Course Record Broken by Three Runners at 2010 West Virginia State Meet

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Course Record Broken by Three Runners at West Virginia State Meet
By Nicole Lemal
Tristaterunnur.com

A couple days before the state meet, Cabell Midland coach Chris Parsons took Jacob Burcham out on the top of the course to discuss a race strategy.

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Burcham knew he was about to run the hardest race of his life against big names like Morgantown’s Cody Pelliccioni. Both coach and athlete were anticipating Pelliccioni to surge at different times during the race to test the field.

“My plan was to every time he went, I’d go with him, stay with him as long as I could and just reassure myself that he couldn’t keep it up the whole race. Stay with him, even if it hurts.”

He did. The stellar sophomore runner, a former football player, squeaked by Pelliccioni toward the end and put on a tremendous kick to run a 15:12. His last mile was well under five minutes.

“Fastest state meet, fastest season ever, I think,” Burcham said of the state meet. “It’s pretty exciting to win as a sophomore. That was a really big accomplishment. I know Pelliccioni and Doughty, they’re all really good runners. It’s their senior year, so I feel for them, but it’s exciting stuff.”

Although Pelliccioni fell short of his goals to win the state championship, he was still very thrilled with his 15:19 performance.

“This meant a lot for me, definitely my senior year. I wanted to go out and win it and what not, but I’m still happy with it. Second place this year is really nice. Last year me getting second with what my time was, I would have won it easily.”

Fairmont Senior’s Dayton McVicker managed to place third in this intense field with a 15:29 performance. Jefferson’s Brandon Doughty followed approximately a half minute back to snatch fourth. All four ran closely together for the mile, as they simultaneously stepped in at 5:08. It wasn’t until the second mile that this group faded and more of a distance separated them.

Preston sophomore Brody Born picked up the pace in the last mile to earn fifth place.
During his last mile he wasn’t even sure if he was all state. The thought was exhausting to him, until he realized how far up he really was in the field.

“When I finally realized I was all state, my body just collapsed on me,” he said. “It felt great, just a big relief off myself. It’s because I know I can do it, and I did it.”

This was the most talked about race this season. At the awards ceremony on Saturday afternoon, Parsons said that this was the most talented field of runners in years.

For starters, the top four runners in the AAA boys race all went sub 16. Of those four, three knocked out the former course record. Three of them were seniors. To be able to stand a chance at taking the top spot meant having pure guts all throughout the race.

Rounding off the top runners in the state for AAA were Cabell Midland’s Tyler Salmons, Jefferson’s Eric Graf, Cabell Midland’s Jeremy Waugh, University’s Jordan Brown-Stobbe and Cabell Midland’s Ryan Smith. Cabell Midland’s domination in the top 10 translated into an impressive team championship title. Jefferson was the runner up.

On the girls’ side in AAA, there was no doubt that Elkins senior Letitia Propst could pull out another victory at the state meet. This season her times reflected the natural strength she has as a runner. That strength gave Propst her third state title at 18:54.

“It was great. It was one of the things I was working for since last year, after I got hurt. I just really wanted to come back and win.”

Taking runner up only six seconds behind was Preston’s Kaitlyn Workman. Most of the race Workman was back in third but showed that she should not be counted out for runner up.

“It feels good to run with people like these guys (Propst and Scherich) because they’re just freaking awesome, and it just felt really awesome to be able to do that.”

Fairmont Senior’s Alyssa Scherich also posted an impressive performance with a 19:12. A junior who is now discovering her untapped potential, she placed 43rd at the state meet last season.

“Last year I was sick with swine flu, and I got 43^rd,” she said. “So it feels pretty great to come back and get third here this year.”

All three worked together during the race to push each other ahead of the competition. At mile marker one and mile marker two, they were within a split second of each other.

“I wouldn’t have run a time anywhere close to that if they weren’t pushing me so hard,” Propst said.

University’s Amelia Paladino maintained her fourth place position throughout the entire race with a 19:18 followed by Bridgeport’s Morganne Phillips.

Other all state finishers include Morgantown’s Sydney Pineault, University’s Emily Lynch, Preston’s Ashley Schultz, North Marion’s Emma Harrison and Cabell Midland’s Jorden Thornston. On such a tough course, all of these girls ran under 19:50. Three of the top 10 runners were only freshman.

University again squeaked by with another team championship title for the third week in a row. Only four points separated them and runner up Preston.

Congratulations to all runners. A special feature story on A-AA girls and boys races will follow shortly.

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