After a strong cross country season, Hurricane returns members from its first-ever boys XC team to reach the state championship, in addition to the perennial power of its girls team. Meanwhile, Winfield has become a contender buoyed by a talented group of sprinters and youthful long-distance runners.
“We’re in a tough region,” Hurricane sprints coach Paul Sowards said. “The boys will have to for sure contend with Cabell Midland. That’s a premier program, as you know. I would say all the usual suspects that are always top in the region, are going to be back.”
Sowards cited Winfield as one of the top sprint programs in the area.
Generals Coach David Bailey said he’s happy with his group’s performance -- he just wishes he had a larger roster.
“We just don’t have enough of them,” Bailey said with a laugh. “I’m pleased with my relays right now. The sprinters are hanging in there. The distance kids are doing well, but they’re really young. They’re all ninth-graders. The young kids are all doing well, so I’m pleased with that. That’s a good sign of things to come.”
Senior Emily Cole and junior Anika Shah lead the Winfield girls sprinters. Cole and Shah rank third and fifth in Class AAA respectively for the 100-meter dash, according to www.runwv.com. Shah ranks second in the 200, while Cole lists third in the long jump.
As for the relays, the Winfield girls currently rank first in both the 4x100 and 4x200. Additionally, the Generals rank third in the 4x800, fourth in the 4x400 and third in the shuttle hurdle relay, led by Josee Erlandson, who ranks fourth individually in the 300 hurdles.
In the distance department, cross country runners Barkley Castro, Brittney McMillion and Rachel Englund lead the way, among others. Castro ranks second in the 800 and third in the 400, while Englund lists fifth in the 3200 and McMillion seventh in the 1600.
For the Winfield boys, Christian Smith currently ranks third in pole vault, fourth in high jump and 10th in long jump. The team lists among the top 10 in several relays: 4x100 (ninth), 4x200 (sixth), 4x400 (fifth) and 4x800 (fifth). Finally, Chris Cochran ranks second in the pole vault.
Across Putnam County, Hurricane boasts plenty of top athletes, too, with senior Emily Schwendiman at the head of the class.
“Emily is having a great year,” Hurricane distance coach Jason Henley said. “She got a little bit of a taste of what state feels like last year when she qualified in the 4x800 and the 1600.
“I think she had a really, really good cross country season and ended up in the top 20 or right around in there in the state meet for cross country, and it’s just one of those things, I think, that opened her eyes to ‘I think I can get a little more out of this,’ and she was just so consistent, training this winter.”
Henley said he could see a greater determination within Schwendiman as she prepared for the track season.
“I knew she was setting the stage for doing something a little bit bigger than she has ever done before,” he said. “She has even surprised me a little bit with how quickly she’s come around. All the races that she’s run she’s basically just kind of broken them open early and been up there by herself, so the times that she’s run, she hasn’t really been pushed in running yet, so we’re real excited about getting her up against some people where she can have a little bit of competition.”
In addition to Schwendiman, several others who run cross country also run track, including Schwendiman’s twin sister Natalie Schwendiman, Joie Johnson, Abbie Short, Baylee Summers, Ally Lawhon and others. Currently, Johnston ranks third in the 3200 and 10th in the 800, while Natalie Schwendiman lists eighth in the 1600 and Short is 10th in the 3200.
The girls team also features a talented hurdler in sophomore Audrey Barber, who ranks second in the 300 hurdles, ninth in the 100 hurdles, and races as part of the team’s ninth-rated 300 shuddle hurdles relay.
Individually, Abby Watson ranks second in the discus and fifth in shot put, while Jocelyn Mullens lists ninth in the shot. Lauren London is third in the pole vault currently.
On the boys side, the Redskins also maintain a strong group of distance runners led by senior Drake Seccurro, who ranks fifth in the 3200. In addition, Hurricane's other cross-country-runners-turned-track-distance-runners includes Sam Hughes, Jacob Harmon, Will Thornton David Westfall, and more.
In sprinting, Steven Handley, Jeff Burnette and Rasaan Harris will lead the way. Currently, Burnette ranks 10th in the state in the 400. Hurricane place kicker Michael Molina, in his first year with the track program, ranks sixth in the long jump, while teammate Nathan Wendel ranks fifth. Other top-10 rated boys include Brian Hughes (seventh, high jump) and Spencer Turley (seventh, shot put).
All the athletes competed at today’s George Washington Classic held at the University of Charleston’s Laidley Field, where the state meet is annually held. Results were not available at the publish time.
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