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ONA - The northern panhandle will be well-represented Saturday when the annual W.Va. state cross country meet is held at Cabell Midland High School.
No fewer than a dozen individuals and three teams from OVAC schools will run for state titles.
Class AAA
Wheeling Park's Seth Franke was the lone individual qualifier while he and his Patriots were third in the Region I race. The senior clocked in at 15-minutes, 58.07-seconds.
The Patriots placed third in the team race behind University and Morgantown with 78 points.
Others contributing to the bronze medal finish included juniors Isaak Nizami (14th, 16:42.65), Redick Moore (16th, 16:45.66) and Jacob Murphy (19th, 16:51.48), and sophomores Brian Gonzalez (25th, 17:32.97), Luca Schwartz (29th, 18:14.68) and Thomas Burns (34th, 18:47.95). Moore was ninth a year ago in the state.
Class A
Wheeling Central's Aidan Scott will have a chance at a three-peat.
Already a two-time small-school state champion, the Maroon Knights senior qualified fifth at the Region I meet at Davis & Elkins College last week. He ran a 17:13.30.
Magnolia's Landen Davis won the meet in a time of 16:57.3. Teammate Shiv Patel finished sixth in 17:43.4. The Blue Eagles finished third in the team standings with 77 points. Parker Werkau (11th, 18:40.26), Corey Trotto (24th, 21:29.85) and Hayden Thorne (36th, 24:33.59) rounded out the team.
Tyler Consolidated had two state qualifiers in Amos Kimble (4th) and Travis Moore (7th).
Paden City's Riley Dennis (9th) also qualified.
GIRLS
Class AAA
John Marshall freshman Zoe Zervos qualified fifth in the Region I race at Wheeling Park High School's course. The OVAC champion clocked in at 19:15.98.
Class AA
Oak Glen's Hannah Kliner won the Region I race at Grafton with a time of 19:30. Teammate Lacey Cameron was sixth in 20:50.40 and Kami Ward eighth in a time of 21:12.30.
The Golden Bears were third in the team standings, thus qualifying for the state. Others are Tasha Ward (26th, 23:25.00); Leah McMahan (47th, 28:58.90) and Jaylin Kell (49th, 29:44.50).
Weir's Naomi Young also qualified. She finished ninth 21:17.50.
Class A
Tyler Consolidated's Lilly Dillaman was the lone individual qualifier. She finished eighth.
NOTES
- The Class A state meet begins with the girls race at 9 a.m. and the boys at 9:45. The Class AA girls run at noon, with the boys at 12:45 p.m. The Class AAA girls race at 3. The boys take off 45 minutes later.