Wacky World of Sports

OVAC Track Recap

The Ohio Valley Athletic Conference knows what colors to make this year's pennants for track and field after this weekend's Cal Giffin OVAC Track and Field Championships concluded at Shadyside's Fleming Field and Bellaire's Nelson Field.

St. John Central ruled the 1-A girls field as we expected. Just too much talent in too many places. The Toronto boys prevailed in the smallest class with only 11 boys in the meet. Hard to believe isn't it, but the Red Knights are solid on the track with a lot of decent speed.

Steubenville Catholic -- as expected -- rolled to the girls' title and then won a wide-open boys title going away. In both cases, the Crusaders just had too much speed. Freshman hurdler Teddi Maslowski gave fans a glimpse of the hurdling future in the Ohio Valley and Dan Cook showed what he can do in the short sprints. For the girls, folks like Bernadette Dubois and Jane Clare Vosteen also came up big. When SCC and SJC girls lock horns later on, it could be a dandy.

Barnesville's girls -- on the strength of all-everything junior Stephanie Morgan -- ruled the roost in their first year in Class 3-A. Morgan won four gold medals and set OVAC meet records in every event. She anchored a 4x4 team which posted a 4:07. The Lady Shamrocks also received a big showing from senior ace Allie Doan as well as folks like Amanda Wahl, Abby Bishop and Karly Jones just to name a few.

The Meadowbrook boys -- who were hit hard by graduation a year ago -- repeated thanks to having too much speed. The Colts relays were simply dominant and it's those kinds of points, which could make the Colts a factor at the regional level. Throw in Jesse Frymyer posting a height of 6-ft-6 to win the high jump.

In Class 4-A, the Wheeling Park Patriots made it look easy. Thanks to Ryan Beabout and Courtney Yaeger the Pats did it with distance. Throw in the sprint work of DeShayla Bell for the girls and Travis and Brandon McKinley for the boys plus a whole lot of others and the Pats were too good and most importantly too deep. Wouldn't surprise me in the least that the Patriots go to Charleston in two weeks and sweep those titles as well.