By Brian Woodson
GARDNER — Shady Spring senior Chelsea Callaway won her second straight individual title, and the Tigers placed seven runners in the top 10 to capture their third Class AA Region 3 cross country crown in a row Thursday at PikeView High School.
“The reason for the success is we have had a nucleus of girls since the ninth grade,” Shady Spring coach John Lucento said. “They’ve inspired the girls that came along behind them and it just keeps building from that.”
Callaway finished the three-plus-mile course in 20:29, comfortably ahead of teammate Desiree’ Roseberry’s 21:03. PikeView’s Chelsea East (21:12) came in third to help the Panthers to a second-place finish.
“We’ve run this course a lot. We’ve run it twice every year and it’s just like a home course for us and we like it pretty well,” said Callaway, who never trailed in the race. “It is hilly, but I like hills. I can usually stay consistent with hills and run them just as hard as flat (ground).
“I like staying ahead and that’s how I run. I just go out hard and keep running as hard as I can.”
The Shady Spring and PikeView girls and the PikeView and Richwood boys qualified as teams for the Class AA/A state meet to be held Saturday, Nov. 1, at Cabell-Midland High School in Ona.
The top 10 individuals also advanced to the state meet. All 10 girls came from Shady Spring and PikeView, while only three boys didn’t come from a qualifying team. That included Webster County’s Skyler McCoy, Issac Cales (9th, 18:45) of Independence and Oak Hill’s Scotty Treadway (10th, 18:51).
Callaway, the state’s top-ranked Class AA/A runner, was joined in the top 10 by teammates Roseberry, Kelsey Paine (4th, 21:40), Katie Paine (6th, 22:16), Katie Backus (7th, 22:45), Emily Osborne (8th, 23:13) and Emily Daniel (10th, 24th).
“Last year I’m came in 11th at the state and we got (team) runner-up and we’re hoping to get first this year,” said Callaway, who is hoping for a top five individual finish.
“We’re going to take our best shot,” Lucento said. “Chelsea has really worked hard. She has strived to become more of pacesetter. That is what she has worked for.”
PikeView’s Brent Roark and Jordan Weitzel finished second and third on their home course on a cool, windy afternoon, leading the Panthers to the boys team title by two points over Richwood.
“Our main goal was to win as a team, and I just wanted to do as good as I could as an individual and I feel like I did that,” Weitzel said. “I feel like the team did good today.”
Richwood, which finished two points behind the Panthers, was led by Derrick Chaffin (4th, 18:07), Andrew Shaffer (5th, 18:10), Charles Bard (6th, 18:21) and Emmet Rogers (8th, 18:26).
McCoy won his fourth straight Region III individual title, finishing in a time of 17:24. Roark was nine seconds back with a 17:33, followed by Weitzel’s 17:59.
McCoy, the third-ranked Class AA/A boys runner in the state, finished a personal best second at the state two years ago. He thinks this race prepared him for the big one next week.
“It was pretty good. I kind of took it slow the first mile or mile and a half and then I kicked it in,” McCoy said. “I had good competition. I had to keep watching my tail and make sure they didn’t catch me.
— E-mail:
bwoodson@bdtonline.com
Girls (top five finishers count toward team score)
1. Shady Spring 20; 1. Chelsea Callaway 20:29; 2. Desiree’ Roseberry 21:03; 4. Kelsey Paine 21:40; 6. Katie Paine 22:16, 7. Katie Backus 22:45 (8. Emily Osborne 23:13; 10. Emily Daniel 24:00)
2. PikeView 44; 3. Chelsea East 21:12; 5. Trish Galligher 21:51; 9. Sabrina Slone 23:29; 11. Haley Augustson 24:03; 19. Cassie Kelly 27:51 (25. Taylor Garrett 28:32).
3. Independence 82; 12. Emily Lilly 24:59; 14. Kayla Bishop 26:37; 16. Ashleigh Mills 26:47; 22. Morgan Farrel 28:07; 26. Allie Richards 29:40 (Kameron Mills 30:12).
4. Richwood 110; 15. Paige Hacker 26:44; 23. Morgan Mullins 28:24; 24. Amelia Shaffer 28:29; 32. Haley Lyons 31:52; 33. Brooke Green 32:32 (36. Caity Richmond 34:43; 37. Holi Myers 34:59).
5. Bluefield 114; 20. Stacey Rogers 28:01; 21. Diane Shahan 28:02; 27. Caitlin Hassan 30:01; 29. Tess McCloud 30:32; 35. 35. Kayla Hazelwood 34:16.
Webster County n/a; 13. Jessica Vucich 26:06; 17. Alexander White 27:11; 18. Tracy Adkins 27:34; 30. Morgan Miller 30:59.
Liberty n/a; 31. Miranda Daniel 31:06; 34. Allie Farmer 33:57.
Boys
PikeView 33; 2. Brent Roark 17:33; 3. Jordan Weitzel 17:59; 7. David Coburn 18:25; 11. Ryan Farmer 19:06; 12. Eric Lawson 19:11 (17. Matt Hatfield 20:25; 21. Isaiah Dishner 21:08).
Richwood 32; 4. Derrick Chaffin 18:07; 5. Andrew Shaffer 18:10; 6. Charles Bard 18:21; 8. Emmet Rogers 18:26; 13. Marc Madiman 19:39 (23. Jesse Hammonds 21:18; 32. Dylan Brown 22:33).
Independence 84; 9. Issas Cales 18:45; 16. Daniel Richards 20:18; 19. Ethan Wood 20:52; 24. Tyler Foster 21:22; 25. Phillip Lilly 21:31 (29. Reed Castanon 22:14; 30. Zane Zeitler 22:23).
Shady Spring 93; 14. Aaron Halstead 19:49; 15. Michael McKinney 20:01; 22. Andrew Wood 21:10; 27. Zach Ransom 21:52; 28. Ben Nelson 21:53 (31. Lukas Meadows 22:28; 33. Hunter Runion 22:34).
Webster County 127; 1. Skyler McCoy 17:24; 34. Mason Holliday 24:07; 35. Trent May 24:16; 38. Kody Salisbury 25:34 (39. Clark White 26:04; 41. Dustin Boggs 29:25).
Bluefield n/a: 26. Jacob Scruggs 21:47; 37. Scott Dietz 25:01; 40. Charlie Dobson 27:57.
Oak Hill n/a; 10. Scotty Treadway 18:51; 18. Lucas Gardner 20:47; 36. Mike Smith 24:30. 20.
Liberty n/a; 20. Donald Adkins 21:05; 42. Shane Davis 35:28.
