MORGANTOWN — When it comes to the sport of running at University High School, there seems to be something special about the name Edwards.
Brothers Josh Edwards — a freshman — and senior Nathaniel Edwards, brought home first and second on Tuesday, at a nine-team meet at University High.
University High’s Zoe Shetty made it a clean sweep with a first-place finish in a time of 19:38.
The Edwards duo were joined by teammate Aidan Palmer, who crossed the line in third place, to lead UHS to the top of the team standings with just 20 points — 45 fewer than second-place Hampshire.
“It looked good. We ran strong today,” UHS coach Ed Frohnapfel said of the UHS boys’ performance. “A lot of them improved from last year’s times, which is what I looked for primarily.”
Frohnapfel’s main concern regarding the performance was the distance between his top runners, with the difference between first and seventh in the lineup clocking in at 1:46 — Josh Edwards finished with a 16:50, while TaKaleb Turner rounded out the UHS scoring effort in tenth with an 18:36.
“They need to run closer together. They need to close the gap between our first-place runner and fifth-place runner,” he said. “We need to work on that, but they have good team camaraderie, so I think they’ll be able to do it.”
Clay-Battelle fielded four runners in the field. Their top finisher sophomore Chase Ammons, earned 15th with a time of 19:06.
“I thought we did really well. We have a small team, but I think we ran really well today, especially against bigger schools like UHS,” C-B coach Justin Allar said.
Trinity Christian added two runners to the mix. Freshman Peyton Dixon crossed the line first for the Warriors in 54th place with a time of 23:10.
Shetty had plenty of teammates around her, too. UHS sophomore Caroline Kirby (19:45) took second place, while junior Emma Troischt (20:38) and senior Abigail Murray (21:22) rounded out the top five in a dominant performance for the Hawks.
“We definitely didn’t have as much competition as we usually do, but we just go out and do it to push ourselves,” Shetty said. “We just want to get a good start to the season. I think we did good, but there’s always more competition.”
The Hawks finished first overall as a team with 21 points. Second-place finisher East Fairmont finished with a 75.
“They looked strong. Zoe got the win and Caroline was close behind, which is what we were expecting,” Frohnapfel said. “We ran well, but when we go against the best teams in the state we’ll have to step it up a little. But it looked good today.”
The Hawks struggled to meet previous personal records, which Shetty attributed to course difficulty and early season woes.
“Our times are never amazing here, because it’s just a hard course to run and it’s the beginning of the season – no one is in their best shape,” “But I’m still happy with how everyone did. We had good places.”
Clay-Battelle saw just one runner compete on the girls’ side in freshman Ashley Chisler. Competing in her first-ever cross country race, she nabbed 17th with a time of 24:04.
“It was an amazing performance, pretty much to come out against this crowd and stay there in the top 20,” Allar said. “I was very proud of her.”
Trinity Christian also saw just one girl — freshman Isabella Goff — take the course. She rounded out the group of freshman that made up the Trinity roster at the meet, earning 35th with a time a 26:55.
“It was exciting to finally see the team in action, and to get an idea of where we’re at personally and competitively with other teams,” Trinity coach Jordan Brooks said. “With these freshman, I am very impressed with their composure and performance against tough competition.”
