After all, the Polar Bears are gunning for their elusive first state title, not to mention the fact that winning this tourna­ment is simply what FSHS does — this marks the school’s 11th straight sec­tional crown. Fairmont Senior (25-7), No. 2 in the latest Charleston Gazette Class AAA ratings and the highest-rated team still alive, will next host East Fairmont on May 22 for a berth in the Region I final.

Fairmont Senior topped Jefferson 9-2 in its Cooperstown (NY) tournament game on Friday, but the remainder of the event was called due to snow in the area.

The Polar Bears, now 10-1 overall and 9-1 in conference play, have scored an astounding 70-plus goals in their past three games.

Fairmont Senior’s baseball team cruised to a 15-0 win over Lincoln in five innings on Thursday.

Midge Robinson had four goals and one assist to pace Fairmont Senior’s girls’ lacrosse team to a 15-9 victory over University on Wednesday night.

The Fairmont Senior boys’ tennis team beat Philip Barbour 7-0 on Tuesday. The Bears got wins from Pranav Jain, Grant Holbert, Logan Orton and Logan Demyon in singles play and in doubles got wins from the teams of Jain and Holbert, Orton and Demyon and Nathan Kolar and Taylor Campbell (by default).

While now halfway through the regular season, Matt Sandor is still looking for consistency from his Fairmont Senior softball team.

Fairmont Senior’s baseball team opened the Mingo Bay Classic in Myrtle Beach in winning fashion Monday, rallying for three runs in the seventh inning en route to a 7-5 win over Eden (N.Y.).

Fairmont Senior also was on the winning end of things on Thursday, as it topped Buckhannon-Upshur 5-2 at Wave Tek.

A tall, left­handed pitcher, Fairmont Senior’s Andrew Strand cer­tainly gives opposing batters a different look when he’s on the mound.

Add a couple mistakes and a surging Bucs’ team, and it all added up to a 12-3, six­inning loss in Rivesville.

Fairmont Senior’s baseball team got a pitching gem from Andrew Strand and the Polar Bear offense provided plenty of support in an 8-0 blanking of Buckhannon-Upshur on Thursday night at Mary Lou Retton Park.

Austin Plivelich added a pair of goals and an assist in the win, and Brent Pacoe had a goal and three assists. Danny Heck and Justin Sloan also scored goals for Fairmont Senior; Jacob Freeland chipped in an assist.

Fairmont Senior jumped out to a big halftime lead and cruised to a 17-6 win, running its win streak to five games.

Fairmont Senior’s girls’ lacrosse team got a huge defensive effort on its way to upending rival Morgantown, 8-6, on Monday night in a key WVSLA contest.

With just three seniors and inexpe­rience all over the diamond, Fairmont Senior softball coach Matt Sandor knows his team isn’t yet a finished product.

Midge Robinson, Allie Fetty and Adriana Constable each scored four goals as the Fairmont Senior girls’ lacrosse team cruised to a 21-5 win against George Washington at University High on Saturday.

FSHS senior standout sets records at meet

In recent years, Fairmont Senior’s baseball team has made a habit of knocking around Morgantown.

Fairmont Senior’s boy’s basketball team won plenty of hardware this season.

The Polar Bears were sec­tional and regional champi­ons in addition to junior Travon Horton being named

e Fairmont Senior girls’ lacrosse team beat visiting Greater Latrobe (Pa.), 19-14 on Friday.

The Fairmont Senior boys’ lacrosse team improved its record to 2-0 this season with an 8-7 win against visiting Linsly on Thursday at East-West Stadium.

Fairmont Senior played its final basketball game as a member of West Virginia’s Class AAA on Thursday, a 71-47 loss to defending state champion George Washington.

Fairmont Senior started slowly in the Class AAA state quarterfinal round Thursday at the Charleston Civic Center Coliseum, and it proved to be a hole the Polar Bears were never able to climb out of.

The Polar Bears lost a big first-half lead and fell, 14-13 in overtime, to Morgantown in its season opener on an unseasonably warm spring evening.

The Polar Bears battled No. 6 Morgantown for three tough quarters in the Region I final at the Woody Williams Armory, but mistakes and the Mohigans’ depth were too much to overcome in the end en route to a 51-33 loss.

After digging an early hole, fighting back out of it and then holding off a late charge, Fairmont Senior defeated visiting Morgantown 54-51 to claim part of the Class AAA, Region I co-championship and advance to next week’s state tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

“We’ve got one game,” Fairmont Senior head coach David Retton said following his team’s Friday victory in the sectional championship game against East Fairmont.

“It’s do-or-die.”

