Cross Country season hits the ground running this week and the first big meet for schools all across southern West Virginia is the Chick-fil-A Invitational hosted by Woodrow Wilson.
A wildly popular event that will feature a boys and girls high school competition along with a boys and girls middle school race.
The meet kicks off at 9:30 a.m. with the high school girls run, followed by the high school boys. High school awards will then be handed out and the middle schools will happen approximately 45 minutes after the final high school run.
“I have had teams calling me from all over the state this year and we have a team possibly coming up from Virginia as well. Last year we had 43 schools and it was awesome,” Woodrow Wilson head coach George Barbera said.
The season opening event will be held on the track beside Beckley-Stratton Middle School which has been the home track for the Flying Eagles.
“Not only has the track been a safe and an amazing place to train, it turns the sport into a spectators sport,” Barbera said. “People that have never known anything about cross country gets to watch the entire race from one spot. It helps build the fan base and gets the parents involved too.”
Woodrow Wilson won the boys high school event last year, but the Flying Eagles will have a different look this year after graduating several runners. However, Woodrow still has one of the state’s top runners back in sophomore Aiden Kneeland.
Kneeland finished second in the Chick-fil-A Invitational last year, just one second behind the top runner.
In the first RunWV Cross Country Rankings for the season, Kneeland is ranked No. 3 in the state and the Flying Eagles are ranked fourth as a team.
Oak Hill returns all of its runners from last year and will also be a team to watch. The Red Devils are led by senior Austin Bias who finished ninth last year and opens the season ranked inside the top-30 across the state.
The PikeView boys qualified for the state meet last year and are ranked No. 8 in Class AA to start the season. The Panthers bring back several runners from last year led by senior Braden Ward who finished fourth in the Chick-fil-A event a year ago.
“We have a (mostly) young team this year,” PikeView head coach Sandra Webb said. “The freshman times have been really good and the team is working very hard. The trip to states last year really showed them that the hard work pays off.”
Webb is also looking for strong contributions from sophomores Matt Murphy and Nate Cook this year.
Laicey Necessary leads the PikeView girls team and is on a mission this season after she missed qualifying for the state meet last year by one position.
“Laicey looks really strong this year and we have a freshman whose times are really good right now,” Webb said. “We have several players that are playing soccer and running cross country this year.”
Braxton County won the girls event last year and also returns all of the runners from that team. The Eagles placed five runners in the top-20 a year ago.
The Woodrow girls also took a slight hit from graduation, but return several strong runners led by Lauren Curtis and Kyndall Ince who are both ranked inside the top-40 to open the season.
Princeton finished fifth last year and likely will improve on that this year. The Tigers also return several runners led by Asia Collins who finished fourth last year.
Abi Londeree from Greenbrier East won the 2021 regional race on the same track that will be used Saturday, but was unable to compete in the opening event last year. Londeree is ranked No. 23 statewide to start the season.
A team that could be a dark horse Saturday is Wyoming East.
The girls are led by senior Colleen Lookabill who is a two-time state meet qualifier. Lookabill finished inside the top-15 in Beckley last year and she has some solid runners behind her.
On the boys side, East has several seniors returning and some young freshman that have looked promising in the early going.
