Bellaire Girls Defend OVCCL Title; Martins Ferry Nips St. C. In Boys

Shadyside’s Chloe Meholovitch, Bellaire’s Landen Perdue Win Individual Titles

CONNORVILLE - There was a lot going on Wednesday during the season-opening Ohio Valley Cross Country League meet on the sun-soaked campus of Buckeye Local High School.

On the course, four new individual champions, a repeat girls' team titlist and a new boys' team champion were crowned on the 3.1-mile loop.

Off the course, a potential accident was averted during the Junior High boys race when a westbound car was forced off State Highway 150 by an eastbound truck and traveled down an embankment onto the course. Thankfully, no participants, spectators nor workers were injured. The race was briefly halted while the car was directed through the grass into the Buckeye Local High School parking lot before returning to the roadway.

GIRLS

The Bellaire girls defended their title, and did it in a big way - a 48-point ( 32-80) victory over second-place Shadyside in the 44th annual seven-school race. The Big Reds' depth carried them as they placed five runners in the top 12 overall.

"We've got everybody back from last year that was in our top 7 and we've added a freshman who was our No. 1 runner today," Bellaire head coach Chris Arno said. "The girls were on a mission last year and, obviously, they want to continue that this season.

"We take pride in cross country," he added. "There are four seniors that have been with me for six years in both cross country and track. They work very hard, are very close knit, are very competitive and are also very supportive of each other."

Promising freshman Paisley Farrier led the Bellaire contingent. She finished second in a fine time of 19-minutes, 11.18-seconds in her first varsity competition. Sophomore Kamdin Snider was third in 20:02.96, while senior Kayla Edgar finished fifth in 21:10.41. Senior Liz Mayer and sophomore Lyla Blazek were 11th and 12th, respectively, with times of 22:59.27 and 23:24.86.

The other two seniors he was referring to are Gigi Kendle and Marley Higgs.

Individually, Shadyside senior Chloe Meholovitch ran a personal-best 18:57.51 to win the race.

"I'm still in disbelief. I've been training for four years, so the hard work is paying off," Meholovitch said. "That's by far my personal best. My goal coming into the season was to run 18:30. I'll see if I get there."

Meholovitch and Farrier were neck-and-neck until heading towards the 'dreaded' hill behind the high school. That's where Meholovitch took control.

"That's the best I've ever done on that hill in my four years," she explained. "I'm really proud of myself."

Meholovitch credits her experience of wrestling last winter as a key to her success.

"It definitely made me feel like I'm a better athlete overall," she said of her experience wrestling against boys during the winter. "It gave me a lot of confidence and drive."

St. Clairsville freshman Sophia Saho finished fourth with a clocking of 20:55.45. Barnesville senior Addy Reed placed sixth in 21:19.44, one spot in front of Red Devils freshman Shekinah Painter (21:42.72).

Also scoring for Shadyside were Jaylynne Johnson (10th, 22:25.60), Aylah Albright (21st, 25:12.43), Addyson Buckingham (22nd, 25:12.98) and Bayden Parr (26th, 25:56.48).

Barnesville was third with 90 points, followed by Wheeling Central (111), Linsly (114), Steubenville Catholic (125) and Steubenville (162).

Buckeye Local, East Liverpool, Indian Creek, Martins Ferry, St. Clairsville, Union Local and Bridgeport did not field a full team

BOYS

Bellaire's Landen Perdue won the first go-round against Union Local's Connor Bendo as he captured the 48th annual race in 15:49.12. Bendo was a distant second in 16:27.80.

Perdue, in his first season of running cross country last fall finished fourth in Division IV, broke away from Bendo on the hill and never looked back.

"Landen really attacked that hill in the back," Arno said. "We run some hills in practice that are a lot tougher than that, so it paid off. He responded to it well."

"Mental stuff. Over the summer we've been doing speed sessions during our workouts," Perdue said. "The main thing I have to focus on is the mental aspect of running. Physically, I'm 100 percent. Mentally, I'm slowly getting there."

He is out to prove his doubters wrong about beginners’ luck.

"I really wanted to slow down at one point, but I told myself 'you can't slow down. Keep on going.' I didn';t put in all of this hard work for nothing."

Arno was equally impressed, but not surprised.

"Landen has really worked hard this summer," Arno praised. "He's running smart and with a lot of confidence. He and Connor will go back-and-forth all season.

"He's done a lot better with the mental aspect," Arno continued. "We work on that a lot. The big thing about Landen is that he is very coachable. With this only being his second season running cross country, we are both still learning about each other."

Despite his winning effort, the Big Reds weren't able to duplicate their title of 2025.

Martins Ferry, with four runners in the top 10, slipped past St. Clairsville, 41-42, for the team title.

"I'm pleasantly surprised but I knew that if they put it all together and the boys ran their race and didn't try to go out with the wrong group, we had a chance," Martins Ferry head coach Chrissy Lewis said. "We knew St. Clairsville always has a strong team and they prepare well, so we needed to make sure we were ready, and we were."

The Purple Riders were led by sophomore Aries Tolliver who finished fourth in 17:34.77 and two spots ahead of senior Nicholas Miller (18:15.62). Sophomores Liam Liberatore and Matthew Shirley were eighth and ninth, respectively, with times of 18:26.58 and 18:32.73. The fifth scorer was senior Prestyn Callaway (14th, 19:22.27).

The Red Devils had scorers in junior George Dormas (2nd, 17:16.71), sophomore Ryan Fulton (3rd, 17:17.36), junior Aaron Tucker (7th, 18:23.28), junior Chase Crum (12th, 18:59.48) and freshman Asher Bryniarski (18th, 19:58.41).

Bellaire was third with 64 points, followed by Barnesville (102); Indian Creek (153); River (166); Bridgeport (168); Steubenville (169) and Buckeye Local (247).

Not fielding full teams were Steubenville Catholic, East Liverpool, Shadyside, Union Local, Wheeling Central and Linsly.