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Weir, Oak Glen Look To Make Noise In West Virginia Class AA Track

Coming off a third-place finish in the 2018 West Virginia Class AA state championship meet, Weir track coach Tom Taylor knows his Red Riders have the ammunition to be a major threat in this spring’s final meet in Charleston.

“Coming off third-place finishes at both the OVAC and W.Va. state meets last year, expectations are high for us this season,” Taylor said. “Our success last year could be attributed to our strong senior leadership which we graduated a core of talented and dedicated kids.

“And while we only return four seniors this year, we are looking forward, and expecting, the emergence of having new leaders this season.”

Weir has seven returning athletes that participated in last year’s state meet, including three that had their seasons end on the podium. Leading the way is junior speedster Sebastian Spencer, who won or was part of three state championships and finished second in another.

Spencer broke the tape in Class AA 200-meter dash while finishing a close second in 100. He also was a member of the Riders’ state championship 4×100 and 4×200-meter sprint relay foursomes.

Senior Quincy Dameron is another key returner who joined Spencer on the two winning relay team while taking fourth in the 200 and sixth in the 100. The other returning state placer is senior Jake McCoy who was a third member of the 4×200 unit.

“Our sprinters, led by Sebastian Spencer and Quincy Dameron, will be a talented group and our relays, which also will include Jake McCoy should be strong.”

Senior Reed Reitter, who will wear many hats, qualified for the state on the 4×400 team along with junior Gage Reitter while juniors James Littleton and Logan Walter were each part of Weir’s state-qualifying shuttle hurdle relay team.

Other seniors include Dante Daddario (sprints), Skyler Lamp (distance), Andrew LeMasters (sprints), Dakota Nutter (throws), Reese Willis (distance, jumps) and Robby Velenti (throws).

Juniors are Boston Beatty (distance), Skyler Jackson (distance), Justin Nall (distance), Spencer Vida (distance), George Wansack (throws), Chase Wills (distance) and Michael Zias (throws).

A large sophomore class has Gavin Burton (sprints), Jonathon Howard (throws), Cameron Johnson (distance), Conner Lang (distance), Ayden Munoz (distance), Izaak Riter (sprints), Roy Shrieve (distance), Charles Swain (distance), Steven Wilson (throws) and Trevor Wilson (distance).

Freshmen newcomers will be Dante Bruno (sprints), Isaac Burdine, Ryan Dunmyer (distance), Daniel Kuhns (distance), Brayden Lawton (sprints), Jacob Morgan (distance), Myles Rice (throws) and Tommy Wilson (sprints).

“We lost some premier hurdlers and distance runners to graduation, but our hopes are that the younger athletes quickly grow into their shoes,” Taylor said. “There will also be some more experienced runners put into some events early in the season to help keep us competitive.

“Kids like Reed Reitter, Gage Reitter, James Littleton and Logan Walters also give us a base to build on with the others. Senior transfer Robby Velinti also will add some experience to our talented throwers.s

“Overall, expectations are very high and we feel we have built a solid base and now expect to be competitive at every meet we compete in.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Weir girls’ coach Jeff Lewis opens the campaign minus five talented athletes who picked up diplomas last year.

“I am very excited about the upcoming season,” Lewis said. “These young ladies have been working very hard since the beginning of January, but at the same time we are going to need to reload with the talent we lost from last year.”

A total of three of last year’s departed athletes are competing at the next level with Caroline Fodor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Meghan Hawthorne and Hannah Larkey both at West Liberty University.

This year’s team will be young with plenty of inexperience. The sprinters will be led by Navaeh Colliers and Sarah Hudachek along with Taryn Davis, Haley Brown, Sarah Bodrog, Blaire McUmar, Skyla Hirkala, Emily Budik, Ziona Barnes and Marissa Howard.

Olivia Bernola and Nakiera Harper will be the top hurdlers and will get help from Hudacheck, Hirkala, Nerea Reinaso and Taylor Haught. Olivia Dowler and Samantha Antol will be the top distance runners with Cori Pierce and Stephanie Crago in the weight events.

Mackenzie Hollaway will be the team’s long jumper Faith Riggle in the high jump.

“This team has a lot of potential therefore, I have high expectations for this squad,” Lewis said. “With the youth and inexperience our athletes are going to have to learn how to rise to the caliber of our competition.

“I look forward to seeing this team develop as we progress through the season.”

Lewis, who is in his eighth season at the helm, will be assisted by Paul Stevens, who has more than 24 years of experience at the school.

Oak Glen boys’ coach Rance Everly is also dealing with graduation losses, but his Golden Bears have a pair of state placers back in the fold, including senior weightman Kellen Tropeck, who won the W.Va. Class AA discus championship last year, twirling the platter 156-2. Tropeck was also second in the shot put at the state meet.

Sophomore Gage Patterson will be a key part of Oak Glen’s sprint relay teams but also finished fifth in the long jump last year, just less than 21 feet, as a freshman.

Along with Tropeck senior leadership could be provided by Nathan Atkinson (distance, mid-distance), Charles Lauritzen (sprints, jumps), Logan Meadows (throws) and Zach Nolder (sprints, jumps).

Juniors are Shawn Bragg (sprints), Lucas Harris (sprints, hurdles), Dakota Holbrook (sprints), Ethan Littell (sprints), Dewey Moore (sprints), Seth Mozingo (sprints, hurdles) and Matt Wright (mid-distance).

With Patterson topping the sophomore class his compadres include Jacob Clark (hurdles), Jacob Gittings (throws), Timmy Hughes (sprints), Tristan Lawson (sprints), Brayden Mineard (sprints), Kyler O’Connor (throws), Nicholas Rawson (throws) and Garrett Wright (throws).

This year’s freshman class has Konnor Allison (distance), Matthew Howard (throws), Jackson Ketchum (hurdles), Mason Konchar (distance), Nathan Lang (sprints), Trenton Lockhart (distance), Mark Snyder (throws), Cameron Tropeck (distance, high jump) and Adam Willey (throws).

“We are going to be a fairly balanced team this year from top to bottom,” Everly said.

“I also know we will feel the effects of the loss of our seniors from last year, but we have some key returning guys and some quality freshmen coming in to help fill those voids.

“I fully expect us to be competitive at every meet in which we attend. We are very excited to get things going at our first meet.”

Golden Bears girls’ coach Ashley Tharp welcomes back one state champion after qualifying 14 last year and watching her team take home the bronze at the W.Va. Class AA state championship meet.

Senior Maggie Kovalcik leads the returners for Oak Glen after winning the state long jump title a season ago. In all, the Bears lost six seniors from last season, but return 13 and have a large group of 12 joining the roster.

Other senior competitors will be Chloe Molish, Krissy Neely and Annalise Murphy while the juniors include Emily Ashcraft, Abigail Myers, Emma Reed, Kaylee Travis and Teri Frye.

The sophomore class has Izzy Barganski, Abby Lowther, Mia Ridgway, Connor Gibson, Erin Skinner and Addy McSwegin while the freshman competitors will be Sophia Arner, Samantha Love, Phoebe Molish, Ava Ross, Ally Severs, Gracie Wright, Zoey Mayhew, Charidy Ward, Brooklyn Watts and Marilyn Greynolds.

Tharp will be assisted by Ethan Delekta, Jordann Mitchell and Jeremy Krzys.

“Our main goal this year is to set team and individual bests at each meet,” Tharp said. “With the loss of last year’s team members openings exist for the up and coming athletes to show their abilities, both individually or as relay members.

“The returning athletes know what to expect and how to help the team meet our personal and team goals. I feel these girls can obtain all the goals they set and we are looking forward to a great season.”

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