‘Devastation’: Waynesburg’s track team sees potential stellar year wiped out
Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Bree Echegaray clears 5-2 to break her school record in the high jump during a Section 6-AA meet against West Greene and Brownsville at Waynesburg Central on April 11, 2019. Echegaray missed her senior track season due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Jim Downey)
Waynesburg鈥檚 Caleb Shriver wins the 100-meter dash during WPIAL AA track and field team championship at Peters Township High School on May 6, 2019. Shriver missed out on his senior track season due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Celeste Van Kirk)
Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Taylor Shriver clears the bar at 11 feet with room to spare during the PIAA Class AA Track & Field Championships at Shippensburg University on May 25, 2019. Shriver, who set a WPIAL record while winning the gold medal, tied for third after clearing 12 feet in the state meet as a sophomore. She lost her junior track season to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Jim Downey)
The following is one in a series of stories featuring local high schools which lost their spring sports seasons due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Waynesburg Central boasted one of the area鈥檚 best track & field programs and the Raiders and Lady Raiders headed into the spring with great anticipation for another stellar season.
鈥淲e were fortunate enough the last two years, with the boys winning the section and us finishing second, to host the WPIAL team playoffs,鈥� WC girls track & field coach Dave Fowler said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 pretty rare and Waynesburg did it two years in a row. That was a real honor, and I felt confident enough that we could win the section this year, and we probably would鈥檝e hosted it again.鈥�
The coronavirus pandemic took away any chance of that happening.
Waynesburg鈥檚 baseball team reached the WPIAL quarterfinals in 2019 and was seeking its fourth consecutive trip to the playoffs.
鈥淲e thought we had a pretty good chance of making it further than we did last year,鈥� said third-year coach Jamie Moore. 鈥淢aybe I was naive. When they first said two weeks, I said OK, we can do this, we can still get the regular season in. But as each day went on and the news got worse, I started to realize that we might lose it all.鈥�
Jim Armstrong, who was heading into his 10th year with the Lady Raiders and 46th year overall as a softball coach, has witnessed a lot in his experience but the COVID-19 pandemic was something completely new to him.
鈥淚鈥檝e never seen anything like this in my life,鈥� Armstrong said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 totally disgusting. It ruined these kids鈥� season and took the senior year from three of them.
鈥淚t not only ruined softball, it ruined everything.鈥�
Waynesburg boys track & field coach Rick Layton noted the overall effect on sports programs the pandemic has caused.
鈥淚t stinks for all the kids, not just the seniors,鈥� said Layton, who watched his son Daniel win a PIAA gold medal in the 110 high hurdles last year as a senior. 鈥淭hat experience that you lose is critical going forward.鈥�
鈥淔or our school, for our kids, this was devastation this year,鈥� Fowler said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 fair. But none of this was for anybody.鈥�
Track & Field
Rick Layton and Fowler didn鈥檛 foresee the effects the pandemic would have on spring sports.
鈥淥n the day that we were notified that school was canceled for the next two weeks we actually had practice plans for the kids.鈥� Layton said. 鈥淲e let them take throwing implements home with them, hurdles and different things, because we honestly thought this was going to be a short-term thing. Our kids kept training. There were excited.
鈥淭hen two weeks go by, they extend it again, and we started to worry a little more, but we never gave up hope. Coach Fowler and I kept sending out workouts to the kids clear through April. Then in early May we could see the writing on the wall.鈥�
鈥淚 could just see as the weeks went by they were starting to get defeated because of this,鈥� Fowler said of his girls squad. 鈥淲hen they realized they weren鈥檛 going to be able to come back, it was shocking for these girls. They couldn鈥檛 wait for their senior year.鈥�
The Raiders had five seniors: Avery McConville, Caleb Shriver, Lucas Garber, Jonathon Davis and Garrett Fenstamacher.
鈥淎very was going to lead our team in all three throws this year, he鈥檚 very good in shot put, discus and javelin,鈥� Layton said. 鈥淟ast year he qualified for WPIALs in the discus (eighth-place medal) and the javelin (12th).鈥�
McConville was a three-sport star who suffered a shoulder injury in football that carried over into basketball season.