Bears win section

Fairmont Senior knocks off East Fairmont, 72-46

Sophomore point guard Jarin Hilson returned to the floor for the Polar Bears with a game-high 17 points to lead FSHS to a 57-46 win over Preston in the Class AAA, Region I, Section 2 semifi­nals at the Woody Williams Armory on Wednesday.

In all, 25 county wrestlers nabbed top four finishes Saturday to earn a trip to next week’s state tournament. Of that group were seven from East and even the few that didn’t make it helped the cause as the Bees piled up 174 points.

The Polar Bear girls battled back from an early-game deficit, but in the end it was not enough. Preston came away with a 63-54 win to spoil the festivities on the West Side on Thursday.

Fairmont Senior improved to 17-3 on the year Friday with a 72-53 win on the road at Preston.

Fairmont Senior’s girls kept pace on Friday’s final day of the state meet, and the boys set more personal bests and nabbed a ninth-place team finish.

While Fairmont Senior appears to have regained its winning form after dropping several games, North Marion continues to struggle The Polar Bears left Rachel with a 70-61 win on Wednesday. The victory was the second in as many games for Fairmont Senior, who blasted Lincoln on Monday after dropping games to Robert C. Byrd and Bridgeport last week.

Because once the calendar hits February, the Polar Bears take things to another level. And it happened once again on Saturday, as Fairmont Senior’s boys’ and girls’ won team titles to earn a regional sweep.

For West Virginia high school swimmers, this is when the magic happens.

Times drop. Personal records fall by the wayside. Titles are won.

Fairmont Senior’s swim squads put together another solid show­ing at West Virginia Wesleyan’s Splash Invitational on Saturday, taking third in both team events.

West Virginia’s top two ranked teams in AAA, No. 1 Martinsburg and No. 2 Fairmont Senior, dropped their respective first-round games and were rele­gated to Saturday consolation contests.

North Marion, Fairmont Senior and East Fairmont took the top three team spots in the 12-team tournament, and along the way let its new con­ference know there’s some new kids in town.

Corey says that he knows he will be putting some pressure on her, but he believes Jenny Bundy of the Polar Bears is the best defensive player in the state.

Jenny Bundy is only a junior. When she was in the ninth grade, I wrote a little essay on just how good she was.

For a time Thursday night, it didn’t look like George Washington would miss a basket in its Class AAA boys’ semifinal of the Big Atlantic Classic at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

Fairmont Senior girls’ head basketball coach Corey Hines knew coming into Thursday night’s contest that his team couldn’t overlook visiting Class AA Lincoln.

Whether you’ve lived your whole life in Marion County or just stopped through for a few months, there’s a good chance you know the magni­tude of East vs. West.

And it doesn’t matter the sport. Football, basketball — and yes, wrestling too.

For as long as she could remember, Alyssa Scherich’s goal was to run at West Virginia University.

Wednesday, that dream became reality as Scherich signed her collegiate letter of intent to compete at both track and cross country for the Division I Mountaineers.

The No. 2 Fairmont Senior Polar Bears came into Wednesday’s meeting with cross-town rival East Fairmont sporting a perfect 12-0 record on the season, while the Bees were 7-4.

As the head coach of Fairmont Senior’s girls’ bas­ketball team, part of Corey Hines’ job is to know the pulse of his squad.

Fairmont Senior’s wrestling team bumped its season record to 27-11 with victories over Nicholas County (69-9) and host Buckhannon (54-24) Friday night.

Fairmont Senior’s wrestling team ran its dual match record to 25-10 by sweeping a quad at Bridgeport Wednesday.

The No. 2 team in the state and highly ranked for much of this season, Fairmont Senior’s boys’ basket­ball team has gotten used to the concept of playing with a target on its collective chests.

Fans who came to the Woody Williams Armory on Wednesday to see two ranked, Class AAA teams do battle got their money’s worth as No. 2 Fairmont Senior battled back from an early deficit and then held on late to defeat No. 10 North Marion 82-76.

For a half, the No. 8­ranked Fairmont Senior girls’ basketball team looked to be slightly off its game.

In the other half, it looked like the Polar Bears might do the unthinkable and lose at home to Philip Barbour.

East Fairmont and Fairmont Senior have been battling on the hardwood for Friendly City bragging rights for decades, and on Wednesday the two schools wrote one of the more inter­esting chapters in the storied rival­ry’s history.

In the 15-team Penguin Invitational at Parkersburg, Fairmont Senior’s swim squads held their own, win­ning several individual and relays titles and placing in the top three in the team standings.

A victory over North Marion was a long time coming for Fairmont Senior’s girls’ basket­ball team.

