Williamstown’s Aiden Corbett signs to throw at Charleston
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WILLIAMSTOWN -- Aiden Corbett is trending in the right direction in more ways than one.
The senior from Williamstown signed his National Letter of Intent with the University of Charleston, Monday inside the high school gymnasium lobby on Monday.
He joins a Division-II men's track and field program which has dominated the Mountain East Conference as five-time defending champs.
"It was very exciting Monday - there was a little adrenaline at the signing," said Corbett, who was joined at the ceremony by his parents (Billy and Sarah Corbett, and younger sister Reagan Corbett). "It was pretty surreal to sign. I'm excited to get to work and start throwing."
In addition to competing at the next level, Corbett is among the top two throwers seeded in the shot put for this weekend's West Virginia High School Class A State Meet at his future home of Laidley Field. This coming off the heels of a seventh place showing as a sophomore and last year's fourth-place finish.
"It's the first event of the day at 2 p.m. - there's Aiden and a kid from Petersburg who are neck and neck," said Williamstown coach Zach Hall, who works with the Yellowjacket throwers on both the boys and girls side. "The kid from Petersburg hasn't won a meet by less than eight feet, so he has had no competition. He will immediately follow Aiden as the last of the two throwers in their flight, so I told Aiden to get one out and see what the other kid does."all, w
Corbett did not compete in track in middle school then joined the high school team at the urging of friend and classmate Jett Nestor, along with coach Hall. Corbett's primary interest was football where he earned three varsity letters while starting on both the offensive and defensive line for a Yellowjacket squad which won consecutive state titles beginning with his junior year.
"I recruited Aiden like the second week of track," coach Hall said. "We needed to have more numbers. I coached him in middle school football, and one day at the high school I saw him lifting for football and we started talking. I told him it would be rough at first, but he would be all right.
"The first few weeks, he was getting it. He was big and slow when he first came out then lost about 40 pounds. He put in the work and bulked up. I don't like to push anybody, but I love seeing him when he is throwing. It's always nice to see kids love the sport as much as me."
Corbett set the school record in the shot put with a toss of 53 feet earlier this season in the rain at Ritchie County High School. He was unable to surpass 50 feet at last week's regional meet, but with a good week of rest and eating the right foods he feels ready for the state meet.
"I did some lifting at the beginning of the week and now taking some time to rest, and make sure I eat plenty of food," Corbett said. "I'm taking a positive approach. If things go south, I'll stay upbeat and trust my practices."
Corbett plans to major in business administration. His original intention was to attend another in-state college, focus on his studies and put his athletic endeavors behind him. That all changed when he made an official visit to Charleston as recently as two weeks ago.
"Their coaching staff genuinely care about their throwers - everything is all about family," Corbett said. "Members of the team vouched for that. They all work together. It's an environment I wanted to be around."
Coach Hall followed a similar path as a thrower in college. Corbett had nothing but good things to say about his current coach.
"I give him all the credit," Corbett said. "He puts in the extra hours with us guys, coordinating our workouts and watching film. He studies the sport and passes it on to us."
Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com