photo by: Andrew Grimm

Martins Ferry’s Alanna Williams, pictured, won the girls’ race at the annual Ohio Valley Cross Country League kickoff meet on Wednesday at Buckeye Local High School.

CONNORVILLE — It was a good start to the cross country season for Belmont County schools — especially Bellaire — Wednesday afternoon on the grass course at Buckeye Local High School.

The Big Reds topped the team scores on both the boys and girls sides of things, while schools from Belmont County occupied all three spots on the team podium in both as well at the annual Ohio Valley Cross Country League kickoff meet.

In addition to Bellaire topping both fields, on the boys side St. Clairsville and Martins Ferry followed, while Shadyside was second and the Purple Riders third on the girls side.

Individually, Belmont County runners swept the girls podium, too, as Martins Ferry senior Alanna Williams dusted the field by over a full minute to win the event in a blistering 19:31.08.

She was followed by Shadyside’s Chloe Meholevitch, who led the race early on, and Bellaire’s Kayla Edgar.

On the boys side, it was a Columbiana County runner on top as East Liverpool senior Maddox Roach finished in 16:14.32, more than 30 seconds better than Linsly’s Jakob Schmidt-Weigand and Union Local’s Connor Bendo.

Locally, Indian Creek placed sixth as a team on the boys side of things, while host Buckeye Local was ninth. Big Red and Steubenville Catholic did not have enough finishers to post a team score.

Crusaders senior Cash Dobson was inside the top-10 on the individual leader board, placing ninth in 18:43.10. The Panthers’ top finisher was Shawn Jordan in 29th overall at 20:20.70, one spot better than Big Red’s Jude Kimble (20:31.82).

On the girls side of things, Big Red placed eighth as a team and Buckeye Local was ninth. Creek and Steubenville Catholic did not have enough finishers for a team score.

Individually, Crusaders junior Claire Flannery just missed the top-10, finishing 11th in 22:44.71. Big Red’s top finisher was junior Gena Smith in 20th with a time of 24:18.42.

Creek’s Calista Cozart was 27th in 24:44.88 and the Panthers top finisher was Belle Russell in 30:26.62.

All told, there were 74 finishers from 13 schools on the girls side and 94 finishers from 14 schools in the boys portion.

In the junior high meet, St. Clairsville topped Shadyside and Martins Ferry in the team scoring on the girls side, led by overall winner Sophia Saho.

Shadyside edged Harding Middle on the boys side, while George Hanlin and Brendan Bolster from Bishop John King Mussio were the top two finishers.