Photo by Kim North Hunter Moore celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic men's race Saturday.

WHEELING – Westerville, Ohio, native Hunter Moore had never run in the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic. Saturday morning he crossed the finish line first to win the 47th annual event that took runners throughout the streets of the Friendly City.

The 26-year-old timed out in 1 hour, 9 minutes, 24 seconds to easily take first place in the 13.1 mile race. Morgantown’s Philip White was second.

“This is my first time ever making it out here for this race,” Moore admitted.

When asked how the race was, Moore let out a “woo hoo.”

“I got to mile 3 and it was all flat,” he recalled. “I was like ‘this is a piece of cake,’ but then we hit the hills and I was ‘oh boy,’ but I made it through the hills and was feeling pretty good again.

“There were a lot of ups and downs, literally and metaphorically, but overall it was so much fun. It was awesome and I’m happy to have been a part of it,” he said.

Moore attended NCAA Division III Otterbein University where he obtained his undergraduate degree. He then went to grad school at Division II Walsh University in North Canton.

“I was a distance runner,” he noted. “I ran the 10K in track and the 8K and 10K in cross country.”

As for the conditions, “I liked the fact that it was cool. It was a little muggy, but, honestly, it was so cool that it felt good,” he said.

He was also pleased with his time.

“I think it technically may be a PR (personal record),” he added. “I wasn’t really thrilled with my previous PR, but to come out with a low time today with all the challenging hills, I was really pleased.”

When asked if he’d be back in 2026 to defend his title, he replied, “I would love to come back next year.”

Moore, a graduate of Olentangy Orange High School in suburban Columbus, actually began his collegiate career at Eastern Michigan but then transferred to Indiana University where he placed 65th in the Big 10 Cross Country Championships as a freshman.

Moore pocketed $1,125 for the victory.

White clocked out in 1:10.11.

“This was my first time running here. It was a hard course,” he said. “I was warned about it and the people weren’t wrong about it,” he admitted. “It was even harder than I expected it to be.”

The University High grad attended West Liberty. He was the 2016-17 Gatorade West Virginia State Cross Country Runner of the Year while at University High and was the 2018 Mountain East Conference Freshman of the Year.

“It was good competition and a good prize pool,” White said of his reason for running the race. “I just thought it would be something fun and different to do.

“The conditions were great,” he added. “You couldn’t have asked for better conditions than we had today. It was great.”

White took home $875.

Youngstown native Eric Rupe finished third in 1:11.19, followed by Brenden Sands, of Flagstaff, Arizona, in 1:11.42 and Mike Secreti, of Cumberland, Maryland, was fifth in 1:12.03.