List will be in the following order
1. AAA Girls All Time Teams
2. AA-A Girls All Time Teams
3. AAA Girls 1990's Teams
4. AA-A Girls 1990's Teams
5. AAA Girls 1980's Teams
6. AA-A Girls 1980's Teams
7. AAA Girls 1970's Teams
8. AA-A Girls 1970's Teams
How we came up with these rankings After doing all of these rankings, it was natural to try and come up with the greatest teams of all time and for each decade. The hard part was trying to decide the best method of selecting these teams. As with everything we try to do, we wanted to take as much subjectivity out as possible. The best way to do that was use purely mathematical numbers, the most objective way we know. After that was decided, we wanted to come up with a way to select the teams subjectively and we came up with three measures.
1. Using the Inclusive All Time Meet Scores - This method gave a major edge to teams that had the really great athletes. The ones people talked about for years after they were gone. If an athlete was great for three or four years, their team got more credit than if an athlete was only great for one year. After all great athletes often yield great teams. However, was it really fair for one athlete to pile up tons of points in a single event?
2. Using the Exclusive All Time Meet Scores - This method allowed each athlete or team to score only once in an event. This also seemed logical. In a meet, an athlete can only score once in an event. The again, should an athlete who was great only one year count the same as one that won the event for 3 or 4 years?
3. Taking into account Team Scores - This method gives more emphasis to what truly makes up a team. The people that score 3rd or 4th place and the 3rd and fourth runners on a relay team. With the exception of just a few teams, those that won championships won because they had a full stable of very good runners, not just a couple of great ones. To score the teams using this method, we gave the 1st place team every year 10 points, the 2nd place team 9 points, the 3rd place team 8 points and so on. We then added those points up for all the years from 1975 to 2000 to see who scored the most points.
Since each method had it's merit, we decided to count each equally. The final question became how to score each of those methods. We finally decided on the following: We would take the top 10 teams using each method and they would score points. We made 55 points available for those 10 teams to divide based on their scores using each of the events. Again, 55 points comes about by adding 10+9+8+7, etc. To get a Team A's score using method 1, we took their points and divided them by the total points of the top ten teams using that method. We then took that number and multiplied it by 55 as described above. Doing this allowed a team that beat another team significantly in any method to score proportionally more points. No method is perfect and you could debate this endlessly, but we think we have used the fairest measure we could come up with at this time. With that said, here are our picks for the 20th Century and Decade Teams.
AAA All Time Teams Method 1 Method 2 Method 3 Total 1. Parkersburg 8.21 10.51 12.83 31.56 2. Huntington 9.63 10.72 8.14 28.50 3. Fairmont Senior 4.03 5.46 5.77 15.26 4. Parkersburg South 4.35 4.31 6.29 14.96 5. East Fairmont 9.70 5.12 0.00 14.82 6. Charleston 4.47 3.89 3.33 11.69 7. John Marshall 2.97 3.68 4.47 11.12 8. Wheeling Park 0.00 3.94 5.64 9.59 9. St. Albans 4.71 0.00 2.87 7.58 10.Martinsburg 3.21 3.84 0.00 7.05 Nitro 3.71 0.00 0.00 3.71 Riverside 0.00 3.52 0.00 3.52 Buckhannon Upshur 0.00 0.00 2.93 2.93 Jefferson 0.00 0.00 2.71 2.71
East Fairmont captured Method 1 behind the exploits of Holly Hunter who score all but 2 of their teams 68 points. Huntington used a bevy of great athletes to capture Method 2. If was Parkersburg, however that captured Method 3 and the overall championship. Parkersburg has easily scored the most points all time and twice as many titles (10) as anyone else. With that many titles, it would have been hard for any other team to be considered the best team of the 20th century. Parkersburg had several athletes to take All Time top spots including Heather Skinner, Roxanne Ward, Michelle Carter, Mary Beth Held and the early shuttle events in additon to seeming legions of great athletes that flowed through the school year after year.