鈥淕oing into track we weren鈥檛 sure we were going to have him at all,鈥� Layton said. 鈥淗e had to have some surgery. Our hope was he was going to make it back in time for WPIALs. He鈥檚 a great, hard-working kid.鈥�
Shriver, like McConville, was a four-year letterman. He was a sprinter who helped the 400 relay team set a school record as a freshman, and jumper.
鈥淧robably long jump was his best event,鈥� Layton said. 鈥淗e ended up with a P.R. around 20 feet, 7 inches. He went to WPIALs and finished 12th. He also was a triple jumper and he was over 40 feet in that event.
鈥淭his was going to be the first in his four years that he was going to be healthy, so we were really looking forward to see what he could do. This was going to be his year to shine.鈥�
Garber and Davis were first-year members of the boys track team.
鈥淟ucas was going to do high jump and long jump,鈥� Layton said. 鈥淗e cleared six feet on his own in the high jump, without any coaching from anyone, in probably the second practice we had in the gym. We were looking for him by the end of the season at the very least qualifying for WPIALs, if not medal. I鈥檓 really disappointed that I didn鈥檛 get a chance to coach him. He鈥檚 just such a great athlete.
鈥淛onathan was a cross country runner who was going to come out and do distance for us. We were excited to have him.鈥�
Layton felt Fenstamacher was set to have a breakout year as a thrower.
鈥淕arrett鈥檚 a big, strong kid,鈥� Layton said. 鈥淧robably shot put was going to be his top event. He seemed to be finally pulling everything together mentally and physically.鈥�
The Raiders were rife with talented underclassmen also.
鈥淭he one with the best potential was probably Gabe McConville, Avery鈥檚 brother, a junior,鈥� Layton pointed out. 鈥淗e also does cross country and was my best all-around distance runner. He qualified for WPIALs last year in the 1,600 (10th, 4:47).
鈥淚 think this was going to be his year. He worked so hard in the off-season just training his butt off. I truly think he was one of the kids to get to states. I鈥檓 going to be counting on him big time next year.
鈥淚 had some kids coming up that I was excited for. Owen Farrier was a sophomore. He grew leaps and bounds physically. Dawson Fowler was a sophomore and his javelin was coming along extremely well. We had a couple kids from from basketball in Chase Henkins and Jacob Mason coming out also, two good athletes. Jacob is about a 6-7, 6-8 kid who was going to try to high jump.鈥�
Layton was looking for contributions from his freshmen class was well.
鈥淐arson Teagarden is a very good sprinter and jumper,鈥� Layton said. 鈥淗is best friend is my youngest son Drew, who had his sights on beating his older brother Daniel鈥檚 freshman pole vault record. Honestly, I think he had a good shot. He cleared 11 feet in practice in the winter.鈥�
The Lady Raiders were blazing a trail for their program.
鈥淭hey broke all the middle school records, they worked their way up,鈥� Fowler said. 鈥淭he were training like crazy, they were so into it. These seniors, I鈥檝e coached them for six years. I was their middle school coach and I moved on up with them to high school. They鈥檙e a tremendous group, one of the most talented we鈥檝e had come through in a long time.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really unfortunate.鈥�
The girls team had three PIAA qualifiers in 2019 returning this year in seniors Jules Fowler 鈥� the coach鈥檚 daughter 鈥� and Bree Echegaray along with junior Taylor Shriver.
鈥淛ules Fowler went to states in the long jump and took fourth at WPIALs,鈥� coach Fowler said. 鈥淪he was our team MVP the last three years in terms of point totals. She would run four events. She also did the triple jump, 100 and 400 relay. Jules needed 17-1 to break the school record in the long jump and I鈥檇 seen her do it in practice so I know she was capable of it. But she never got the chance to even try.
鈥淏ree also made it to states, in the high jump. She took fifth at WPIALs and broke the school record with a 5-2. She was looking to improve on that. She also was part of our 400 relay team with Jules, Emma Mankey, who was also a senior and a four-year letterman, and Regan Carlson. Last year they were the section champions.鈥�
Fowler also noted seniors Kaley Pell, Talia Teagarden, Emily Kiger and Makayla Russell. Teagarden and Russell, who both specialized in hurdles, were also four-year lettermen. Pell was a versatile three-year letterman, and Kiger did the 300 hurdles and high jump.