If one sentence could sum up the final day of the Winner’s Choice tournament, it might just be this: “Everybody got their money’s worth,” Parkersburg’s Jared Haught said.

Freshman Kaden Whaley scored a team-high 12 points to help lead Fairmont Senior past Grafton on Thursday, 52-37.

In front of a packed Woody Williams Armory, Fairmont Senior brought it’s “A” game for a grudge match against the team that eliminated the Polar Bears from the playoffs last season, Morgantown.

It was the little things that propelled Fairmont Senior to a 65-37 win against Brooke on Wednesday at the East Fairmont Holiday Tournament.

Fairmont Senior’s wrestling team continued its early-season roll with a quad sweep Wednesday night, top­ping Robert C. Byrd 77-6, Grafton 52-24 and South Harrison 84-0.

The Fairmont Senior girls’ basket­ball team continued its win­ning ways Thursday, beating Elkins on the road, 64-35.

Polar Bears stomp Buckhannon, 79-22

Fairmont Senior continued its hot start to the season Tuesday by beating Buckhannon-Upshur 69-25.

In other boys’ basketball action, Fairmont Senior moved to 3-0 on the year with a coast-to-coast, 61-56 road win at University.

Fairmont Senior’s Trevor Malnick was a first-team pick as a defensive utility player. Malnick was the Times West Virginian All Mon Player of the Year in addition to being the Big Ten Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Joining Malnick are fellow senior Trevor Link, who was made the special honorable mention team, and sophomore Vincent Delligatti was an hon­orable mention pick.

As the rare senior on Fairmont Senior’s wrestling team, Vinnie Libonati certainly knows a thing or two about leading the way.

He’s a second-year captain of a youthful Polar Bears, the same position he held as a lineman on the school’s foot­ball team this past fall.

The Polar Bears stayed per­fect on the young season Friday night and did so in dominating fashion, crusing to a 91-36 win over visiting Liberty.

Fairmont Senior’s girls kept their winning ways going Thursday with another dominating win, this one a 67-22 home rout of Liberty-Harrison.

Fairmont Senior opened boys’ basketball season on Wednesday when it went on the road and beat Philip Barbour 65-42.

Fairmont Senior enters the 2011-2012 season looking to build off a run to one of the regional final games a sea­son ago.

Fairmont Senior continued its winning ways on Tuesday, defeating visiting Robert C. Byrd, 74-51.

While 2011 was the rare season where no Marion County soccer team reached even the regional round, the area still had its moments.

Can’t overcome early hole in 21-20 setback

Trefz, Scherich win individual titles

Fairmont Senior girls knot Bridgeport, too

Fairmont Senior (4-3) travels to the Island to take on Wheeling Park (4-3) in what has essentially become a Class AAA playoff elimination game.

Fairmont Senior scored five second-half goals on way to a 9-0 win against Marion County rival North Marion in the Region I, Section 2 boys’ sectional semifinal.

In its final tuneup before the start of section­al tournament play, the Fairmont Senior girls’ soccer team did not have much go right Saturday in a 4-0 loss to Parkersburg at East-West Stadium.

“This is an inter-county rival­ry, and it’s really not hard to get the girls pumped up to play against North Marion,” Fairmont Senior head coach Neal Hamilton said. “This game is special to us because neither of these schools has a feeder pro­gram, and because of that, it’s a measure of how much they have improved since ninth grade.”

With each cross country finish line, the Polar Bear senior knows she is a hand­ful of races from ending her prep career. But on the other side of the coin, the state­ranked runner believes each event, each practice run, puts her one step closer to the ultimate goal.

Fairmont Senior stayed in the friendly city to host Brooke  on Saturday,  The Polar Bears defended their home turf, 3-0.

For Scherich, it was just the latest chapter of her rivalry with Workman. At last year’s state meet. Workman finished second with Scherich coming in third.

Buckhannon-Upshur’s Seth Cutright fum­bled on the Buccaneers’ first play from scrimmage with Fairmont Senior’s Anthony Osborn recovering to give the ball to FSHS deep in B­U territory.

Fairmont Senior captured the county championship on a rainy Monday at White Day Golf Course, edging rival East Fairmont by two strokes.

Actually, the last time Fairmont Senior had a ball reach the back of its net was

last month, when they gave up two scores to Brooke in a 4-2 victory Aug. 31.

The Fairmont Senior girls’ and boys’ cross country teams had solid showings Saturday in the annual Geico Classic at Cabell Midland High School.

The Polar Bears’ Alyssa Scherich placed fourth out of 135 Class AAA varsity female runners with a time of 20:30.

