Jaedan Holstein from Shady Spring and Natalie Barr from Nicholas County wanted to close out their high school cross-country careers standing on the podium at the Class AA state meet at Cabell Midland High School.
Saturday afternoon the two senior standouts had their dreams come true.
Barr, who is also the two-time defending state champion in the 800-meter run, crossed the line in fifth place in the girls race, while Holstein used his patented late race kick to come home in eighth place in the boys event.
Frankfort won the boys team event by 41 points over Winfield and East Fairmont took third place. PikeView finished seventh, with Shady Spring in eighth and Nicholas County was ninth.
The top local finishers on the boys side in Class AA were Braden Ward (15), Matt Murphy (32), Jonah Nelson (54) and Kaleb Blankenship (55) from PikeView, along with Jacob Dowdy (31) and Eli Northrop (52) from Shady Spring. Wesley Holcomb from Nicholas County was 31st followed by teammates Luke Barr (34) and Johnny Walkup (38).
Wyoming East sophomore Tommy Wikel finished 43rd in his first trip to the state meet.
Winfield took the top-two places in the girls AA race led by overall champion freshman Ava Ethridge and Rachel Withrow who won the AA title last year.
Fairmont Senior was second followed by Philip Barbour in third place. Shady Spring was sixth overall and Nicholas County was eighth. PikeView was 12th.
Barr’s teammate Haley Johnson finished 14th last year as a freshman and one year later she was also standing on the podium with a seventh place finish Saturday.
The top local runners along with Barr and Johnson included Carli Spade (25) and Laicey Necessary (52) from PikeView and all five runners from Shady Spring.
Senior Charlotte McGinnis led the Tigers in 34th and her sister Gwynn McGinnis was 38th. Braylie Wiseman was 44th, followed by Journey Wisthoff (51) and Abby Honaker (55.)
Woodrow Wilson sophomore standout Aiden Kneeland had the best day of the Region 3 runners finishing fourth in the AAA boy race after placing ninth last year as a freshman.
Ty Steorts from Hurricane was first in AAA followed by his teammate Aaron Kidd, but it was University that won the overall team event for the fourth year in a row with the Redskins placing second. Wheeling Park was third overall and Woodrow Wilson finished seventh.
Steorts was the first runner in history from Hurricane to win the state meet.
Locals runners in the top-60 along with Kneeland were teammates Brandon Canaday (21), Robert Shirey (49) and Michael Haddadin (50). Oak Hill senior Austin Bias finished 58th.
Irene Riggs from Morgantown smashed the course record and destroyed the field in the Class AAA girls race, winning her third consecutive championship by nearly two full minutes.
The Mohigans also dominated the team event by 45 points to secure their fourth title in as many years. All five scoring runner for Morgantown finished in the top-10.
University finished third and Cabell Midland was fourth. Woodrow Wilson was eighth and Greenbrier East was ninth.
Area runners that finished in the top-60 included a trio from Woodrow Wilson, Kyndall Ince (33), Lauren Curtis (35) and Cecilia Lindley (38). Abi Londeree from Greenbrier East was 43rd, followed by teammates Abby Dixon (53), Annie Whited (54) and Luella Mansheim (57). Chrissa Mayfield from Oak Hill was 59th in her first trip to Ona.
Alyssa Sauro from Williamstown won the Class A girls race in her sophomore season after finishing runner-up a year ago.
Williamstown also brought home the team championship with Doddridge County placing second and Trinity Christian was third.
Katie Collins from James Monroe placed 31st in her first-ever state meet to lead the local runners in the top-50. Kelsey Davis and Baylee Jarrett from Richwood were 39th and 46th, respectively, while Sarah Turner from Summers County was 43rd on the day.
The YellowJackets also won the Class A boys race finishing 28 points ahead of second place Buffalo and 44 points ahead of third place Doddridge County.
Aidan Scott from Wheeling Central Catholic won the boys race for the second year in a row ahead of Chase Trembly from Williamstown in second and Donovan Tanouye from Paw Paw who ran home in third place.
Freshman Dakota Pettry from Summers County was 51st on the day.