The Lady Raiders next year will at least welcome back the outstanding Shriver, the latest in a long line of Waynesburg pole vaulters to break the WPIAL pole vault record while winning a gold medal. She cleared 12-7 in 2019 and earned a bronze PIAA medal.
鈥淭aylor did exceptionally well in the pole vault and we鈥檒l have her another year,鈥� Fowler said. 鈥淪he also runs the relay and usually will do the 100 high hurdles for us. And we have some youth coming on board. We had a strong freshmen class that we expected to contribute a lot.鈥�
Baseball
Moore was still hopeful the high school baseball season would be played when the first two-week postponement was announced.
鈥淭hen it just snowballed,鈥� he said. 鈥淏efore you know it they canceled Legion and I was thinking we weren鈥檛 going to play any ball at all this year until that Western Pa. league developed.鈥�
Moore was happy to field a team in the Western Pennsylvania Baseball League and got five games in before a positive virus test in the Central Greene School District led to him putting the summer season on hold.
鈥淚t was pretty much everyone from my high school team and one kid from Jefferson-Morgan,鈥� Moore explained. 鈥淲e had a lot of kids out and they were excited to get a chance to play a little bit. We had 17 kids coming each night for practice or games. We got to do a senior night a couple weeks ago, which was nice. We wanted to give them the recognition since they missed out on their high school season.鈥�
Moore鈥檚 high school baseball team was expected to be a force in the WPIAL in 2020 and was looking forward to a spring trip.
鈥淲hen things shut down we were five days away from going to Myrtle Beach for the Cal Ripken Experience so we missed out on that,鈥� Moore said.
鈥淲e had three seniors, all returning starters, Luke Robinson, Trevor Stephenson and Justin Goodman. All three of them were going to be team captains.鈥�
All three were expected to be solid contributors for the Raiders.
鈥淛ustin was our everyday catcher since his junior year,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淗e was solid behind the plate and solid at the plate. Trevor was our center fielder, our best outfielder. He batted over .300 last year with good foot speed.鈥�
Robinson was considered on of the district鈥檚 top players.
鈥淟uke just all-around was our best player, pitching, fielding, hitting,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淲e did lose a lot of seniors the year before but we had Luke coming back, pitching, and Tyler Switalski, a big junior lefty. We would鈥檝e had two of the best pitchers in the section, and maybe the whole WPIAL, with those boys.
鈥淎nd we had some younger kids, a lot of juniors, ready to step up and contribute. We were looking for a section title and a long playoff run. I鈥檓 definitely disappointed we didn鈥檛 get the chance.鈥�
Softball
Unlike Moore, Armstrong didn鈥檛 even get the opportunity to field a summer softball squad.
鈥淲e had a team for a couple days and then the positive virus test at school forced us to cancel that, too,鈥� said Armstrong, who, like Moore, lost out on a team trip, which made him realize how serious the situation was becoming.
鈥淲hen they closed the schools down and canceled our trip to Pigeon Forge in Tennessee, you knew it was going to last for a long time,鈥� Armstrong said. 鈥淚t was a shame.鈥�
Armstrong had high hopes for the 2020 season.
鈥淚 was expecting to have a pretty good year,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 had a couple of good freshmen coming in, one was a left-handed pitcher, Kendall Lemley, to go along with my junior pitcher, Megan Braun. That gave a us a good left-right combination that I thought was going to work very well. And we had some good bats in the lineup.鈥�
The Lady Raiders had three seniors: Jordan Sibert, Kaylee Turcheck and Myranda Russ.
鈥淛ordan played left field and Kaylee played first base,鈥� Armstrong said. 鈥淭hey were good players who were likely starters. Myranda was a utility infielder who played mainly third base. She wasn鈥檛 a starter but she would鈥檝e gotten some playing time.
鈥淚 was excited about the team. It鈥檚 a shame we had to lose it like that. It was the same case for everybody, West Greene also, and a lot of other good teams.
鈥淲e鈥檙e changing sections next year so we鈥檒l see how that goes. I鈥檓 just hoping we finally get past all this and have a season next year.鈥