The Polar Bears and Eagles battled to a scoreless tie at East-West Stadium. Because for as poorly as the hosts played at times in falling to 4-1-1 on the year, unbeaten RCB really wasn’t any better.

Fairmont Senior’s volleyball team fell to Liberty in three games, 25-22, 25-23, 25-15, Thursday night.

Matt Bartrug notched five saves, including a highlight-quality stop that kept Liberty off the scoreboard.

On a night when Marion County came together to honor veterans with the “Wounded Warrior Project,” Fairmont Senior pulled away from county rival North Marion for a 28-7 win at East-West Stadium on a muggy Friday evening.

The Fairmont Senior volleyball team started the season strong against the Preston on Wednesday During game one, the Polar Bears were led by Rachel Waskis, Allie Fetty, Abbey McClung and Janayla Byrd. Starting the game, Waskis was determined to win the game, while playing with aggres­sion.

Fairmont Senior and University had a defensive battle on Wednesday in Morgantown, but in the end the Polar Bears came out on top. Martin Guerrero scored off a throw in near the UHS penalty box late in the sec­ond half to give FSHS the 1-0 win.

Fairmont Senior’s girls’ soccer team came into Tuesday night’s clash with George Washington hoping to erase some of the lingering memo­ries from the 10-0 shutout at the hands of the Winfield Generals.

Fairmont Senior topped host Buckhannon-Upshur and Bridgeport in prep golf action on Tuesday. The Polar Bears had a team score of 163, besting the Bucs (168) and Indians (166) to win the match.

Fairmont Senior’s golf team got past host Lewis County, 176-180, to notch its 10th victory Monday after­noon.

Fairmont Senior’s boys’ cross country team got off to a flying start at Saturday’s season-opening Autumn Classic in St. Marys, nab­bing first place overall.

The Fairmont Senior boys’ soccer team used a strong second half to nab its first road win of the season Saturday, upending host Ripley, 2-1.

Boys win 3-1 over Preston.  Girls succumb to 2 late goals by Preston and drop match 1-2.

The Polar Bears fumbled four times and threw one interception in a season-opening 28-20 loss to visiting Robert C. Byrd at East-West Stadium.

A new digital scoreboard with a video board will be placed behind the benches on the east side of the field.

Dick Moore Insurance, Mon Valley Bank, I-79 Joe’s Cars, Fairmont State University, The Landing Dental Spa, Wilson Ford, Edward Jones, First Exchange Bank, Craig Hatfield DDS, State Farm Insurance and John Leon M.D. all contributed at least $20,000 toward this project, which started with a $200,000 goal.

Bears’ Aversa makes first team

The three Marion County schools all enjoyed fine sea­sons, with Fairmont Senior falling just short of a Class AAA state championship, los­ing to Jefferson in the title game. As can be expected from a team that made it that far in the playoffs, the Polar Bears are well represented on the 2011 Times West Virginian.

It was a blistering, hot afternoon when Fairmont Senior played Jefferson for the Class AAA state championship at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston a little more than a week ago.

The Polar Bears’ senior Andrew Marra wanted the ball in his hands with the title on the line, and that’s exactly what he got when he started the final game of his high school career.

Polar Bears’ Ericka Aversa Mon Valley’s top player

The two-time North Central Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year, Fairmont Senior’s right-hander put the Polar Bears on his back in the Class AAA state semifinal game against Greenbrier East.

Fairmont Senior’s seniors will be missed, but the departure of Andrew Marra, Jamie Allard, Frankie Wilson and Allen Rickards will be softened by the depth the Polar Bears will bring back in 2012. With what FSHS has coming back, it would not be a stretch to call them the way, way, way, way, way early favorite to return to Charleston next season from Region I.

Seven times the Fairmont Senior baseball team has played for a West Virginia high school state championship. Seven times the Polar Bears have come up short.

Polar Bears advance to the state finals with 10-0  win over Greembroer East.

The Polar Bears wasted no time in dominating the Class AAA, Region I championship game Wednesday against Morgantown, downing the Mohigans 19-6 and securing the eighth trip in the past nine years to the state tournament for FSHS.

FSHS beats East, advances to Region I title game Wednesday

As Fairmont Senior’s baseball coach since 1989, Steve Naternicola has certainly seen his share of big games.

The group were members of West Virginia’s first state title-winning team as fresh­men in 2008. They became back-to-back champs the next season, and made it three straight this past spring. Saturday night at Bridgeport’s Wayne Jamison Field, Fairmont Senior made it a four-peat, winning its fourth consecutive WVSLA crown with a dominating 13-5 victory over Buckhannon-Upshur.

The Polar Bear junior claimed second place in the girls’ Class AAA 400-meter dash with a time of 57.43, just behind Martinsburg’s Jasmyn Hosby, who ran it in 57.14.

