Gallery by Brad Davis
Woodrow Wilson’s home cross country course beside Beckley-Stratton Middle School is ranked as one of the toughest in the state of West Virginia.
Evidently for Saturday’s Chick-fil-A Invitational, hosted by the Flying Eagles, Mother Nature decided the course wasn’t hard enough.
Added to the already difficult layout was blazing sun, near 90-degree heat and very little shade for the runners.
However, crazy conditions are really nothing new to cross country athletes.
The individual honors at the high school level went to runners from Shady Spring. Junior Charlotte McGinnis won the girls’ race by over 13 seconds, but the boys’ race was a sprint to the finish.
Tigers’ sophomore, Jacob Dowdy edged Woodrow Wilson freshman Aiden Kneeland by a mere half-second for the boys’ title.
“Dowdy and Charlotte are special kids. They both work so hard, year-round,” Shady Spring head coach Eric Lawson said. “You like it when you see kids, who do put in the work, receive the benefits of that hard work. Not to say those that didn’t win, don’t work hard.”
Attending Woodrow Wilson, the past two years before moving to Shady Spring this season, McGinnis is no stranger to the course layout. Trailing most of the race, the junior standout made good on her local knowledge.
“I have run this course for six years and I am used to it. It doesn’t get any easier, but I know when to go,” McGinnis said. “I went out fast and tried to keep my place. You don’t have to be in first place the whole time, you can ease up to it. I got to the 400-meter mark to the finish line, and I knew I had to go. I was in third place, but the hills are where I am good.”
For Dowdy, the boys title is his second in a row at the Chick-fil-A Invitational.
“It was really hot. I tried to relax the first two miles and then heat it up a little bit, but I realized I wasn’t going to lose (Aiden),” Dowdy said. “I tried to save as much as I could for the finish.”
While any win is very exciting, Saturday’s triumph for Dowdy was extra special.
“Dowdy’s season got cut short last year with IT Band Syndrome after his first race. I am just happy to see him healthy and take home a win in his first race back. He is phenomenal,” Lawson said.
“My hip came out of place over last summer and I didn’t really notice it,” Dowdy said. “It got worse and worse, and I was kind of an idiot and kept running on it. I couldn’t do it anymore after last year’s race. “Today was definitely a great feeling. I have to try and stay in good health, that is the hardest part.”
After a stellar middle school career. Woodrow Wilson head coach George Barbera was excited to see what his young freshman would do in his first race at the high school level.
“It was really hard going into this race without Brandon Canaday. He is the anchor of this team, and he is training partners with Aiden,” Barbera. “For Aiden to go out there without his training partner was tough on him. Aiden was nervous, but he didn’t run like a freshman today.”
The boys team event was just as close as the individual race, but the team event went to Woodrow Wilson. Shady Spring finished second, just six point behind.
Using the top five finishers from each team for the total, the Flying Eagles placed five runners in the top 12 racers, while the Tigers placed five in the top 19 positions.
Chris Saffouri (7), Josh Cormack (8), Robert Shirey (11) and Jonah Morgan (12) combined with Kneeland to lead Woodrow Wilson. Connor Cormack was 16th overall and Mason Nettles was 24th for the Flying Eagles.
“The boys’ team is really good. I have two boys out that were in the top five last year that didn’t run today,” Barbera said. “The others stepped up and got in the top 10 or 15 and scored. We are one team. We are not JV and varsity; we are one team. Everybody responds when we have to.”
Sitting back in the pack for most of the race, Shady’s Jaden Holstein, who has battled a knee issue this season, put on a late kick to breakaway for a third-place finish.
“You can never count Jaden out. He could come out here, out of shape, roll out of bed, hasn’t run in six months and I swear he will run sub-19,” Lawson said. “We have been babying him with that knee issue, but he got it checked out and he is good to go. (Jaden) just started turning it on this week. He is only going to get better.”
Joining Dowdy and Holstein in Shady’s top five finishers were Sam Jordan (10), Eli Northrop (13) and Zane Carothers (19). Eli Jordan was 20th and Garrett Hatcher was 25th for the Tigers.
The Shady Spring girls finished sixth overall with Abigail Houck finishing seventh.
“I saw a lot of grit and grind and a lot of heart and determination from everyone on both sides,” Lawson said. “These kids came off the course pouring in sweat. They pushed through and all of them finished strong. They had nothing left when they crossed the line today. I couldn’t be happier or prouder of them. I had a bunch of them set personal records today, even as hot as it was.”
“On the girls’ side, we didn’t have three girls that could run today, so we are still waiting to see exactly what we have,” Lawson went on to say. “Our pack running was good with the boys. Come regional time, teams better watch out.”
The Woodrow Wilson girls came home fourth with Lauren Curtis crossing the line in sixth place and Madison Farrish also finished inside the top-20 at 18th position.
“We were missing some seniors that were taking the S.A.T., but the rest of the girls stepped up and ran really well,” Barbera said.
Braxton County dominated the girls race winning by 19 points over second-place Greenbrier East.
Remaining local finishers inside the top 25 for the girls were Asia Collins (Princeton) 5th, Baylee Jarrett (Richwood) 9th, Abby Dixon (Greenbrier East) 13th, Jaycee Pritchett (Princeton) 16, Avery Lilly (Summers County) 17th and Kelsey Davis (Richwood) 20th, Micah Fisher (Greenbrier East) 21st and Emma Kesterson (Greenbrier East) 22nd.
Wyoming East basketball standout, Colleen Lookabill finished in 19th.
“I found this sport in 7th grade and it’s something different. Cross Country is mostly mental. It helps me because in basketball because you need that mental toughness,” Lookabill said. “It is also a sport that you have to keep pushing through the physical pain which helps we stay strong in basketball.”
Lookabill described the grind that the racers faced.
“I didn’t think it was going to be that hot, but it was very draining. I lost all the body fluid in my mouth,” Lookabill explained. “I really didn’t think I would place that good. I thought I would finish a little lower in this heat.”
Local finishers for the boys included Trey Stanley (Richwood) 4th, Braden Ward (PikeView) 6th, Austin Bias (Oak Hill) 11th, Jacob Ellison (Wyoming East) 19th, and Nate Cook (PikeView) 24th.
With 43 teams and nearly 600 racers on the day, Barbera felt the event was a big success.
“This was the biggest meet we have ever hosted. I owe a big thanks to all of our parent volunteers, TriStateRacer and Beckley Fire Department that I can think of right now. I know I will forget somebody,” Barbera said. We had former athletes and parents on four-wheelers bringing stuff up. The Beckley wrestling team came out and organized all the parking for us. What a great job those young kids did. It takes weeks to get this course set up. We have to cut hay, brush hog it and mow it so we have a decent place to park and then manicure the course.”
Full race results can be found at tristateracer.com
