Track - WV State Championship Day 2
Sunday, May 24th, 2009Article by: Coach Martin
After a good night's rest, athletes from Preston High filed back in to Laidley Field for Day 2 of the West Virginia State Track & Field Championship. The first event of the day was the 400 meter dash. Preston's Andrea Jones set a personal record in the 400 with a time of 1:01.67 (9th overall).
After the 400, all eyes turned to the 1600 meter run. In the girls 1600 meter run, Ari Kasprowicz ran a very intelligent race and picked up her second state championship. Her time of 5:01 is the 4th fastest state meet performance of all-time. In the boys 1600 meter run, Eric Ryan's state meet record of 4:14 was eclipsed by North Marion's Zach Tennant by one second (4:13). Just four seconds benind Tennant was Preston's Craig Pritt in 2nd. Pritt's time of 4:17 is the fastest non-winning time in state history.
Charles France was the next Knight to earn all-state honors. France heaved the shot put 51 feet 7.75 inches to finish third overall. Maurice Newby of Hedgesville edged France by 1.75 inches to finish as the state runner-up.
Scott Bexfield broke his own school record in the discus with a throw of 132 feet 1 inch. Bexfield finished 9th overall and less than 6 feet from all-state honors.
In the boys 100 meter dash, Kevin Eisentrout finished 5th overall with a time of 11.57. Eisentrout is the first sprinter since Seth Wheeler in 2005 to earn all-state honors.
Directly after the 100 meter dash, Eisentrout teamed up with Colton Goff, Necko Fanning, and Brad Pell in the 4 x 200 meter relay. Unfortunately, the boys were not precise with their hand-offs and were unable to earn all-state honors. The 4 x 200 finished 9th overall with a time of 1:33.06.
Tyler Maust and Charles France joined forces with Fanning and Goff in the 4 x 100 meter relay. The exchanges in this relay were much better, but the Preston boys were unable to score in this event as well. The boys did run their best time of the year (44.67) and finish 8th overall.
In the girls 800 meter run, Ari Kasprowicz ran a great time (2:22), but finished just outside the scoring position in 8th. In the boys 800, Craig Pritt ran one of the most exciting races in state meet history. He "slayed" pre-race favorite and St. Alban's Dragon, Andy Bailey. Pritt's time of 1:55.02 is the fastest AAA peformance this decade. Video of Pritt's incredible race can be viewed below.
WARNING: This video may inspire you to go out and run.
In the boys 200 meter dash, Kevin Eisentrout picked up his second all-state medal by finishing 5th overall in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.78.
As always, the 4 x 400 concludes every meet. The Preston girls 4 x 400 relay team of Laura Shaffer, Gwen Brand, Emily Radabaugh, and Andrea Jones were less than one second slower than their regional qualifying time, but were only able to muster a 11th place finish (4:18.50). The boys 4 x 400 team of Craig Pritt, Luke Bowman, Brad Pell, and Kevin Eisentrout were faced with unenviable task of trying to finish in the top six spots overall while running in the first heat. Despite running in the "slow heat", the boys in black and silver were able to finish in 4th place overall with a time of 3:30.78. This performance allowed Craig Pritt and Kevin Eisentrout to pick up their 3rd all-state medal while seniors Brad Pell and Luke Bowman collected their first career all-state award.
Overall the girls team finished in 10th place with 23 points while the boys finished in 6th place with 32 points. The boys were only 6.5 points from finishing in 3rd place.
As has been the case all year, pictures and results of the West Virginia State Track & Field Championship can be viewed at this link:
www.PrestonPix.com Coverage of the WV State Meet
Special thanks to Charlie Pritt for the countless hours he has devoted to covering our student-athletes at Preston High. The Coaching Staff would like to thank all of our athletes for a fantastic season.
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