The West Virginia high school state track meet opens today at University of Charleston Stadium, and a Fairmont Senior Polar Bear figures to be in the running in what will probably the marquee race of the event’s first day.

Fairmont Senior beat Elkins 6-2 Thursday behind a big fourth inning and a home run from Frankie Wilson.

Fairmont Senior’s Pranav Jain and Ross Dalton were eliminated from the state high school tennis tourna­ment in Charleston on Thursday.

The West Virginia state high school track meet will take place next week in Charleston, and Marion County will be well represented when the races get under way at the University of Charleston Stadium one week from today.

The Polar Bears reached the WVSLA final yet again Thursday night, and did so in impressive fashion, using a big second-half run to down visiting University, 12-7, at East-West Stadium.

Sophomore Andrew Strand struck out six and Trevor Malnick went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs to help lead the Polar Bears back to the Class AAA, Region I, Section 3 crown with a 7-5 win against North Marion on Thursday. It is Fairmont Senior’s 10th con­secutive sectional baseball championship.

An Andrew Marra throw pulled Fairmont Senior first baseman Andrew Walter off the bag, allowing North Marion’s Shaun McCoy to reach base safely and Earnest Stahl to come in from second base to score the winning run in a wild, 9-8 Huskies win in the first game of the Region I, Section 3 playoff series.

Fairmont Senior gave its younger play­ers some work on the mound, and in turn, visiting Martinsburg made quick work of the Polar Bears dur­ing a Saturday afternoon baseball doubleheader at Mary Lou Retton Park.

In the final day of the Region I ten­nis tournament Friday, Fairmont Senior’s Ross Dalton joined team­mate Pranav Jain as a state qualifier in singles (both already qualifying as a doubles team).

Fairmont Senior’s boys’ track team stole the show at the North Central Athletic Conference champi­onships Thursday at Preston, putting up 167 points and rolling to the team title.

On the girls’ side, Morgantown cruised to the championship with a meet-best 170 points. The Mohigans were followed in a crowded pack by second-place University (99), Preston (98), Fairmont Senior (92), East Fairmont (54) and North Marion (36).

The Polar Bears wrapped up their NCAC schedule with a fury Friday, beat­ing University 15-1 and 12-3 in a double­header sweep at Mary Lou Retton Park.

Pranav Jain, Ross Dalton and Nate Kast each took the next step to help Fairmont Senior’s tennis team cap a solid second day at the Class AAA Region I tennis tour­nament Thursday morning at Fairmont State University.

The Polar Bears, playing the first in a stretch of eight games in just seven days, used some late-inning offense to topple visiting Morgantown, 8-1, Monday at Mary Lou Retton Park.

Fairmont Senior’s girls’ lacrosse team continued its climb back, winning its second straight Friday with a 17-9 win over host University.

Fairmont Senior had a dominating showing, on the mound and with the bats, en route to a 13-1 win at Preston Friday.

Senior Andrew Marra went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and pitched four strong innings to lead Fairmont Senior to a 12-2 win against Immaculate Heart (N.Y.) at Myrtle Beach on Monday.

Fairmont Senior lost 9-0 to visiting University on Monday in five innings.

In boys’ action, the Polar Bears No. 1 singles player, Pranav Jain, No. 2 Ross Dalton, No. 3 Nate Kast and No. 4 Nathaniel Tenney all won both matches, in fact FSHS was a perfect 7-0 in both boys’ contests.

On the girls’ side, Fairmont Senior got wins against the Huskies from No. 1 Camille Leon, No. 2 Daren Wadsworth, No. 3 Arien Harris and No. 4 Megan DeJong. Leon and Harris, Wadsworth and Cailey Weaver and DeJong and Hannah Vasicek all won their doubles matches.

The win improves North to 4-6 overall and 1-4 in the North Central Athletic and helped avenge a one-run road loss to Polar Bears back in late March. Fairmont Senior (3-5, 2-2), meanwhile, has dropped four straight overall.

Fairmont Senior’s boys’ lacrosse team dropped an 8-7 loss to visiting Morgantown Thursday night.

As for those Polar Bears, they had two All-Mon Valley selections in senior guard Andrew Marra and two of his backcourt mates, sophomore Travon Horton and freshman Jarin Hilson.

Fairmont Senior defeated North Marion 7-0 in boys’ tennis Tuesday.  On the girls’ side, Fairmont Senior beat North Marion 6-1.

Fairmont Senior defeted visit­ing North Marion on Tuesday 2-1 behind a strong performance from pitcher Cait Tobin.

