ONA -- University scored a Class AAA sweep in the West Virginia High School Cross Country Championships contested in rain and cold Saturday at Cabell Midland that created trying course conditions for competitors.
In the boys race, the Hawks had four runners place in the top 10 and totaled 44 points to repeat as champion. Seth Edwards led the charge, winning in 16:15. Cabell Midland, which alternated at No. 1 with the Hawks during regular-season rankings, placed second with 76. "We had a good race today," Knights coach Chris Parsons said. "They were the better team today. It's that simple. When you put four in the top 10, it's hard to beat a team like that." Coach Parsons and the Cabell Midland High cross country team recently travelled to Louisville, KY to compete in the prestigious Greater Louisville Classic Invitational Meet. And compete they did, bringing home the boys championship trophy.
Thirty-six teams competed with 276 runners. The meet individual champion was Jonathan Taylor of Port Christian. The team champion was Cabell Midland (124 points) followed by North Hardin (164 points). Cabell Midland’s cross country team packed their bags and headed two hours west to Lexington, KY to compete in the Franklin County Invitational held at the Kentucky Horse Farm. This is the site of the Kentucky Cross Country Championships so the invitational attracted some of the best teams from Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.
In the boys’ varsity race, it would be a team from Ohio and West Virginia battling for the team title. Pre-meet favorite Tippercanoe, out of Dayton would go head-to-head with #2 ranked Cabell Midland. In the end, Midland would capture the team title by a mere point and chalk up another season victory. Nick Salmons led the Knights with his 5th place finish followed by Hunter Adkins, Eric Wooten, Austin Jarrell, Brandon Atkinson, Jonathan Hathaway, Will Shiels and Jeremiah Parlock to round out Midland’s top 8 runners. If you're from West Virginia and was curious to see the Cabell Midland Cross Country team race, you would need to go out of state because it's been nearly six weeks since anybody has seen the Knights race on West Virginia soil. The have been busy racing in Ohio, Kentucky and also Virginia against some nationally ranked teams.
Cabell Midland boys have won the MSAC team title the past 12 seasons and they would make it 13 after this year meet was over. However, winning a MSAC team title wasn't Midland's top priority. The boys have 40 runners on their squad and quality depth comes with it. The Knights have 15 runners who have broken the 18 minute barrier, 10 under 17 minutes and 2 have run sub 16. The MSAC was being used to help determine Midland's top 7 for the Regional and State meets Jacob Burcham waited until the the hill before the 1st mile marker to take command of the boys varsity race. This would be Burcham's and also Cabell Midland's first trip to the Maymont XC Festival in Richmond, Va. Burcham set two goals for himself, which was to win and also set a new meet record. He did both by running 15:28 on the hilly 3.1 miles
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March 2019
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