the Civic Center all but three seasons since Class A separated for the postseason in 2002.

“The past two years we’ve gotten beat by the state champion," Higginbotham said. "We have a very stacked region. It’s hard to get out of.”

That region includes 2013 state champ Williamstown, who defeated Buffalo in regional play to end Buffalo's season last year. Other perennial powers in Buffalo's region include Charleston Catholic, Wirt County, Greenbrier West, Gilmer County, Greater Beckley Christian, Doddridge County, Calhoun County and Parkersburg Catholic.

“Generally, our region, the way they’ve realigned it, probably has eight of the top 13 teams in the state year-in-and-year-out," Null said.

To escape the region, teams like Buffalo need talent and dedication. Both can be developed and that starts during the three-week summer practice period.

“We’re trying to use all of the three weeks and we’re looking to maybe get a couple dual scrimmages in with some other teams local," Null said.

Higginbotham said during the summer the Bison practice four to five days a week, and though it's important for the veteran players, the time is predominantly for the players newest to the program.

“Normally our youngest, our summer practices are mainly for the new girls," she said. "We want to get the younger kids in, it really gets them used to what high school sports are about because at Buffalo, we don’t have a middle school program, so they come in as freshmen never having played volleyball before unless they played in like a travel league.”

This year's squad returns solid players though they'll have plenty of work to replace the production and leadership of graduated middle hitter Hannah Toney and four-year starting libero Courtney Persinger, a Class A First Team All-State selection.

"They were great leaders last year and kind of left some big shoes to step into," Higginbotham said. "We have six seniors this year, but two of us, me and another girl, are the only ones who have played all four years, so these new girls are getting a chance to step in and see what they can do to fill in Courtney’s big shoes.”

Higginbotham will undoubtedly be one such player who will be expected to take a commanding role.

“She’s a four-year starter and she’s done a little bit of everything," Null said of Higginbotham, a 5-11 hitter. "She’s a great server. She’s left-handed, which is great, so that gives us a power hitter coming off the right side and most teams don’t have that. She’s our most experienced front receiver and hitter coming.”

Sophomores Shelby Turley and Rachel Martin will also assume key positions for the Bison, Null said. Like Higginbotham, Ali Burdette is a Class A First Team All-State player for the three-time state champ Buffalo softball team. On the court, Burdette is a junior outside hitter, who was named all-state special honorable mention last season.

“I want to say our biggest strength would be our hitting," Higginbotham said. "We have a really good setter (Martin), but we have really strong hitters as well. We’ve really come a long way since last year, but the thing with volleyball is to get the good hit you’ve got to have the good pass and the good set. We looked really good the other day for being on the court for the first time without Courtney and Hannah.”

Though there are some key losses from last year's squad, Null said this could be a breakout season. In fact, he said four years ago he predicted the current class of juniors and seniors would capture a state title.

Time will tell on that prediction. For now, the Buffalo volleyball squad prepares and toils during the summer in hopes of making that dream a realization.

The Bison open the season at St. Albans 6 p.m. Sept. 5.

North-South All-Star Basketball Classic Preview

Today, the South Charleston Community Center plays host to the North-South All-Star Basketball Classic. The skills competition kicks off at 6:45 p.m. with the tip-off at 7:30 p.m. For my full preview on the game, click here for my Daily Mail article.

Several of the state's most notable graduated seniors will not be participating, including Morgantown product/West Virginia commit Nathan Adrian. Hedgesville's Chris Shields, who once signed with Longwood University before being granted his release, will also not play. From the southern half of the state, Shady Spring's Chase Connor will not play either.

Though some of the state's top players will not be in attendance, both rosters boast plenty of talent as 18 of the 26 athletes will play collegiate basketball, game director Bill Gillispie said.

For my full preview on the game, check out www.dailymail.com

Below are some extra quotes that did not make my preview article.

