Photo by Seth Staskey St. Clairsville’s Ben Shields, right, and Barnesville’s Conner Starr, left, race Wednesday evening.

MORRISTOWN — Barnesville has shown itself to be one of the top cross country teams in the area during the early portion of the season.

The Shamrocks officially proved themselves as the top teams in Belmont County Wednesday afternoon at Union Local High School where they swept the titles at the annual country cross country championship.

The boys actually came down to a tiebreaker before the Shamrocks could be crowned the winner. They were knotted with St. Clairsville at 40 points, but Barnesville’s sixth runner finished ahead of the Red Devils’ sixth, therefore giving the nod to the Shamrocks.

On the girls’ side, Barnesville left no doubt, posting an impressive score of 18 points, which was 38 better than runner-up Martins Ferry

“We always like championship meets over invitationals, so the Belmont County is something we shoot for,” veteran Barnesville head coach Mark Brown said. “We backed off just a hair for this meet today, so it’s exciting to win both of these (races).”

The Shamrock boys were led by Conner Starr, who finished second overall with a 17:38.

Shepherd Richey and Braedon Willis finished seventh and eighth, respectively.

Logan Dodd was 10th and Vincent Phillips rounded out the top five. The sixth runner, who proved to be the difference, was Connor Warrington.

St. Clairsville, which had won the Buckeye 8 title last week at Cambridge, put itself in position thanks to Ben Shields, who notched another victory on his resume.

Shields, who won the individual Buckeye 8 crown, turned in a solid 17:08.5 to win by 30 seconds.

“I definitely thought this was a race I could win, so I was actually looking at the course record,” Shields said. “The hills hit me really hard. This is the hardest course I’ve ran all season. I felt pretty good for the first mile, but back in the woods it’s mostly downhill and you feel pretty good, but on the way back up, those kids ruin you.”

Red Devils’ junior Sawyer Bonnett was third in 18:24. Classmate Caleb Bryniarski was ninth in 19:11.

Union Local’s Robbie Saffell grabbed the fourth-place award with a time of 18:41, while Bellaire’s Stefan Palenicek was fifth in 18:47.

Martins Ferry’s Ryan Theaker was eighth overall in 19:10.

GIRLS

Barnesville’s aforementioned score was quite impressive. Even more impressive was the fact that the Shamrocks placed all five of their scorers inside the top 10 overall.

Leading the way were Aubrey Johnson and Marah Bethel, who finished second and third, respectively in 21:11 and 21:14.

Ayla Yater, Delana Jenkins and Lydia Fuchs were eighth, ninth and 10th to round out the scoring.

Shadyside’s Kenzy Beckett toured the tough terrain in 20:28 to notch another individual victory for her growing resume.

“The first mile I felt really good, but the course is very hard,” Beckett said. “I really like the hills though. My coach told me to try to get to the front of the pack and not get blocked in because I am usually a runner who tries to run people down. I am pretty happy with how my times are improving.”

Other runners inside the top 10 included: Union Local’s Faith Moore, who was fourth in 21:15; Bellaire’s Bethany McElfresh, who was fifth in 22:17, and Lizzie McAninch, who was sixth in 23:34. Martins Ferry’s Madison Oberle was seventh in 23:31.