MORGANTOWN — University High teams won both the girls’ and boys’ cross-country races on their home course Tuesday evening.
Coming in second and third in the boys’ race were Morgantown and East Fairmont, while the girls’ side had MHS then Preston, also trailing UHS.
The girls’ individual winner, senior Allie Martin from Preston, finished with a time of 19:10.2. Coming into this season, she has been upping her mileage to around 50 miles per week while running around her school and local trails.
Martin set some personal goals for the event and achieved them with flying colors.
“Run a really good race and try to get in the 19s, while staying pretty high up in placing. I feel pretty good, I feel accomplished,” she said.
Preston coach Paul Martin, her father, was not surprised with her win, as he’s seen her hard work throughout the entire offseason.
“She’s had an outstanding summer. She wasn’t really happy with how things ended last year, she was a little disappointed. She’s been very consistent with her training and it is paying dividends,” he said.
The Preston girls finished in third behind UHS and MHS, which Martin was not satisfied with.
“Our goal is to try and get on the podium and be a top-2 team and we definitely weren’t there today, so hats off to Morgantown and University for running really well. That was a good race for her [Martin], running 19:10 solo, but collectively, I am not super pleased with how we ended up,” he said.
The boys’ race individual winner was UHS senior Rocco DeVincent as he finished with a time of 16:12.4.
“I knew it was going to be a hot one, but I just wanted to keep my head down and focus more on the racing and less on the heat and see what would happen. I felt hot, tired, but it felt good just to be back out here racing and good to just win,” DeVincent said.
UHS coach Ed Frohnapfel expected a win Tuesday from DeVincent, who placed second in last year’s state meet, and only expects him and the team to trend upward throughout the season.
“We’re transitioning into faster stuff later but that was a good sign Rocco ran what he did here today with the temperature. That was a really fast time for this course and for him to run that fast now is a good sign,” Frohnapfel said.
The next meet is the Knight Night Relays on Saturday, and is held after dark at Preston. Preston, Morgantown and University will participate in the event and DeVincent is already working on his preparations.
“Just get back to training, train harder, and make sure we keep improving for the season and keep our heads up and focus on the state championships. I’m going to get back to work with my team and figure out a game plan and just hopefully race for the win with my team,” he said.
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