Andrew Marra couldn’t come up with a definitive explanation.

Fairmont Senior’s pitcher, though, will gladly accept the strong fast ball he found on a frigid night in the Polar Bears’ 6-1 win over North Marion Tuesday at Mary Lou Retton Park.

The Fairmont Senior girls’ lacrosse team defeated University 17-8 in a physical contest Tuesday.

The Polar Bears, 2-1 and 1-0 in the North Central Athletic Conference, have won two straight.

Polar Bear pitcher Trevor Malnick only pitched two innings Saturday at Mary Lou Retton Park, but it was enough to get his first win of the season as Fairmont Senior got a mercy-rule victory against visiting Grafton, 15-4.

Perhaps it was fit­ting that the temperature was plunging toward freezing during Fairmont Senior’s 13-2, season-opening win against Lincoln.

The Fairmont Senior boys’ tennis team had a perfect Saturday, defeating visit­ing Elkins 7-0.

The Fairmont Senior boys' lacrosse team opened its season in dominating fashion Saturday, going on the road to defeat Herbert Hoover 17-0.

The Polar Bears, who are the three-time defending state champions, had seven players score in the game and led 7-3 at the break.

Mohigans use suffocating ‘D,’ inside strength to down FSHS

The Polar Bears were able to weather the storm Wednesday against East Fairmont, but Friday in Kingwood they were not as fortunate.

Preston fought back to take the lead in the fourth quarter after trailing most of the contest to defeat Fairmont Senior 56-46 in front of a capacity crowd to capture the Class AAA, Region I, Section 2 championship.

In Wednesday’s Class AAA, Region I, Section 2 boys’ basketball semifinal contest between cross-town rivals Fairmont Senior and East Fairmont, the Polar Bears rode big games from seniors Andrew Marra and Travon Horton, both playing their final contest against the Bees, to advance to the sectional championship game with a 65-51 win at the Woody Williams Armory.

Wheeling Park’s girls’ basketball team may be young, but it’s gaining big­game experience by the day.

The swingman came up big for the Mohigans in a 61-49 win over Fairmont Senior Thursday night at the Woody Williams Armory.

O’Neal scores 28; Polar Bears make nine 3-pointers in 70-55 victory

Fairmont Senior had six state qualifiers and one regional title-winner.

Scores 29 points in 79-45 win over East

As a swim­ming program, Fairmont Senior has experienced it all — record-breaking runs, twin state titles and enough cham­pionship hardware for a lifetime.

For all their successes over the years — 11 Class AAA state championships in all, including 10 straight boys’ crowns from 1999-2008 — the Polar Bears, boys and girls, probably won’t be in the team title hunt this time around. But they’re all more than happy to be there, at the West Virginia University Natatorium for today’s first day of action starting this morning

Fairmont Senior’s girls’ basketball team is taking aim at third place in the North Central Athletic Conference.

West Fairmont jumped to a 34-10 halftime lead and went on to defeat homestanding Bridgeport by a 73-32 score on Tuesday.

Saturday afternoon at Fairmont State University, the Polar Bears made that goal a reality, surging past the nine­team field for yet another regional championship.

Last year, the Polar Bears piled up 171 team points, won four individual events and took first in all three relays. The FSHS boys’ squad took third.

Fairmont Senior used a strong early defensive effort to build a big lead, and the Polar Bears went on to hold off the visiting Morgantown Mohigans, 52-50.

The victory was the first over Morgantown in over four years.

Fairmont Senior came back from an early deficit to lead Class AAA No. 4 Preston by as many as 10 points Wednesday night at the Woody Williams Armory.

With the win, No. 1 North moved to 15-0, including 8-0 in the North Central Athletic Conference. The Huskies also swept the season series with the rival Polar Bears and have won eight straight versus FSHS dating back to the 2007-08 campaign.

Fairmont Senior’s wrestling team rolled to a quad sweep Monday night at home, beating Lewis County (51-27), Bridgeport (63-15) and Clay-Battelle (68-12).

In the final tune-up for regional com­petition, Fairmont Senior’s swim teams had a solid showing at Saturday’s Splash Invitational at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

The Polar Bears cruised to a 80-62 win over county rival North Marion.

FSHS outscored the Huskies 63-22 in the final two quarters to cruise to an 82-40 victory Tuesday.

Neither upstart East Fairmont, nor young-but-tal­ented Fairmont Senior, nor state-ranked North Marion crowned an individual cham­pion on Saturday’s final day of action.

The Polar Bears (8-5, 2-0 in the NCAC) will travel to Preston on Wednesday.

