Track State Meet Review

The annual West Virginia high school track and field state championships featured many memorable performances and achievements. While impossible to recap them all, I did my best to bring to life some of the meet’s top accomplishments for The Daily Mail. To read about some of the meet’s overall top performances, click here.

To read my state meet day one notebook that featured on Cabell Midland’s first-place shuttle hurdles relay team, click here.

For my state meet day two notebook, I focused on Capital freshman Tristan Slater who won the AAA boys pole vault. For more on Slater’s performance and other top day-two achievements, click here.

To check full meet results, visit www.runwv.com

Below, I wanted to include quotes from the many individuals I interviewed as I worked to produce these articles. However, as always is the case, not all the material from each interview can make an article, so here’s a place you can find out more on some of the meet’s top athletes.

Matt Cottrill, Point Pleasant coach

-on Point Pleasant senior Caleb Riffle defeating Cabell Midland standout Jacob Burcham in the AAA boys 800

“It’s one of those big races everyone’s watching Burcham. For me,  during the entire time, I’m jumping over that little wooden fence trying to watch the race, because our 4x100 time, we didn’t know what it was, and they announced the results. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on. I thought we placed in the 4x100, so I’m trying to peek through the fence and watching the race. I see Caleb’s in third place, right there with Burcham. They’re coming down the final stretch and I’ve got my watch on. I’m keeping track of the time and watching the time and peeking through the crack in the fence and watching the race, but I could see, I could see through a slightly big crack watching the race coming down that final stretch and see Caleb getting bigger and bigger and bigger and ended up crossing the line. I ended up having to ask for verification from people standing up at the finish line that he actually won. They told me the kid in the red. Well, all three of them are wearing red. After verification, it was Caleb who won with the red and the white stripes.”

-on Riffle’s determination

“He said ‘I know I can run a 1:55.’ At our regional, he ran a 1:58 and that was his fastest time, broke his school record again. He said he got boxed in at the beginning of the race. He kept saying all week, he said ‘I can run a 1:55,’ and for him to run a 1:54, man, it was just unbelievable.”

“He’s one of those kids last year I can remember going to the state meet, he wasn’t picked to place in the 800. I remember him telling me, he said ‘Coach, I’m not even picked to place in the 800, but I just ran – I think he just ran a 2:03 at the time, or it might have been 2:04, at regional and came in second, and he wasn’t even picked.”

-on what Riffle’s 800 win means to Point Pleasant’s track program

“I think this accomplishment with Caleb is going to help our track program tremendously. It’s been a big step for us moving to AAA, but getting a state champion this year and in the 800, it means a lot for Point Pleasant.”

-on Riffle establishing his legacy with the 800 win

“Jacob Burcham is a phenomenal runner. He’s one of the top runners to ever run in West Virginia and I think it’s just the topping on the cake for Caleb to go out and beat Burcham. It’s one of the things he would say. We would sit around and he would say I’m going to beat Burcham this week. You never know.”

Caleb Riffle, Point Pleasant senior

-on his friendship with Buffalo’s Dylan Rich, who also beat Burcham in the 800 this season

“Me and Dylan Rich are really good friends. He’s pretty much the one that’s helped my career, because we’re always at the same meets together and he’s pushed me.”

-on helping Point Pleasant to make a name in running

“No one thought we could do anything in AAA, because this is our first year coming up. We actually won the AAA state championship in ’86. My dad was on that team. He was a big part of that. The best 800 runner before me (at Point Pleasant) was like a 2:01. I broke that record middle of the season, because I’ve never went under 2 minutes until regionals I had a 1:58. I knew I surprised a lot of people today.”

Chris Parsons, Cabell Midland coach

-on Midland senior Brian Lawhon, who placed second in the 800

“Brian Lawhon had a phenomenal race. I wish he could have just hung on to win it. It was so close. He came up a tad short.”

-on Burcham’s career in sum for track and cross country

“He has 13 state titles in his career, 10 in track and he’s got all four state records with 4x800. In cross country, he’s won three times, so he’s got a total of 13, and then he’s got the state record in the cross country. I don’t know if you can even do more than what he’s accomplished.”

Jerry Smalley, Cabell Midland hurdles coach

-on the Knights defeating Parkersburg South in the AAA boys shuttle hurdles

“Parkersburg South put a lot of heat on us there at the end, but Nate didn’t melt. That’s a senior.”

Nate Moore, Midland senior hurdler, who won the 110-meter high hurdles, ran the anchor on the winning shuttle hurdle team and placed fourth in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles

-on winning the shuttle hurdles

“It’s awesome. That’s what I was looking forward to. Shuttles is my favorite event, always has been.”

Daniel Jarrell, Midland freshman hurdler, who ran on winning shuttle hurdle team

-on picking up hurdles as a freshman

“It’s not easy, but my Coach Smalley, he always says to stay smooth and steady. That’s what I did the whole time, that’s what these guys did, and that’s how we won.”

Niles Dailey, Midland senior hurdler

-on winning the shuttle hurdles as a senior

“It feels great. Last year, me and Nate had a disappointing meet. We didn’t make it out of everything, didn’t qualify for the 300s, so we were coming here making sure we scored some points, that we weren’t going to just rely on the distance guys. It’s awesome to win this race. I’m extremely proud of these guys, especially the two new ones. The difference between when we started and now, it’s tremendous and I think Smalley is amazing.”

Richie Wyant, Buffalo coach

-on Buffalo winning its third consecutive title in the Class AA boys 4x800

“I couldn’t find an 800 runner five years ago. I couldn’t have bought one. It’s just funny because we put an emphasis on it, talked about it, said we want to try to get involved and be a part of that race, be competitive in it and it just seems like it’s worked out we’ve had just enough guys to get us there and be competitive for the win.”

-on being the target in the 4x800

“We knew we had a big bull’s eye on us today. I told the kids, because they were looking at times throughout the year, I said ‘Listen, they’re going to be working trying to knock you off.’”

Payton Mullen, Charleston Catholic freshman

-on placing second in the Class A girls 1600

“It felt really good actually. It’s really crazy. I’ve only run the mile like four times.”

-on her gameplan for the mile

“Staying with everyone and then, at the end, finish with all you have.”