I'll be covering the North-South game for The Daily Mail. For live updates, follow me on Twitter at @nickbrockman


Chuck Elkins, North coach /Buffalo boys basketball coach
-on working to find the team's strength/identity
“The first half of the first practice we’ll size everybody up and see who fits the spots we’re looking for. I don’t know exactly how we’ll line up, whether we’ll try to go with two post men or one post man or four out or three out, just feel out who we have and what we have. The second practice, we’ll probably try to put in some plays and see what we can do.”

-on the style of game he expects
“We have to play man-to-man at all times, so probably a lot of pick-and-rolls, passing cutting to the basket, a lot of open one-on-one plays is about all we can do.”


Bill Gillespie, North-South director/Charleston Catholic athletic director
-on the style of play/matchups
“I’m sure there will be grudge matches.”

-on game's unique rules
“You can’t press unless you’re down 10 and there’s no zone defense. It’s basically just man-to-man, so everyone can run a basic motion offense.”


Dave Rogers, South coach/Martinsburg coach
-on how he expects game to flow
“You have to let them play and you have to let them have fun, but at the same time you’re there to win the ballgame. They keep score, so you want to win the game. You have to make sure with all-star players that they share the ball.”

Summer Sportswriting Doldrums

With my Daily Mail coverage of the Class A baseball state championship, I concluded my responsibilities for the 2012-13 West Virginia high school athletic schedule. Now, the summer doldrums begin.

There's not much to be covered from a high school athletics standpoint between school out and summer dead periods -- times when athletes are prohibited to officially practice. That leaves sportswriters like me searching for stories and twiddling our thumbs.

Because the coverage is so few and far between, we, at the Daily Mail, are already looking ahead to high school football season. Check out the statewide football season schedule here as compiled by prep sports editor Derek Taylor.

We're looking ahead to Week One coverage, even as we stand 12 weeks away from the season-opener. Taylor, our trusty coordinator of preps coverage, has already informed me I can expect to cover either Poca at Nitro or Huntington at Hurricane come opening night, Friday, August 30. That's fine with me. It can't come soon enough.

In the meantime, I've been tasked this summer to keep tabs on St. Albans and Buffalo sports. Each of the writers have been assigned a couple schools to follow through the summer for potential stories. So, if you're a Red Dragons or Bison coach, athlete or fan, and you've got news to share, hit me up.

In addition, I've been charged with those two schools with regard to The Daily Mail's annual preseason high school football tab. Later this summer, I'll be in contact with both schools' football coaches and athletes to conduct interviews and develop team previews, as well as individual player features for the tab.

Beyond that, there's not much to report. I look forward to late July and early August. I expect that's when things will pick back up. I'll be looking to do interviews for preseason cross country previews and possibly some soccer stuff, too, as well as the previously mentioned football assignments.

As a track runner in high school myself, I enjoy covering track and cross country. My running exploits were nothing to write about, though there are plenty in the Kanawha Valley who've earned the ink. It's a sport that usually falls below the radar. It seems to me the athletes and coaches always enjoy the coverage and shout-outs, and I feel like I understand the sport a bit, so I can talk to them as peers.

Until August, yeah, the summer doldrums are here. Maybe year-round schooling is the solution. Then, perhaps, we could have sports to cover during this slow period.

Riverside Defeats South Charleston, Advances to Regional Title Game

Riverside advanced to the Class AAA Region 3 baseball championship game with a 4-1, 8-inning victory at South Charleston on Tuesday night. For my Daily Mail article on the game, click here.

With the win, the Warriors advance to play in the regional title game for the second consecutive season. Riverside will play at Beckley 5 p.m. Wednesday in the championship contest.

Despite a sub .500 record at 13-15, the Warriors have played their best baseball at the most important time of the season.

“I know that we don’t have a winning record, but we also know our record is not any type of epitome of what type of baseball team we have," Riverside coach Chris Hawkins said.