AA-A All Time Teams Method 1 Method 2 Method 3 Total 1. Doddridge 6.06 7.61 11.34 25.02 2. Magnolia 6.99 5.18 9.35 21.52 3. Winfield 7.17 6.46 4.25 17.88 4. Ravenswood 4.35 4.92 5.87 15.15 5. Grafton 4.06 5.87 3.75 13.68 6. Dunbar 4.30 5.25 3.68 13.23 7. Weir 7.09 5.65 0.00 12.74 8. Valley Fayette 3.87 4.10 4.32 12.29 9. Fayetteville 5.96 4.74 0.00 10.70 10.Richwood 5.16 5.20 0.00 10.35 Williamstown 0.00 0.00 4.93 4.93 Frankfort 0.00 0.00 4.05 4.05 Wheeling Central 0.00 0.00 3.44 3.04
The AA-A featured a very tight race for the championship in Method 1. Winfield edged Weir and Magnolia. Weir's presence was remarkable due to the fact that they were only in the AA-A for a few years during the 20th century. Doddridge claimed the remaining two methods and the overall title of the AA-A's greatest team of the century. Doddridge (4) did not claim as many titles as Ravenswood or Magnolia (5 each) but managed to finish among the top 6 teams in class AA-A every year from 1979 through 2000 except 1993 (10th place). This incredible run of being among the best for such a long time period points to the reason that Doddridge was the class of class AA-A for the women's first 26 years of track and field. Doddridge was lead by Susan Robinson (more know for her All American basketball career at Penn State) and had only Lisa Davis (Pole Vault with only 4 years of history) and the 1995 shuttles (the only year the event was ran at that distance) topping any all time list.
AAA 90's Teams Method 1 Method 2 Method 3 Total 1. Huntington 12.84 14.29 7.63 34.77 2. Parkersburg 8.70 10.19 12.21 31.10 3. Wheeling Park 6.00 5.70 6.90 18.60 4. East Fairmont 8.61 4.33 0.00 12.94 5. Capital 4.95 4.62 2.99 12.56 6. Martinsburg 2.48 3.44 4.11 10.03 7. Oak Hill 2.75 2.94 3.18 8.87 8. Parkersburg South 0.00 3.06 5.44 8.50 9. Buckhannon 2.80 0.00 3.85 6.65 10.Ripley 3.00 3.18 0.00 6.18 Elkins 2.87 3.25 0.00 6.12 Fairmont Senior 0.00 0.00 4.84 4.84 John Marshall 0.00 0.00 3.85 3.85
Huntington easily captured Methods 1 and 2 and held off a hard charging Parkersburg that dominated in Method 3. Huntington took several top spots in the decade with the likes of Molly Pancake (in her final year), Genita Dickey, Tiffany Murrell and had the decades best 4x100 and 4x200 teams.
AA-A 90's Teams Method 1 Method 2 Method 3 Total 1. Winfield 8.06 8.52 8.39 24.97 2. Magnolia 7.34 7.61 8.12 23.07 3. Doddridge 3.04 6.30 9.72 19.06 4. Weir 7.92 5.39 3.60 16.90 5. Valley Fayette 5.76 4.65 5.86 16.27 6. Ravenswood 4.03 5.71 6.26 16.00 7. Fayetteville 7.20 4.90 0.00 12.09 8. Charleston Catholic 3.89 3.75 2.93 10.57 9. Richwood 5.18 5.22 0.00 10.41 10.Cameron 0.00 0.00 4.19 4.19 Ritchie 0.00 0.00 3.00 3.00 St. Marys 0.00 2.94 0.00 2.94 Frankfort 0.00 0.00 2.93 2.93 Lincoln 2.59 0.00 0.00 2.59
Winfield captured Methods 1 and 2 and narrowly edged Magnolia in every method to claim the Title of the 1990's top AA-A team. Doddridge claimed Method 3 but fell far behind in Method one and was unable to keep pace. Winfield was lead by the greatest West Virginia female thrower of all time Crystal Hypes. Hypes captured the top 2 discus positions and top 3 shot spots for the decade. Their 1994 Shuttle team also claimed the top spot for the brief two years of the event at that distance.
