RunWV,
I'm excited to watch the AAA Boys 4X8 relay in
Just a bit of history, Dan Comer was the head coach of the
Hedgesville track team and I was one of the assistant coach’s. I coached the
distance team. At this time, there were no
The fastest four, Mike Cushwa, Andy Johnson, Scott Johnson
(twins) and Matt Yost suggested that they would like to attend the Penn
Relays and see what they could do there among the best of the best. So
arrangements were made.
At that time, the qualifying time to be accepted at the Penn
Relays was 8:15 or better. Not a problem for those teams that run indoor
track or live in a part of the country or world that has nice weather during
the winter. However, here in
The year before in 1994, Hedgesville ran an 8:05 to win the state
meet. But to run an 8:15 the first meet of the year with whatever weather
God gave us that day was a bit risky. The first meet of the year for
Hedgesville was in
Parkersburg owned the state record of 7:58.60 that was set in
1981. In fact, our head coach Dan Comer
ran on Wheeling Parks 4X8 team that year at the state
meet. Hedgesville's 4x8 team just wanted to
break 8 minutes at the Penn Relays. When the Penn Relay' Prep division was
completed, Hedgesville ran 8:00.38. The 4X8 team was devastated. The
Martinsburg Journal’s sport headlines read “Oh so close”. Our coaching staff felt that to keep their
spirits up and not lose hope to beat Parkersburg's state record, that we
would not run those 4 athletes together in a 4X8 till the West Virginia state
meet in May. That was the best thing we ever could have done for those
kids. It kept them Hungry. In fact, we only ran those four athletes
three times together that year. At
In the meantime, Cushwa, Yost, Johnson and Johnson stayed
focused. They had T-shirts made and handed them out to the community here
in Hedgesville. The shirts said "Heaven is 7:57, but so far it's
been hell". In the off season, they searched in magazines for strength
machines that would help them to get stronger. Not having much money,
they went to Lowes Building Supply and purchased materials and made their own
machines to work out on. They synchronized their wrist watches and go
off the same time at 7:57 each evening. If they could run 7:57, they would
break the state record. They formulated their own 10 set of Running
Commandments that should never be broken. They cut out all fat from their
diet. Nothing entered their bodies that could slow these guys down.
To say the least, our coaching staff, athletes, faculty, administration and
community were amused and got caught up in the excitement of the anticipation
of these 4 kids from Hedgesville, a place where few people in West Virginia had
ever heard of, would possibly break a record. A record that no one really
cared about till these colorful guys formulated a dream.
When the gun sounded that Friday at the West Virginia State Track
and Field Meet for the AAA Boys 4X8 meter relay, it seemed that all eyes were
on those four guys. Apparently, unknown to us, people around the state
had caught wind of these distance guys from Hedgesville. If seemed that
people knew who these kids were and some actually knew where Hedgesville was in
Hedgesville not only beat
That year Hedgesville won the AAA State Meet. It was a team
effort in which we scored in many different events. The 4X8
team, by no means, were the hero's of our team. It was a team effort by a
group of hard nosed kids that did not even have a track at our school. And
still doesn't. They were simply part of
a state championship track team that won together. Our 4X8 team won that
event for three years in a row with 8 different athletes. All four
athletes went on to run collegially, two at
Records are made to be broken. I recently ran into the Scot
and Andy Johnson last week at a funeral of a respected facility member at
I wish Cabell Midland luck
in their quest to break our state record. And if they do, keep in mind
that you are filling some mighty big shoes from those who preceded you.
Tim Belotte