photo by: Teran Malone/WVSSAC

ONA – Wheeling Park sophomore Brenna Tipton made history for her school Saturday morning at Cabell Midland High School, becoming the first Wheeling Park Patriot to capture the state cross country meet with a time of 18:16.89 in the WVSSAC Class AAAA girls race.

Tipton’s time was nearly 25 seconds faster than the next finisher, and her performance was the culmination of a season of hard work, according to coach Rick Moore.

“Brenna, she ran an amazing race,” Moore said. “She’s worked really hard all season and, you know, definitely earned this victory through a lot of hard work, a lot of miles. It’s amazing to see someone be the first ever individual state champion in school history.”

The Wheeling Park girls finished 10th as a team Saturday.

“We have a very young team, but we were excited to get the opportunity to qualify,” Moore said. “We had a couple injury and illness things that hit us before the regionals, so we were really excited to still get the team through. And then they actually performed really well at the meet. Of course, Brenna, you know, being state champion, but we had a few other girls PR, and we actually finished a couple spots up in the rankings compared to where we were supposed to be.”

On the boys’ side, Wheeling Park placed one runner on the all-state first team and one on the second team. Rylan Moore finished ninth amidst the Class AAAA field, clocking a 16:23.56, and Tyler Bishop finished in 17:05.94, good for 14th place.

Wheeling Park finished sixth as a team.

“The boys actually had a great race overall,” Moore said. “We finished a couple spots higher than we were supposed to. Again, just like the girls, they were a really young team. Rylan, unfortunately, took a little fall just after the mile mark, was in fourth place in the pack of runners, but recovered well to finish ninth. And Tyler Bishop had an amazing race, being second team all state and finishing 14th. And, you know, a lot of good performances from some young athletes. We’re looking forward to the future for that team.”

JOHN MARSHALL

Seven was the John Marshall girls’ lucky number– the Monarchs finished seventh as a team, and junior Zoe Zervos finished in seventh to take a spot on the Class AAA all-state first team.

She ran a 19:56.96.

“We were ranked seventh in the state and so we finished where we were ranked,” head coach Ted Zervos said. “But there it was real close between 7th and 5th. Could have notched up a few more runners there. Our girls performed very, very well. I was extremely pleased. We had two girls in the top 20. Kalyn Reese was 11th, so she’s second team all state. Zoe Zervs was seventh, so she’ll be first team all state.

“So the girls individually did very well and as a team, very proud of the effort they put in for today. ”

Kalyn Reese finished in 20:21.40.

The Monarch men’s top finisher was Hadden Garvin in 38th.

“Also finished seventh on the boys team also,” Zervos said. “And we have a wonderful group of boys. All seven runners are within 30 seconds of each other at the state tournament. All seven of them. And we had great senior leadership with Brodie Baker and Hadden Garvin.

“They all come in as a team. They’re exciting and fun to watch and they put a lot of great effort into what they did. Super proud of them also. They were way ahead of where they were predicted today.”

WHEELING CENTRAL

Wheeling Central’s girls finished in sixth place as a team, with Rylee Wright earning a spot on the Class A all-state first team, and Ila Hutnick earning a spot on the Class A all-state second team.

Wright finished in fourth, running a 21:35.73, and Hutnick placed 18th, running a 23:26.96.

The Maroon Knight boys sent individual qualifier Michael Hutnick to states, and the senior finished in 12th, earning a spot on the all-state second team. He finished in 17:43.72.

MAGNOLIA

The Blue Eagles’ Riley Dennis raced out to an eighth-place finish, clocking a 17:35.73 and taking a spot on the Class A all-state first team.

Complete team standings and All-State first and second team are found below.

CLASS A

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: 1. St. Marys 57, 2. Trinity 68, 3. Charleston Catholic 73, 4. Ritchie County 91, 5. Wirt County 93, 6. Wheeling Central 107, 7. Mount View 200

GIRLS ALL-STATE – FIRST

1. Bella Boggs (CC) 19:55, 2. Bentlee Williams (RC) 20:25, 3. Anna Bennett (SM) 20:44, 4. Rylee Wright (Central) 21:35, 5. Estoria Chase (Tucker) 21:38, 6. Brianna Blake (T) 21:49, 7. Savana Burd (SM) 21:54, 8. Paige Sterns (Calhoun) 21:56, 9. Elliot Handley (Wood County Christian) 22:01, 10. Amber Perkins (WoodCC) 22:15

GIRLS ALL-STATE – SECOND

11. Lauren Williams (T) 22:16, 12. Addi Moats (Tucker) 22:51, 13. Allison Bumgarner (Wirt) 22:53, 14. Sophia Soly (Madonna) 22:54, 15. Kinsley Nicolais (Wirt) 23:06, 16. Sephora Rhodes (T) 23:13, 17. Bailee King (CC) 23:19, 18. Ila Hutnick (Central) 23:26, 19. Maddie Smith (SM) 23:32, 20. Mary Rushworth (CC) 23:35

