MORGANTOWN – Monongalia County will be well-represented at the 2024 WVSSAC state cross-country meet next Saturday on the campus of Cabell Midland High School in Ona.
The University Hawks, Morgantown Mohigans, and Preston Knights will all have teams and individual racers in the Class AAA field at the state meet after a strong showing on Thursday afternoon at the Region I cross-country meet hosted on Baker’s Ridge by UHS.
The three schools took the top three spots in the girls’ team standings, with the Hawks taking home the title with a low score of 44 points.
UHS managed four top-ten finishers in the girls’ race, led by Abigail Rogers, who finished second at 18:22.66. Her teammate Claire Von Boetticher placed fifth in the race in 18:42.30. Rosalia Biundo took ninth with a time of 19:18.25 and was followed closely by Caroline Ballard in tenth at 19:18.91.
Morgantown’s Maraid Johnson was the first to cross the line for her team in sixth at 18:58.64. Allison Hawkins wasn’t far behind her in eighth, finishing in 19:16.91.
The Mohigans then managed to finish in 12th (Sophia Schneider, 19:29.98), 13th (Lauren Hawkins, 19:31.89), 14th (Megyn Amsler, 19:36.20), and 17th (Sophie Renner, 19:50.44) to lift their team into second place with 53 points and a ticket to the state meet next weekend.
The Knights of Preston High will join them. The girls finished in third place with 77 points. PHS was led by Hallie Simmons, who finished in third place overall with a time of 18:39.02.
Simmons was fifth coming into the final stretch of the course but dug deep and managed to make up two spots before crossing the finish line.
“I came into the race knowing it would have a fast start with the favorable weather, so I wanted to get out to a good start,” Simmons said. “I kept reminding myself to stay with the pack at the front as it broke away, and I did. I’m very proud of my performance, and this is a race I’ve been waiting for. This is the point of the season where you ideally want things to click, and I think it did for me today.”
The Knights had three other runners who finished in the top 20: Ava Simmons, Autumn Myers, and Delilah Myers, helping them earn their spot in the state meet next weekend.
“It means a lot that we will have our entire team down there next weekend,” Simmons said. “It pushes us a little more when our teammates are around and racing beside us. We are excited to go and make some noise.”
On the boys’ side, seven of the top 10 finishers were either from University or Morgantown, with the top three coming from the Hawks.
Tyler Umbright took home the individual title at 15:18.11 to gain some welcomed momentum heading into the next week of preparation.
“The weather was great today, and running on my home course my senior year, I wanted to go for it,” Umbright said. “I was trying to chase the course record but ended up a few seconds off. I felt like I closed well and am proud of how my teammates performed. I think we have a strong chance to go out and win a state championship next week, which is a huge goal of ours.”
His teammate Micah Gainer finished second with a time of 15:42.30 and was followed closely by Ethan Conroy in third at 15:43.20.
Joaquin Summer was the top finisher for MHS in fifth at 15:55.20. Andrew Carlton was close behind in sixth at a time of 15:59.20.
Preston High’s Landon Griffith secured an individual spot in the state meet as he finished in 11th in 16:09.60.
In Class A, the Trinity Christian Warriors secured qualification to the state meet with third-place finishes for both the boys and girls on Thursday.
The 2024 WVSSAC state cross-country meet will be held next Saturday in Ona at Cabell Midland High School. Races will begin in the morning, with the Class AA race at 9:00 a.m.
Class AAA will begin at noon, with Class A running at 3:00 p.m.
