Rain, rain go away and come again on a day when there's not a track meet.
This spring has been particularly harsh, with numerous meets having to deal with inclement weather that's dropped plenty of rain and cooler temperatures.
Well, unless the weather man misses his guess, this Saturday's annual Warren Insurance Invitational will be just another day under rainy skies.
According to the National Weather Service in Charleston, W.Va., there's a 70 percent chance of rain Saturday, including the possibility of a thunderstorm.
If Mother Nature wants to show up, well, she'll be doing it without an invitation but that's a bridge to be crossed at that time.
"We'll play her by ear with the weather," said Warren boys' track coach Al Riffey.
While Mother Nature may not have an invitation to bring the rain to the Warren Invitational, there are 10 teams including the host Warriors that do.
Belpre, Cambridge, Eastern, Federal Hocking, Fort Frye, Philo, Maysville, River Valley, Waterford and Warren are all slated to take part in this year's meet.
Last year's meet titles ended up in the paws of the cats as the Cambridge Bobcats claimed the overall girls' team title while sharing the boys' team title with the Warrior boys.
Cambridge defeated second place Warren by a 130-96 score a year ago on the girls side while the Bobcat boys and Warrior boys both scored 97 points. Warren's boys have claimed at least a share of the overall team title at the Warren Insurance Invitational for the past three years.
For that trend to continue this year the Warriors will be counting on their distance crew to carry the bulk of the load as Warren fields a strong corps of long distance runners, including Wes Cochran, Gage Freeman and Brad Ullman. Greyson Cantley provides another middle distance runner for the Warren boys.
The Lady Warriors also have a strong distance group with junior Halle Richards and senior Megan Blevins leading the charge. Warren sophomore Emma Ryan figures to be a favorite in the discus and shot put as she has already thrown 119 feet in the discus after placing fourth in the state last year as a freshman.
Along with the Warriors, three of the other five track teams in Washington County are also slated to take part in the annual Warren Insurance Invitational.
Belpre's Golden Eagles as well as Fort Frye's Cadets and Waterford's Wildcats are also expected to compete this year, as they did a year ago. Marietta and Frontier, which just re-instituted its track program, are the only two county schools not expected to be in Vincent on Saturday.
Last year Belpre was third in girls standings and fifth in boys competition while Fort Frye was fifth in girls and seventh in boys. Waterford, which had just 19 kids on the track team a year ago, was eighth in girls standings and ninth in boys.
Belpre figures to provide a challenge for the Warren boys as senior distance standout Breydon Gates returns to the field one more time.
Waterford freshman Ally Rohrer proved to be the high point scorer this past Saturday at the Belpre Shrine Relays as she scored 30.5 points.
Eastern will also bring some outstanding athletes to the track, particularly a set of triplets that have been strong all over the track. Emeri Connery, the lone girl in the set, established a new meet record in the 800 at the Belpre Shrine Relays last week while also excelling at the 400 and shorter sprints.
Her brothers, Kyle and Klint Connery, also excel at sprints and should be among the top contenders this weekend.
"It'll be a great meet. There'll be great competition. Those teams will bring good people in," Riffey said.
This year's Warren Invitational is slated to get underway with field events at 10 a.m. and preliminary running events at approximately 10:30 a.m. Finals in the running events are scheduled to take place about noon with the entire event concluding in the early afternoon about 3:30 p.m.
"If people want to see good track, this'll be the place to be," Riffey said.
