Photo by Kim North Tobias Jones crosses the finish line in winning the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic on Saturday morning during the Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend presented by WVU Medicine.

WHEELING – Tobias Jones had never run a half-marathon. Neither had he competed at the Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend presented by WVU Medicine.

That all changed Saturday morning when the 2025 Youngstown State University graduate captured the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic championship at the 48th annual event in the Friendly City.

“This is my first time here. I love the environment,” Jones said after running the 13.1-miles in 1 hour, 7 minutes and 40 seconds. “It’s also my first half-marathon. It’s pretty cool. I’m excited about it.”

Jones heard about the race from Eric Rupe, his college coach at Youngstown State, where Jones ran both cross country and long distances for the track and field team. Rupe placed third in the 2025 race.

“My college coach has run this race before and he recommended that I should try it for my first half-marathon,” Jones said. “I’ve run for most of my life. I ran through high school and college. I was pretty good in my conference but nothing crazy.”

Jones placed fifth in the 5,000 meters and seventh in the 10,000 meters at the 2025 Horizon League outdoor track and field championships. On Saturday morning, he said the beginning of the race was especially tough.

“It was a brutal start. Considering the course, I’m pretty happy with my time,” Jones, a Grove City, Pennsylvania, native admitted. “I’d seen some pictures of the hills, but I wasn’t prepared for that last one. I almost had to walk up it. I was hoping I had a good enough lead.”

Jones said he didn’t break to the front of the pack in the early going, but stayed close enough until it was time to make his run.

“Another guy went out really quick, but I kind of slowly reeled him in,” he recalled. “I knew everyone would be scared of the hills. I’ve never experienced hills before, so I was a little naive, so I decided to go for it.”

With a chance of rain predicted around the start of the race, Jones was prepared.

“The weather was perfect. I brought my rain gear, but didn’t need it. It turned out to be a great morning.”

Dylan Gearinger finished second in a time of 1:09:58, with Hector Fallon (1:10:24) taking third and last year’s winner, Hunter Moore, placing fourth in 1:11:29. Austen Duggan finished fifth in 1:15:13.