ONA, W.Va. – Morgantown and University asserted their cross country dominance for another year, bringing the individual and team state titles back to the county as Irene Riggs secured the girls’ win for Morgantown, and Larry Josh Edwards repeated for the boys’ individual title. What’s even more impressive is that they did it with a shorter season than most of their competition.
“I am so happy and proud of how resilient these young kids have been this year,” MHS coach Mike Ryan said. “They’ve adapted to everything that has been thrown at them and it’s just phenomenal. It makes me so proud of what they’ve accomplished.”
Things did look a little different this year, though. First and foremost, the triple-A races were the last to be ran leading to some nerves, especially in the younger runners like Riggs. And instead of prepping for the races with day-long festivities under their marked canopies, the Class AAA teams were only allowed into the area after 2:30 p.m. But it didn’t matter for two teams who have dealt with adversity all season long after COVID-19 broke out in Mon County and shut down high school sports for almost a month. Plus, after they were able to return to practice last month, many were wondering if there would even be a state meet at all – Ryan was even worried up to Saturday morning.
“I was sitting there drinking my morning coffee and thinking, ‘I don’t want to get a call today,’ ” he said. “I was scared to death I was going to get a call that one of my kids was quarantined a couple hours before the race. As a coach, it’s something you have to worry about that there’s this horrible thing going on all around us. To see both the boys and girls accept this new reality they’re living through, it says a lot about their character.”
Despite all of that, there were some things reminiscent of last year’s title race.
Another sophomore claimed the individual title for MHS: Riggs. The young runner stepped into the lead role just before the first meet of the Mohigans’ season when junior and defending state champion Lea Hatcher was injured, but it was a natural fit. She was essentially competing with Hatcher in practices throughout the summer, and while Riggs led on the course, Hatcher was still helping lead from the sidelines. With a young team, however, the Mohigans began to slip, culminating in a disappointing showing at OVACs. Determined to improve heading into regionals, plus with Hatcher returning from her back injury, the young team exploded for a first-place showing.
It certainly helped to go into the championship race, too. Riggs’ win came easy in 17:59 and behind her was Hatcher, bouncing back from seventh place at regionals to claim the runner-up spot at 18:28.
“I’m really excited,” Riggs said, clad in her Halloween hair piece. “It definitely was a goal of mine, so I’m really happy that it paid off. It was a decent race for me, it wasn’t my best time – I had hopes of running a little bit faster – but I wanted to break 18 [minutes] and I was 17:59 so I was happy with that.”
The team in general had fire beneath them as all six runners finished in the top 15 and three in the top 10 to bring the team title back to MHS for another year. Of those, freshman Jennifer O’Palko caught Ryan’s attention.
“She finished in eighth overall, nobody expected her to be in there,” Ryan said. “She had a phenomenal race.”
And as for Riggs?
“Irene has been working consistently hard since last winter. She took a little break after last cross country season, let some things regroup and was really getting back into shape during track season,” Ryan said. “When COVID hit and she never got to race, we had some conversations. I said, ‘I really want to keep your base high, and we’re going to keep building that base through the spring and into cross country season training.’ I wish we had some more races, but she’s made a phenomenal rise over the last six months.”
Another callback to last year was Edwards’ win in the boys’ 5K. Just a junior, Edwards has become the token of athleticism in the West Virginia cross country world and the guy to strive to beat. Still, no one was able to do that this year, as he finished easily at 15:25. Fellow junior Rocco DeVincent placed second with a time of 16:15 to help pad the Hawks’ overall team win.
“The guys’ team won, I won, it was a really good day,” Edwards said. “I ran well. I wish I would’ve run faster, but I think everyone thinks that, so it is what it is. When it looked like we weren’t going to be able to compete this season, coming here and winning a state championship is very nice.”
Truly, the UHS boys’ team is almost unstoppable. That was all but known going into states as the No. 1 team with a score of 65. The only comparable boys’ teams to the Hawks weren’t even in their classification, as Doddridge (Class A, 74), Frankfort (Class AA, 76) and Ritchie (Class A, 77) were the only other teams under 100 after regionals. UHS coach Ed Frohnapfel notes his team is great because of his front runners, Edwards and DeVincent.
“It gives me a little comfort zone knowing I can work harder on the rest of the guys so they can say, ‘Hey, let’s run up there where Josh is!’” Frohnapfel said. “Rocco, what a hero he’d be if he wasn’t stuck on the same team with Josh. Take Josh out of it and I’ve got a 1-2 punch with Rocco and Jordan Thomas.”
Runners and coaches now look towards track and field following a season that was all but lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Practices will tentatively start in February.
Irene Riggs takes off with the pack at the beginning of the Class AAA state championship girls’ race. (Submitted photo) 
The state champion MHS girls’ cross country team poses after being named winner. (Submitted photo) 
The state champion UHS boys’ cross country team celebrates after being named the winner. (Submitted photo)
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