BOYS TEAM SCORES: 1. Charleston Catholic 44, 2. Trinity 58, 3. St. Marys 85, 4. Ritchie County 108, 5. Tucker County 110, 6. Wood County Christian 157, 7. Wirt County 180, 8. Webster County 217, 9. Richwood 237

BOYS ALL-STATE – FIRST

1. Peter Basdekis (CC) 16:54, 2. Will Barton (CC) 17:00, 3. Bryce Bills (SM) 17:01, 4. Koa Navarro (WCC) 17:20, 5. Charlie Barton (CC) 17:22, 6. Miles Steptoe (Trin) 17:24, 7. Parker Barnes (SM) 17:25, 8. Riley Dennis (Magnolia) 17:35, 9. Matthew Balis (Wirt) 17:38, 10. Cameron Judy (Tuck) 17:41

BOYS ALL-STATE – SECOND

11. Lynk Suesli (Tuck) 17:42, 12. Michael Hutnick (W. Central) 17:43, 13. Jacob Stephens (Trin) 17:57, 14. Mason Melohn (Trin) 18:02, 15. Ben Hancox (Trin) 18:02, 16. Jenner Stewart (RC) 18:09, 17. Kenson Roman (RC) 18:12, 18. Frank Jacquez (Trin) 18:13.38, 19. Luke Passamore (CC) 18:13.39, 20. Channing Baldwin (Trin) 18:24

CLASS AAAA

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: 1. Cabell Midland 45, 2. Morgantown 52, 3. University 115, 4. Hurricane 154, 5. Preston 167, 6. Parkersburg South 173, 7. Parkersburg 184, 8. Washington 194, 9. George Washington 246, 10. Wheeling Park 249, 11. Musselman 257, 12. Buckhannon-Upshur 279, 13. Woodrow Wilson 327

BOYS TEAM SCORES: 1. University 56, 2. Morgantown 67, 3. Cabell Midland 98, 4. Jefferson 120, 5. Parkersburg 139, 6. Wheeling Park 155, 7. Woodrow Wilson 188, 8. Hurricane 218, 9. Spring Mills 241, 10. George Washington 255, 11. Musselman 291, 12. Buckhannon-Upshur 301, 13. Huntington 372

BOYS ALL-STATE – FIRST

1. Micah Gainer (U) 15:56, 2. Ethan Conroy (U) 15:59, 3. Joaquin Summers (Mtown) 16:05, 4. Isaiah Griffin (SM) 16:12, 5. Kyle Peters (WW) 16:14.48, 6. Dylan Dial (CM) 16:14, 7. Logan Conroy (U) 16:15, 8. Connor George (PHS) 16:17, 9. Rylan Moore (WP) 16:23, 10. Shane Burkhardt (J) 16:34

BOYS ALL-STATE – SECOND

11. Scott Leonard (J) 16:49, 12. Gatlin McLain (South) 16:54, 13. Joshua Shrewsberry (Mtown) 17:02, 14. Tyler Bishop (WP) 17:05.94, 15. Maxwell Abildso (Mtown) 17:05.99, 16. Joey Nolte (BU) 17:11, 17. Colson Elswick (CM) 17:14, 18. Paxton Haddox (Hurr) 17:16, 19. Timothy Samuel (Mtown) 17:18, 20. Jacob Barthlow (CM) 17:20

GIRLS ALL-STATE – FIRST

1. Brenna Tipton (WP) 18:16, 2. Savannah Pritt (CM) 18:41, 3. Morgan Metz (PHS) 18:46, 4. Sadie Yates (Mman) 19:01, 5. Abigail Rogers (U) 19:03, 6. Sofie Zappitelli (Hurr) 19:37, 7. Adalyn Cantrell (CM) 19:38, 8. Tumaini Yawe (Mtown) 19:42.42, 9. Lindsey Bailey (CM) 19:42.86, 10. Emma Coakley (CM) 19:43

GIRLS ALL-STATE – SECOND

11. Lauren Hawkins (Mtown) 19:50, 12. Rosalia Biundo (U) 19:54, 13. Leyland Phillips (Mtown) 19:58, 14. Jenna Conaway (Mtown) 20:02, 15. Haley Raper (South) 20:03, 16. Megyn Amsler (Mtown) 20:04, 17. Audrey Adkins (CM) 20:08.36, 18. Caeley Trujillo (Wash) 20:08.52, 19. Raegan Freeman (CM) 20:14, 20. Breanna Trujillo (Wash) 20:18