The Big Blacks lead the team standings with 108.5 points and have five wrestlers in the semifinals in Matt Cornell (119 pounds), Rusty Maness (135), Noah Searls (140), Donnie Powell (171) and Casey Hogg (215).

The rest of the top five includes second-place Berkeley Springs (98), University (96), Cabell Midland (91.5) and Ripley (85.5). Locally, North Marion is sixth (83), while Fairmont Senior is 19th (44.5) and East Fairmont 22nd (35).

Katie Nunan scored 13 to lead Fairmont Senior’s girls’ basketball team to a 50-29 win over Robert C. Byrd Monday.

Polar Bears rally for win over East

Fairmont Senior held an 18-13 lead at halftime before RCB rallied to a 27-20 edge in the third quarter. The Polar Bears tied it a 31-31 at the end of the period on Travon Horton’s 3-pointer at the buzzer, but neither team could take control during the final eight minutes.

Fairmont Senior’s boys’ basket­ball team rode Andrew Marra to a 68-61 overtime victory over University Tuesday.

The Polar Bears came out on fire on both ends of the floor en route to an 85-30 rout of visiting Buckhannon Monday.

The Bears (1-2) will be back in action tonight at Brooke for a tourna­ment.

There were two ties and eight lead changes in the early stages before the 2-0 Polar Bears took control with a 24-4 second-quarter run that set the stage for what turned out to be a one­sided decision over the Indians, who were playing their season opener.

Sophomore Travon Horton scored a game- and career-high 31 points to lead the Bears to a season-open­ing 69-51 win over Elkins at the Woody Williams Armory.

The No. 6 Cougars used their speed and big-play abili­ty to break open a close game and rolled to a 35-16 victory at University of Charleston Field.

The 90th playing of the East-West game belonged to Fairmont Senior and quarterback Trevor Malnick.

Brett Parker, a former Fairmont Senior standout, has earned ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-District IV first team honors as a member of Belmont’s men’s soccer team.

For the final time before moving to the Big 10 Conference next school year, Marion County dominated the all-NCAC soccer teams.

While Fairmont Senior cross country won’t be bringing home a champi­onship, it certainly held its own in Saturday’s Class AAA state meet at Cabell Midland High School.

Polar Bear standouts Dayton McVicker and Alyssa Scherich each placed third overall in the boys’ and girls’ races, respectively, while Fairmont Senior took fourth in the boys’ team standings.

A breakfast involving members of the first two city football teams to play in a black school-white school football game here wound up “Celebrating Our Diversity” week Saturday morning.

A group of residents are bringing the community together by celebrating a historic football game.

The top 16 schools in each of the state’s three classifica­tions qualify for the state playoffs. The top eight host the bottom eight in the first round, with the higher seed having homefield advantage until the championship game.

Thursday night’s many big plays and sudden momentum swings were exciting. The Polar Bears’ comeback from two double­digit deficits was amazing.

For the Fairmont Senior boys, a sectional crown Saturday was goal No. 2 in a list that ends with anoth­er trip to the Class AAA state play­offs. For the Polar Bear girls, it meant keeping with tradition and making your own special legacy all at once.

Mission accomplished — times two.

The Polar Bears just about repeated last year’s perform­ance at Thursday’s Class AAA, Region I meet at Wheeling Park High School, as the girls crowned a second straight indi­vidual champ and the boys placed all seven runners in the top 25 to earn yet another trip to states.

The Polar Bears rallied not once but twice, erasing double-digit deficits on two occasions, en route to a wild 53-52 overtime victory over visiting Wheeling Park at East-West Stadium.

Fairmont Senior had a solid show­ing in Thursday’s Region I meet at Wheeling, as Alyssa Scherich won the girls’ race and the boys’ team took second to punch their ticket to states.

The sectional soccer tournament began Tuesday night in Fairmont with Fairmont Senior’s boys’ and girls’ teams hosting North Marion.

The Polar Bears (5-2) moved up to 11th position from 13th in the latest West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission playoff ratings released Tuesday.

Ross Dalton scored twice early in Saturday’s league title game, and the Polar Bear defense did the rest, holding off Morgantown for a gutsy 2-1 win at East-West Stadium.

Friday night, the Polar Bears did just that, bouncing back with a huge first half en route to a 41-14 victory over host Buckhannon-Upshur.

Tyler Merrifield shot a two-day 160 to finish in fifth. Sterling Fitzwater finished with a 166, Nick Sinclair had a 166 and Stephen Sinclair shot a 170.

The Polar Bears shot a 246 on the first day and they are tied with Wheeling Park and Bridgeport.

FSHS’s Tyler Merrifield is just one stroke back at 77 and tied for second with two other golfers.