AAA 80's Teams Method 1 Method 2 Method 3 Total 1. Huntington 9.48 11.12 9.59 30.19 2. West Fairmont 7.87 6.95 6.40 21.22 3. Parkersburg 3.98 4.95 8.81 17.74 4. Parkersburg South 5.77 4.85 5.83 16.44 5. St. Albans 6.59 4.32 3.41 14.32 6. John Marshall 3.53 4.74 5.76 14.04 7. Nitro 5.43 4.41 3.91 13.74 8. Wheeling Park 3.70 4.74 3.62 12.06 9. Woodrow Wilson 3.53 4.27 4.12 11.93 10.Huntington East 5.11 4.66 0.00 9.77 Charleston 0.00 0.00 3.55 3.55
Huntington rolled through the 80's and managed to sweep all 3 Methods. They were lead by Molly Pancake who topped both the 400 and 800 events for the decade. Other top athletes assisting in the sweep were Jackie Layne and Nicole Walters.
AA-A 80's Teams Method 1 Method 2 Method 3 Total 1. Doddridge 8.07 8.58 9.32 25.97 2. Dunbar 9.86 7.58 5.33 22.76 3. Magnolia 6.06 6.01 6.92 18.99 4. Musselman 7.29 6.73 4.13 18.15 5. Grafton 5.72 6.42 5.33 17.46 6. Williamstown 4.63 4.32 5.39 14.34 7. Ravenswood 4.37 3.79 5.33 13.49 8. Wheeling Central 0.00 3.51 4.53 8.03 9. Big Creek 4.00 3.91 0.00 7.91 10.St. Marys 2.09 4.16 0.00 6.25 Frankfort 0.00 0.00 5.06 5.06 Gilmer 0.00 0.00 3.66 3.66 Milton 2.92 0.00 0.00 2.92
Dunbar won using Method 1, but Doddridge won Methods 2 and 3 and grabbed top honors for the decade. Doddridge was lead by Susan Robinson and Monica Knight who each grabbed top honors in one event for the decade and placed highly in another.
AAA 70's Teams Method 1 Method 2 Method 3 Total 1. Parkersburg 12.72 13.62 11.51 37.85 2. Charleston 10.22 9.25 7.42 26.89 3. DuPont 6.00 5.14 6.14 17.28 4. Jefferson 5.00 5.57 4.09 14.66 5. Stonewall Jackson 2.46 3.60 3.33 9.38 6. Herbert Hoover 2.77 3.08 3.33 9.18 7. Brooke 4.92 3.77 0.00 8.69 8. Hurricane 4.77 3.77 0.00 8.54 9. South Charleston 0.00 3.43 4.60 8.03 10.Barboursville 3.69 3.77 0.00 7.46 St. Albans 0.00 0.00 5.88 5.88 Parkersburg South 0.00 0.00 5.12 5.12 Wheeling Park 0.00 0.00 3.58 3.58 Nitro 2.46 0.00 0.00 2.46
Parkersburg left no doubt as to who dominated the formative years of women's track and field. They swept all 3 methods and rolled up a nearly 11 point victory over second place Charleston, the largest of any decade or any class. Parkersburg was led by Kathy Goldstein, Frances Daniel and Wendy Anderson who all posted times that topped their events for the decade.
AA-A 70's Teams Method 1 Method 2 Method 3 Total 1. Magnolia 11.00 10.26 7.19 28.45 2. Gilmer 8.67 6.20 6.25 21.11 3. Pennsboro 7.00 3.87 6.25 17.12 4. St. Marys 4.67 6.58 5.00 16.25 5. Big Creek 4.33 3.87 4.69 12.89 6. Doddridge 3.33 3.87 4.69 11.89 7. Milton 5.00 6.20 0.00 11.20 8. Gary 2.83 3.29 5.00 11.13 9. Sherman 5.00 5.81 0.00 10.81 10.Musselman 3.17 5.04 0.00 8.20 Tridelphia 0.00 0.00 5.94 5.94 Clay Battelle 0.00 0.00 5.31 5.31 Williamstown 0.00 0.00 4.69 4.69
Magnolia was the decade leader for the 70's in a decade in which all years but one (1979) were ran against AAA competition as well as AA-A. They swept all three methods and were lead by Beth Parsons and Carla Taylor who each topped and event for the decade.