Published: October 31, 2009 11:50 pm      

Cross country championships

Locals fare well at state meet

ONA — On a day during which the weather fairly quickly took a vicious turn, local cross country runners acquitted themselves well at the state championship meet.

Richwood’s Derrick Chaffin and Shady Spring’s Desiree’ Roseberry paced the southern West Virginia contingent with all-state performances on the 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) course at Cabell Midland High School.

Chaffin, a senior, was clocked in 17 minutes, 36.46 seconds to place third in Class AA-A behind Grafton’s Drew Woodford (first in 17:09.02) and Berkeley Springs’ John Mundey (second in 17:25.03).

“It was fun,” said Chaffin. “That was the hardest race ever, but I’m pretty happy.”

The Class AA-A girls individual winner was St. Marys’ Maggie Drazba, whose 20:09 finish led her team to the title with 81 points in a tight four-way race. Roseberry crossed the finish line in fourth, 23 seconds in arrears.

“It was very muddy; it was hard to run in it,” said Roseberry, who was runner-up in 2008. “I felt really good. I actually thought I could have done better

“I started catching the girl in third (Philip Barbour’s Sarah McCauley), but she got on the track and started sprinting.”

The Tiger girls and the Lumberjack boys both posted fourth-place team finishes, with Shady - the defending champs — just eight points back of St. Marys. In addition to Roseberry’s effort, junior Katie Paine (16th in 22:09) and sophomore Sarah Phillips (22nd in 22:27) posted Top 25 finishes.

“We had three in the Top 25, and we were only predicted to get one,” said Shady Spring coach John Lucento. “I can’t complain when the girls step up like that.

“They all ran good races. I’ll take it. We’ll be back.”

Richwood scored 106 points in the boys AA-A race, which was led by Grafton’s 57 points.

After a balmy early morning, the weather shifted and competitors were greeted by a rainy, windy and cool day which made the course difficult to navigate at times.

“I had a bad start, because there was deep mud in the middle of the starting area,” said PikeView senior Jordan Weitzel, who wound up fifth in AA-A in 17:45.94 after a 23rd-place finish a year ago. “I had to use a lot of energy in the first mile to catch up.

“I’m pretty satisfied. Top 5 — I can’t complain.”

Weitzel’s PikeView teammate, junior Chelsea East, grabbed all-state honors with a 10th-place effort of 21:36 in the girls race.

Class AAA individual winners were Hurricane’s Alex Dent (19:16) and Jefferson’s Brandon Doughty (16:32). With 73 points, the Jefferson girls won the team title. The Cabell Midland boys captured their division with a commanding 37-point total.

Greenbrier East freshman Marissa Miluk paced local girls with a 21:18 clocking for 32nd place. The Spartans were 11th in the 12-team field. Freshman Trey Cochran (56th in 18:59) led the East boys, who were 12th overall.