After holding the lead for much of the match, Fairmont Senior’s boys’ soccer team let in late goal to play to a 1-1 draw with Preston Tuesday.

Fairmont Senior’s girls’ soccer team clinched the top-seed in the sec­tional tournament and No. 3 in the North Central Athletic Conference with a 3-2 win over Preston Tuesday.

Fairmont Senior’s cross country teams got a pair of individual victo­ries in Saturday’s Wheeling Fall Classic, as Alyssa Scherich won the girls’ race and Dayton McVicker cap­tured the boys’ event.

University (6-0, 5-0 in the NCAC) blocked three kicks — field goal attempts of 36 and 26 yards, one in each half, and batted down what would have been a game­tying extra-point attempt by Fairmont Senior with 9:02 left in the fourth quarter.

Brianna Walker had one assist, kill and ace, Emily Morton had seven aces and one kill, Calli Fluharty fin­ished with 14 assists, four kills and two aces and Caitlyn Fluharty had nine kills and 12 aces in the win.

Fairmont Senior’s volley­ball team rallied for three straight wins to defeat Elkins in five games.

Nate Kast led the Polar Bears with three goals, as they peppered the Bees with shots.

Fairmont Senior’s 2-1 football team is rated 10th in the initial WVS­SAC playoff ratings.

No matter how you slice it, Saturday was undoubtably a banner day for Marion County cross country at the Chick-Fil-A Invitational in Mineral Wells.

Scherich, the Polar Bears’ standout junior runner, fin­ished a solid fourth at a North Central Athletic Conference meet at University Wednesday. She followed that up with an even better performance at Saturday’s Chick-Fil-A Invitational in Mineral Wells, winning the girls’ race in a time of 19:37.

Huge second quarter sparks MHS romp

East Fairmont’s volleyball team pulled a clean sweep of rival Fairmont Senior Tuesday, rolling to a 25-8, 26-24, 25-13 victory.

Fairmont Senior’s boys’ soccer team rolled to its second blowout win in three days Tuesday with a 7-0 rout of University at East-West Stadium.

Freshmen Julio Arjona and Brooks Nucilli of the West Virginia University men’s soc­cer team were named to the College Soccer News “100 Freshmen From Coast to Coast To Keep An Eye On In 2010” list.

Nucilli, a former high school standout at Fairmont Senior, has received significant playing time in the team’s first two games at the forward position.

Fairmont Senior’s Trevor Malnick showed a bit of every­thing in his third career start at quarterback Friday. He passed for 153 yards, rushed for another 76 yards and played a hand in all four Polar Bear touchdowns.

Dalton netted two goals in Tuesday night’s 4-2 road victory over Brooke and had another strong showing in Saturday’s 7-0 rout of Huntington at East-West Stadium, adding another goal along with an assist. Against the Highlanders, the Polar Bears broke open a scoreless game with three scores in the final 12 minutes to help improve their season record to 4-1-1.

The Polar Bears boys placed fifth overall and two top 20 fin­ishers. Dayton McVicker took third with a time of 16:27, while Todd Edgell was 14th (17:23).

A scoreless game early on, the Polar Bears took control at the perfect time, scoring three goals in the first half’s final 12 minutes en route to an impressive 7-0 home shutout.

Fairmont Senior’s boys’ soccer team got a pair of goals from Ross Dalton to help defeat Brooke, 4-2.

On the boys’ side, Fairmont Senior took first in the team standing with 83 points and had a pair of top 10 finishes.

Senior Dayton McVicker won the boys’ race with a time of 16:31, and Todd Edgell placed fourth with a run of 18:00.

For the girls, Polar Bears’ standout Alyssa Scherich was fourth overall with a time of 21:20.

Fairmont Senior’s girls’ soccer team got off to a quick start, netting the game’s first goal, but eventually fell to visiting Winfield 3-1 at East-West Stadium Saturday night.

Fairmont Senior used an opportunistic defense, forc­ing four turnovers, to break open a close game and hold on for a 28-21 victory over host Robert C. Byrd.

Leading Fairmont Senior was Sterling Fitzwater (38), Tyler Merrifield (39), Allen Rickards (40), Nick Sinclair (40) and Austin Patterson (42).

Kast nets hat trick in home romp

Saturday afternoon, the Polar Bears saw their first ‘W’ hit the win column, holding off visiting Hedgesville 4-1 at East-West Stadium.

The Polar Bears played solid defense, outplayed the Flying Eagles for much of the game, but had noth­ing to show for it in a 1-0 loss at East-West Stadium.

Fairmont Senior’s Tyler Merrifield shot a 38 to earn medalist honors and lead the Polar Bears over University and Elkins Tuesday.