The Charleston Catholic girls track team has quietly become quite the threat in Class A Region IV, as the team finished fourth at last weekend's Gazette/Friends of Coal Relays. For my article on the Irish girls track team in today's Daily Mail, click here.
At Gazette Relays, the Irish placed fourth with 75 points, behind Tyler Consolidated (93), runner-up Clay-Battelle (101) and winner Doddridge County (121).
Doddridge entered the meet ranked second in the state, according to www.runwv.com, while Clay-Battelle listed fourth and Tyler Consolidated fifth. No. 1 and back-to-back champ Williamstown did not race at Gazettes. Catholic, which entered ranked 10th in Class A girls, finished ahead of No. 7 Richwood, which finished seventh at Gazettes.
Juniors Quincy McKown and Gina Marks, and freshman Peyton Keener each claimed individual event titles at Gazettes, while the 4x800-meter relay group of McKown, Keener, Sarah Joseck and Amanda Lane won, too. The 4x800 relay defeated its next closest competitor Tyler Consolidated by more than 20 seconds. The Irish 4x800 relay entered the meet ranked second in the state.
McKown and Keener turned in perhaps the most impressive performances. McKown beat her previous 800 season-best record by nine seconds, to finish in 2:30.76. Keener finished fourth in the 800 at 2:37.62.
Keener claimed first in the 1600 with a time of 5:39.47 to edge McKown in second at 5:40.32. Both times were season-bests for the runners, Catholic coach Scott Welch said.
In addition to running on the first-place 4x800 relay, Keener and McKown ran with Joseck and Casey Gennette on the fourth-place 4x400 team.
Here's a quick run-down of other Catholic girls performances at the Gazette relays:
100: Catherine Caisngal, sixth (:14.10)
200: Joseck, sixth (:29.27)
400: Joseck, third (1:05.68); Gennette, seventh (1:09.56)
3200: Annie Crockett, fifth (13:40.45); Kara Lough, eighth (14:16.65)
100H: Emily Holmes, sixth (:18.87)
300H: Holmes, seventh (:56.26)
4x100: Dawn Cooper, Gennette, Lauren Somers, Claire Zain, 10th
4x200: Gennette, Zain, Holmes, Cooper, seventh
Pole Vault: Casingal, second (8-6)
Long Jump: Cooper, 13th (12-0)
Discus: Marks, seventh (76-8)
Entering the weekend's Gazette Relays, several individual Irish athletes were ranked in runwv.com's top 10, in addition to a few relay teams. Here are those rankings:
Class A girls track top 10 statewide rankings:
400: Payton Mullen, tied-sixth (1:05.48)
800: McKown, fifth (2:40.08)
1600: Keener, eighth (5:55.52)
4x100: fifth
4x200: fifth
4x400: fourth
4x800: second
Pole Vault: Casingal, second (8-0); Sydney Taylor, fifth (7-6)
Shot Put: Marks, seventh (30-5)
Obviously, these rankings will be updated and pending performances of other athletes in the top 10 from this past weekend, the Irish can expect to rise in some rankings.
Below, I would like to include some extra quotes from my interview with Catholic coach Scott Welch that did not make my article in The Daily Mail.
Scott Welch, Charleston Catholic track coach
-on why the team excelled at Gazette Relays
“I’m not exactly sure why they did so well. One girl knocked off 20 seconds, one girl 18 seconds off their mile. Quincy won the 800 in 2:30. Her best has been a 2:39, and that’s coming off a mile, so we were really pleased with that.”
“Gazettes kind of pumps you up a little bit. Doddridge County was there and some other good, quality teams, and some of our girls are experienced enough to know our region is incredibly tough with Doddridge, Williamstown and Buffalo and us.”
-on lack of true sprinters on this year's team
“We don’t have a 100 or 200 runner this year. We’ve had one for about four or five years straight with different girls. We have a nice collection of speed, so when our 4x1s and 4x2s get together…
-on freshman Payton Mullen, who did not race at Gazette Relays
“She’s a very, very strong runner. She’s also a miler, an 800 and will run the speed relays more than likely.”
-on team's top field-event athlete, Gina Marks
“Gina Marks did a nice job with the shot. She won that. She’s capable -- that’s not her best throw. She’s capable of throwing better .She’s going to have to when we get to states, but she’s capable of hitting 32, 33, even 34, I think, so she did a nice job in that.”
-on strength of Class A, Region IV
“We know that if you finish in the top seven -- your top three automatically go -- and our region is so strong, we know that you might have a very good chance of making it in the states if you finish seventh.”
-on takeaways from weekend's Gazette Relays
“I think they walked away with a lot more confidence. They felt very good about themselves as they walked away.”
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