Huskies girls named state runners-up, Fairmont Senior nabs pair of top-five finishes
May 20—CHARLESTON — North Marion, East Fairmont and Fairmont Senior high schools combined for eight state champion or state runner-up efforts on the second and final day of the 2023 state track meet, with North Marion's girls finishing as the state runner-up as a team, and Fairmont Senior finishing in the Top 5 for team scoring in both boys (fifth) and girls (fourth) competition.
The Winfield High girls successfully defended their state title, running away with the gold once again and scoring 150 cumulative team points. North Marion held strong in second place against fierce competition, claiming the silver spot for the third straight year.
After the first day of competition, the Huskies were in a dogfight for team positioning, but stayed put at second due to impressive efforts like graduating senior Rylee Delovich's, who finished first in the state in the 300 meter hurdles and the 100 meter hurdles on Saturday.
"It means so much to me, I love this team so much," Delovich said. "It's so bitter-sweet to leave, but I just love my team, they're the ones who push me, they're the ones who let me get here to first place."
"It feels so, I've worked so hard, I know everyone else has, and they do great and push me every year I've seen them. But this feels so amazing."
Delovich was driven this year to excel after coming in second place in the 300 meter hurdles last year.
"I knew I could do good. Coming in second last year really pushed me because I wanted to be first and I knew I could be."
Among the other North Marion athletes on Saturday, Trinity Hine placed sixth in the 400 meter dash and seventh in the 100 meter dash.
North's girls 4x200 relay team placed eighth, their 4x400 relay team placed sixth, and their 4x100 meter relay team placed fourth.
On the boys side, Jeffrey Cowger placed 7th in the 100 meter hurdles.
The Fairmont Senior Polar Bears girls came in fourth, while the boys came in fifth, with Point Pleasant claiming the top spot this year.
The Polar Bears' Saturday spotlight was Grant Broadhurst, who won the 400 meter dash against a fleet-footed field.
Broadhurst came into the day ranked third, but proved the pre-race rankings wrong at the finish line.
"I knew we were all really close, within less than a second, so it just came down to that final push," Broadhurst said. "The Point Pleasant kid almost had me, but it was just down to that last push."
"Right now I feel great, but right after, it was awful. I was really tired. Everyone ran really well and it was a really close race."
Broadhurst won by one-tenth of a second over Point Pleasant's Cooper Tatterson, posting a 51.42 to win the race.
After coming in fourth place at state last year, his first year running track, Broadhurst saw plenty of self-improvement in his second year in the sport.
"Definitely having more experience now, I know what to train for and what it feels like," Broadhurst said. "Then my coaching, the way our coaches organize us is very well done. We know what we're going to do before we do it."
Broadhurst, a junior, anticipates competing against much of the same field next year, as the top three finishers in the 400 meter dash are all juniors, and are eager to go out on top next season.
"It's definitely going to be rough, because we're all juniors," Broadhurst said. "So we're all coming straight back here to compete for the same thing again basically. So just put more work in, more effort, more time, and get faster."
Along with Broadhurst's big day, Trey Longwell finished in second in the 100 meter dash, and two Polar Bears placed in the boys long jump, Cannon Dinger in third and Tayvion Thornton in eighth.
Fairmont Senior's boys' 4x200 meter relay team placed eighth, their 4x100 relay team placed third, and their 4x400 meter relay team placed second.
For their eventual fourth-place girls team's second day at Laidley Field, Paytyn Neal placed second in the 100 meter hurdles, and Marin Parker placed sixth in the 100 meter dash. Kanayia Mahaney placed eighth in the 300 meter hurdles.
The Polar Bears girls' 4x200 meter relay team placed second, and both their 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams placed third.
East Fairmont ended in 14th place on the boys side of things and in 18th place for their girls.
On Saturday, East junior Dakota Dammeyer placed second in the boys discus throw and fourth in the boys shot put.
The Bees girls' 4x200 meter relay team placed seventh, while Taylor Nicholas individually placed eighth in the 200 meter dash.
CLASS-AA GIRLS CUMULATIVE TEAM POINTS
1) Winfield HS 150
2) North Marion HS 73.50
3) Oak Glen HS 65
4) Fairmont Senior HS 53
5) Weir HS 50
6) Grafton HS 38
7) Liberty (Harrison) HS 36
8) Point Pleasant HS 33
9) Poca HS 28
10) Robert C. Byrd HS 25
11) Elkins HS 21
12) Nicholas County HS 20
13) Nitro HS 14
14) Sissonville HS 12
15) Roane County HS 11.50
16) Lincoln HS 11
17) Keyser HS 10
T-18) Herbert Hoover HS 8
T-18) East Fairmont HS 8
T-20) Frankfort HS 7
T-20) Shady Spring HS 7
22) Lewis County HS 5
T-23) Independence HS 4
T-23) Philip Barbour HS 4
T-23) Wyoming East HS 4
T-26) Braxton County HS 2
T-26) Bluefield HS 2
CLASS-AA BOYS CUMULATIVE TEAM POINTS
1) Point Pleasant HS 82.33
2) Keyser HS 79
3) Winfield HS 75
4) Frankfort HS 59
5) Fairmont Senior HS 49
6) Weir HS 44
7) Poca HS 39
8) Scott HS 28
9) Roane County HS 26
10) Shady Spring HS 24
11) Berkeley Springs HS 22.33
12) Lewis County HS 21
13) Robert C. Byrd HS 18
T-14) Oak Glen HS 16
T-14) East Fairmont HS 16
16) Westside HS 15
T-17) PikeView HS 14
T-17) Lincoln HS 14
19) Bluefield HS 13
20) Philip Barbour HS 12.33
T-21) Herbert Hoover HS 12
T-21) Nicholas County HS 12
T-23) Nitro HS 4
T-23) Grafton HS 4
25) North Marion HS 2
26) Independence HS 1
Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548, on Twitter @nfhenthorn_135 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.
