Gallery by Karen Akers
Running cross country not only takes heart and determination, it also takes some good old fashioned guts.
Woodrow Wilson senior runner Brandon Canaday has plenty of heart and determination, but his Flying Eagles career has required plenty of guts.
Canaday won the Class AAA Region 3 title as a freshman before missing his sophomore year do to an injury.
The senior standout rebounded last year for a third place finish at regionals, but heading into the 2023 season, Canaday once again was battling an injury that put his season in jeopardy.
“To be honest, I tore my shoulder over the off-season and I didn’t even know if I was going to run,” Canaday said. “I felt like I had a responsibility to my team to do it. I figured it was my senior year, so I just needed to give it all I had this year.”
Saturday morning, Canaday indeed gave it all he had and all he had was good enough to capture the individual boys title at the Chick-fil-A Beckley Invitational.
Although he eventually won by eight seconds, for most of the race, first place was far from a guarantee.
“I have to give credit to the second place finisher (Johnny Walkup). He was on my back the whole time,” Canaday said. “I really thought he was going to get me at the end. I just had to shut my brain off and sprint, that is all I could do.”
By the time Canaday and Walkup reached the final hill of the course, it clearly was a two-man race. Approaching that final climb, the Beckley senior made the decisive move of the race.
“I was trying to catch him. I was staying right on his shoulder the whole time, but he just kind of took off up the hill and I couldn’t get to him,” Walkup said “He started putting some space on me there. We went up that hill two times and that second time was really tough.”
“The last hill, I found a chink in the armor and I thought I was losing him. I just sprinted up the hill and gave it all that I had,” Canaday said. “He is a really good runner, strong and he gave me a run for my money. He really caught me by surprise, honestly.”
Canaday finished the course beside Beckley-Stratton Middle School at 17:05.3, roughly 90 seconds faster than his performance last year to open the season.
Just a junior, Walkup finished the run at 17:13.1 and was very pleased with how he ran Saturday morning.
“I feel like today was a momentum builder for me and I feel good about the season. This is like a really big (personal record) for me, so it is a really good feeling,” Walkup said. “I’m just hoping that I can get below the 17-minute mark by states. That’s my goal.”
Canaday was not the only bright spot for the Woodrow Wilson boys Saturday. Sparked by solid performances from the freshmen on the team, the Flying Eagles also captured the team title.
Charleston Catholic was a close second followed by George Washington in third place.
“We are really young. It is basically all seniors and freshmen,” Canaday said. “Brady Whitehead, a freshman that came up, really impressed me today. I knew he was going to do good today. (Freshman) Kyle (Peters) finished strong. Mason (Nettles) I think had a little bit of cramps in his legs, but he battled out and didn’t quit. He showed a lot of heart.”
“Michael (Haddadin) had a great race as well. Vance Lindley is new and doing well,” Canaday went on to say. “This course is hard. It is one of the hardest that I run and they all showed a lot of heart. First place doesn’t win the team race, it is five (runners) and takes all seven of us pushing.”
Woodrow Wilson head coach George Barbera had expressed confidence in his team heading into the season, but needed to see how the young runners responded to the high school distances.
Needless to say, the Flying Eagles head man was pleased Saturday.
“The boys ran really well today and I was really proud of them. Brandon took the lead from the beginning and raced with pride to bring home the championship. I’m really proud of him,” Barbera said. “The rest of the boys ran like a team. Brady was a standout for the freshman today. Kyle Peters and Bob (Shirey) were right behind him. You never know, but I expected us to finish in the top two. They wanted to win and that is why they did.”
St. Albans took the championship in the girls race and Braxton County was second after winning the event the last two seasons.
Woodrow Wilson finished third led by top-20 finishes from Lauren Curtis (9), Kyndall Ince (19) and Cecilia Lindley (20). Hannah Keiling was 26th overall.
“There is always some good teams that comes down here. Finishing in the top three this early in the season is just a great sign,” Barbera said. “Lauren had a great race. Her and Kyndall went out strong. It wasn’t Kyndall’s best day, but she is a fighter. Look at what Hannah and Cecilia did. We had a lot of girls get in the top 20 today and we had some freshman popping up there. Lillian (Bostwick) was our number five girl today. Skylar Wren, what an improvement and Leah White was right in there.”
Violet Wall from Jefferson Christian was first in the girls race followed by sophomore Arabella Boggs from Charleston Catholic who won last year’s race. Running with a broken nose, Boggs was still 10 seconds faster than her time as a freshman.
Another big winner for the day was the sport itself with 625 runners and nearly 60 teams competing in the high school and middle school events.
“It was a great day. Look at the cars in the parking lot stacked like Lego’s,” Barbera said, smiling. “There are 150 cars in the upper parking lot. It keeps getting bigger and bigger. We are going to need a bigger start line soon.”
Complete results can be found at the link below:
https://wv.milesplit.com/meets/565002-beckley-chick-fil-a-2023/results?fbclid=IwAR3FC99oa12zIovXqsAIMh2fOMm2pSIYVbloz0bpmzQYXxNqPeGDreVzE9U
