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Patriots’ Moore, Tipton Win Big At Wheeling Park Classic

By NICK HENTHORN 4 min read

WHEELING -- It was all Patriots at the Wheeling Park Classic on Saturday as the hosting teams, both boys and girls, took first place as well as claiming the top individual finishers in both high school races.

In the girls race, Park junior Brenna Tipton took the gold with a time of 17:42.97, while fellow Patriot junior Rylan Moore came in first in the boys race with a time of 15:29.84.

For both competitors, their times were a personal record, a new course record atop the hills near Wheeling Park High School, and a successful defense at the Wheeling Park Classic as both also took first place last year.

"I set my PR here last year at a 17:58 and then broke it again at OVACs the next week with a 17:54," Tipton said. "So going sub-17:50 today was a huge accomplishment. and a huge confidence boost, and I really needed it. I’m really happy with it."

"She started off the season a little bit slower-- well, a little bit slower than what she wanted," Wheeling Park head coach Ricky Moore said. "Really, she started off the season better than the previous year, but she has really high expectations this season as the returning state champion. We just said, hey, be patient. You know, her season’s probably gonna go longer than the state meet and a few postseason meets so we kind of took things a little slow. Today, I think, really gave her the confidence to say, 'Hey, I’m where I’m at. I PR’d, I ran a course record, just trust what I’m doing, trust the training. and I’m going to be where I want to be at the end of the year.' Really proud of how she fought, and I’m not surprised to see her run like she did today."

Moore said his previous PR was a 15:43.

"Rylan’s really come on this year," coach Moore, Rylan's father, said. "He and Brenna are two kids that don’t run track, both play other sports in the spring, as well as Brenna splitting time with soccer. For both of them, this year has been really that growth year. For Rylan, he’s really been determined. He wants that school record.

"He’s only a few seconds away from the school record. Really expecting big things for him as we move into OVAC, Regional and the state meet. A great performance by him to go out, take it from the gun, and really go after the time today."

Tipton and Moore each finished more than a minute ahead of any other racers.

"Going into this race, we had a lot of rain, and I know a lot of other courses did too," Tipton said. "But this week we’ve been running our course, and there were a lot of mud puddles down in the hills, all the rain runs right into the course. But our school, our coaches, and our staff really fixed it up for us. I think the uncertainty of not knowing how the course was going to be going into it was the hardest part, but I think you’re really boosted up during the race. You don’t really pay attention to the course as much as you think you would."

"A big part of the race is just knowing that if I get out front, just keep my foot on the gas and just push myself," Moore said. "I’d say that’s probably one of the hardest parts, is just when you’re up there by yourself, keeping your foot on the gas and trying to stay focused and keep running fast."

In the girls race, Shadyside's Chloe Meholovitch finished in second place at a 19:04.22 and Wheeling Park's Laylah Burkhart finished third at 20:17.69.

In the boys race, the Patriots' Asher Deal (17:40.62) and Jake Breitinger (17:44.68) took second and third.

Shadyside finished in second in the girls race. Aside from the Patriots and Tigers, Runners from Wheeling Central, Madonna, Weir and Magnolia competed at Wheeling Park on Saturday.

"It’s October now, we talked about it before the start of the race, it’s championship season now," Coach Moore said. "We got a week until OVACs and then three weeks until regionals and then the state meet at the end of the month. Now is kind of the time where we’re starting to sharpen up and get ready for that. It was great weather. It was beautiful out today. The team got a chance to really race under great conditions. Really proud at how they stepped up and everyone went out and competed really hard today."

Shadyside won the middle school girls race, while Triadelphia won the middle school boys race.

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