Weather forced the OVAC to postpone the 1-3A qualifying round from Monday to Thursday, then move the OVAC Middle School Championships from Thursday to Friday. It all worked out in the end as there could not have been better weather than there was on Saturday for the Cal Giffin Championships.
On a great sunny day at the beautiful St. Clairsville Track and Field complex, the OVAC put on another great championship event. As usual the OVAC puts the student athletes on display and in the front of their minds in everything they do. This was evident all-day Saturday. Something else the OVAC likes to do is honor those that give so much to the sports that they adore.
The OVAC honored track and field official Jerry Narcisi for his 50 years of service to the sport of track and field. Narcisi is seen at track and field meets all over the Valley, serving in all sorts of capacities along the way. His work often goes unnoticed by those at the meets, but it could not happen without him around, he is one of the all-time greats.
Also honored were coaches Dave Evans and Wayne Rutter. They both received the Cal Giffin Award for coaching track and field at Cameron and Wheeling Central, respectively.
Lola Anderson, a St. Clairsville junior, performed the National Anthem during the opening ceremonies. It was one of the best Anthem performances I have heard in quite some time. An excellent job goes out to Lola for starting the event out right.
Some of the early running events that occur before the opening ceremonies are the shuttle hurdles and the 4×800 meter relay. Winning the girls side of the shuttles was the Dover team of Alyssa Feller, Bridget McCrate, Sophia Bielski, and Emilyn Feller with a 1:08.69.
The Morgantown team made up of Alex Tadros, Hayden Casdorph, Seth Wisman, and Jacob Meyer won the boys in 58.93. Crushing a stadium, OVAC championship, and all-time OVAC mark in the 4×800 was Madeline Gump, Sophie Renner, Irene Riggs, and Amelia Summers in 9:33.98, beating the previous record by over 3 seconds.
As these running events are going on, so too are the field events. And a record fell there as well as Wheeling Park’s Mykel Davis broke the 5A record in the high jump with a jump of 6’6”.
Not to be outdone in the record-breaking category, St. Clairsville’s Karl Kain won the pole vault with a vault of 14’2”. This height breaks the OVAC 4A record.
Even more record breaking on the boys’ side of the field events came in the shot put. Union Local’s junior Johnny Sabinski broke the 3A and OVAC Championship record with a put of 60’7.75”.
Records fell on the girls’ side of the field events as well. There were two-disc records broken in the form of Caldwell’s Gwyn Lori and Wheeling Park’s Adriana Fazzini. Lori broke the 3A record with a throw of 132’11”. Fazzini broke the 5A record with a throw of 124’8”.
I may sound like a broken record, but more records fell as the running events began. Micah Mitchell of Steubenville ran the 110-meter hurdles in 14.27 to break the stadium, 5A, and OVAC Championship records.
How about another couple’s records falling in the 100-meter dash? Wheeling Central’s Lorenzo Ferrera ran a 10.89 to break the 1A/2A record. Emma Henry of St. Clairsville thought she would get into the record breaking as well in the 100 when she broke the tape in 12.16 to set a stadium and 4A record.
Wheeling Central got into the record breaking again when junior Aiden Scott won the 1600-meter run in 4:27.85 to set the 1A/2A record. On the girls’ distance race side Amelia Summers (Morgantown) set the OVAC Championship record with a time of 10:55.05 in the 3200 meter run.
Not to be outdone on the boys’ side Ben Shields (St. Clairsville) and Seth Franke (Wheeling Park) both set records in the 3200. Shields broke the stadium and OVAC Championship records with a 9:34.16. And Franke with a 5A record breaking time of 9:38.16.
In the final event of the day, the 4×400 meter relay, records again fell. On the girls’ side, it was the Dover quartet of Ava Zobel, Amaya Baumberger, Emilyn Feller, and Sydney Stevenson, who set a stadium and OVAC Championship record with a time of 4:05.93.
Of course, a record-breaking day had to end with a broken record. Josh Schoonover, Savior Faulks, Josiah Rea, and Micah Mitchell of Steubenville broke the OVAC Championship 4×400 record in 3:25.60.
With these broken records, I almost forgot to mention something we always notice here at OV Athletics. I could not finish this article without mentioning the concession stand. Anytime a concession stand has a deep fryer it is a win. French fries, pepperoni rolls, ice cream, smoothies, and even funnel cakes could be had at the OVAC Championships. Excellent job out to St. Clairsville for their great concession stand.
Finally, to Jerry Narcisi, Ben Frye, Kelly Rine, Coach V, Coach Ciroli, Coach Truchan, Lauren Florence, the hurdle crew, the officials, and to the many that I am missing that it takes to put on a great meet like this, thank you for the time you give for the student athletes of the Ohio Valley.
All results from the OVAC track and field meet can be viewed here.
Discussion about this post