Pictured left to right are, Zachary Hanshaw, Nathan Cosgrove, Mark Bedree, and Cameron Litviak who will compete at the 2011 WV State
Track and Field Championship at Laidley Field Friday and Saturday.
Submitted by Ernest Tingler
The Calhoun Track team has been in existence since Coach Melinda Fitzwater started the program 3 years ago. This is also the 3rd year that Calhoun runners have qualified to run at the state championship.
The sprinters led the way the last two years, but this year would prove more difficult. Most teams will have one or two speedsters on their team, but finding four runners who can be competitive in a relay is a lot more difficult. The Calhoun team has lost key members to graduation every year. However, that said, they did have three returning runners from last year's relay team.
The search was on for the 4th member. A transfer student with track experience was quickly recruited and the relay team looked like it was on its way to a great season. However, late in the season he came down with appendicitis and his season quickly ended. Would that also end the relay team's season?
With only weeks to prepare for the regional meet, which qualified teams for the state championship, things looked grim. It was too late to allow any new member on the team. All eyes were on Zachary Hanshaw. He was the team's solid long distance runner. While the sprinters were running meters, he was running miles.
His runs had to do more with pacing then a full burst of speed. Even if he could run fast, another key component of a relay team is the hand-off of the baton between runners. This takes the whole season, if not years to perfect. If you know Zach though, you know he was willing to give it a try.
The three sprinters took Zach, and quickly walked him through the finer points of handing off and receiving the baton. On their first practice at a full run, there was a glimmer of hope. Zach could sprint! Another obstacle they faced was the simple fact that Calhoun does not have a track. They have to run in the parking lot or practice fields. It is impossible to practice a full relay race. However, practice continued and although there were some great hand-offs, there were just as many poor ones. Eventually the tide started to change in favor of good handoffs. They ran in a couple races and were competitive. But our region has a reputation of having the best sprinter, and the regional meet would be tough.
You hear about athletes who show courage and guts. That was witnessed at the regional meet in Parkersburg last Thursday evening. It started early as the boys were practicing and a spike went through Bedree's shoe, completly severing his toenail and going into his toe. The pain was obvious, and as he started to limp, concern was palpable throughout the Calhoun contingent of athletes, coaches and parents. He continued to practice and everyone crossed their fingers.
Cosgrove and Litviak were also running in individual events. Litviak ran in the 100 meters while Cosgrove ran in the 100 and 200 meter races. With close to 30 competitors running these races, they must run in different preliminary heats with the top 8 runners moving on to the finals. Both runners qualified for the finals in the 100 meters. In the 200 meters race, while running in his heat, Cosgrove pulled up with about 20 yards before the finish line, jogging in, still getting 3rd in his heat. He fell to the ground grabbing his leg in pain. A week earlier, he pulled his hamstring in the Little Kanawha Conference (LKC) meet; apparently a week was not enough time for it to heal. Trainers and coaches went to work icing, stretching, and massaging his leg.
With 3 events left, Cosgrove did not feel he could run them all; he made a tough decision to scratch the individual event, the 100 meters. He said he felt it was more important for the seniors who were only running in the relays.
The relay team went on to qualify in both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 meters races, besting their time in the 4 x 200 earlier in the season by over 4 seconds. They were more than a second faster than their LKC time a week earlier. Their 4 x 100 time was 19 thousandths of a second slower than the previous week. In addition to the team running in the two relays at the state's championship, Latviak also will compete in the 100 meters race at the states.
This is a team the county can be proud of. The four young men have shown character traits that should be commended.
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