In addition to timely hitting, Riverside won behind the strong pitching performance of senior Tyler Hall.

Hall tossed eight innings, striking out seven. He allowed one run on six hits and did not walk a batter. Hall's only blemish occurred in the fourth inning when he allowed three hits.

“He showed tonight why he’s one of the best in the state," Hawkins said. "He had one bad inning, I thought, where he left the ball up and they got a couple hits back-to-back and scored a run. He wasn’t finishing his pitches. We just kind of pulled him and say ‘Hey, you know just get over your land leg, finish your pitches. You’re going to be all right.’"

Hall said after talking to his pitching coach about an adjustment, Hall returned to form.

“I just talked to my pitching coach about it and he told me that all I needed to is instead of – the mound’s got a little lump in it so he said that I’ve got to force, kind of force my body down," Hall said. "Instead of staying up, he wants me just to drive down and really exaggerate to drive down.

After the third, Hall did not allow another run as he reasserted his dominance.

Meanwhile, South Charleston's Jarod Jobst pitched an equally impressive performance before facing adversity in the eighth inning.

Below is a breakdown of the game's most important innings that resulted in Riverside's 4-1 victory.

Riverside 3rd: Cameron Norris started the inning with the game's first hit. With Derik Chestnut batting, Norris advanced to second base on a passed ball. Chestnut later laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced Norris to third base. Brandon Hancock followed with an RBI groundout to produce the game's first run.

SC 4th: Antonio Brown ripped the game's only extra-base hit, a double to left field with one out. Brown advanced to third on a fielding error during the throw to the Riverside cut-off man. Next, Black Eagles shortstop Austin Santrock hit an RBI single to right field to score Brown and tie the contest at 1-1. With Trevor Sampson batting, Santrock advanced to second base on an error during a pick-off attempt. With two outs, Jacob Marler ripped a single to right field. Riverside right fielder Aaron Halstead fielded the ball and threw to catcher Trevor Rumberg, who applied the tag at the plate for the out to end the inning.

SC 6th: Black Eagles lead-off hitter Jacob Marler started the inning with an infield single. Next, Cole Lanier laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced Marler to second base. Then, Brown hit a grounder to the Riverside shortstop. The shortstop fielded and threw to first, but the throw pulled the first baseman from the bag, as runners reached first and third safely. With Santrock at the plate, Brown stole second base, so that SC had runners at second and third with one out. However, Hall recovered to strike out back-to-back Black Eagle batters to escape the inning unharmed.

Riverside 7th: Trevor Rumberg hit a one-out single. Rumberg later advanced to second on an error during a pick-off attempt, but the Warriors could not capitalize on the runner in scoring position.

SC 7th: Marler started the inning with a single to left field as it appeared the Black Eagles were in business. Jonathan Pauley followed with a sacrifice bunt attempt. Hall, from the mound, fielded the bunt and fired to Chestnut at second base for the force out. Chesnut turned and threw to first base to complete the double play. The play proved vital as Jobst followed with a bases-empty single. Had Riverside not been able to get the force out on Pauley's bunt, then Jobst's single may have been a walk-off hit.

Riverside 8th: Chesnut led off with a single to right. Just as SC bunted with no out and a runner on first, Riverside's Brandon Hancock laid down a sacrifice bunt. Jobst fielded the bunt, and like Hall, he turned to throw to second base. A good throw would have resulted in an out at second, but instead a throwing error allowed runners safely to first and second. Hall followed with a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners further into scoring position at second and third.With Brady Wilkinson at the plate, a wild pitch allowed Chesnut to score and give the Warriors a 2-1 lead. While Wilkinson eventually flied out, Halstead followed with an RBI single to left, scoring Hancock. Chaz Davis then hit a single on a hit-and-run play as Halstead moved to third. Next, Rumberg hit an RBI single to right field as Halstead scored. Riverside led 4-1.

SC 8th: Hall retired the side in order to end the game.