Submitted photo Elkins’ Julia Biola, left, and Emilia Tenney, right, on their way to a one-two finish at Saturday’s Bearcat Invitational.

FLEMINGTON — Emilia Tenney and Trevor George both picked up individual wins and paced their Elkins High School cross-country squads to respective team titles at Saturday’s Bearcat Invitational.

Tenney won the girls race in 18:46.2 and managed to hold off teammate Julia Biola, who trailed closely for the runner-up spot in 18:50.4. Moly McFadden also earned a medal for the Tigers by finishing in the Top 25 with a time of 20:50.1.

Other scorers for the Tiger girls included Mya Mendelson (26th, 22:42) and Haley Kelley (35th, 23:11).

The overall EHS girls tally of 59 edged runner-up Preston’s total of 67. The remainder of the girls field included Braxton County (85 points), Williamstown (121), Grafton (140), Buckhannon-Upshur (150), Lincoln (169), East Fairmont (184), Keyser (189), and Tyler Consolidated (251).

“We’ve got a great group of girls and it’s good to see them get the recognition they deserve,” said EHS coach Scott Biola. “Their times show quite a bit of improvement since we last ran Bearcat in 2023.”

For the boys, George (now a junior) also showed tremendous growth since posting a 16:58 as a freshman in 2023 on the same West Taylor Elementary School course.

On Saturday, George found himself in a tight battle for the individual win against Tyler Consolidated’s Amos Kimble. Both George and Kimble won respective individual titles at the State Meet in 2024, with George taking the AA crown and Kimble being the returning A champ. On Saturday, George prevailed and set a new course record in 15:23.4 to beat Kimble’s 15:29.9 clocking.

In addition to George, Elkins’ other six varsity boys also earned medals, with Josh Bodkins taking third overall in 16:22.5. Other Tiger medal winners included Ben Tenney (5th, 16:35), Treven Schaefer (15th, 17:30), Bobby Valentine (17th, 17:41), Preston Nixon (20th, 17:48) and Logan Jones (23rd, 17:55).

In boys team scoring, Elkins’ 39 points was well ahead of runner-up Grafton’s 97. Other complete teams included Lincoln (107), Williamstown (152), Buckhannon-Upshur (159), Tyler Consolidated (160), East Fairmont (169), Preston (181), Bridgeport (213), Keyser (220), Lewis County (250), Robert C. Byrd (350), Braxton County (353), Weir (402), and Heritage Christian (412).

“Our boys and girls teams showed a lot of grit on a tough 5K course,” said EHS assistant coach Todd Price. “Their team effort was exceptional.”

Elkins will return to action and host its only home meet of the season at Camp Pioneer this Saturday. The inaugural Mountain State Forest Festival Jack & Jill Relays will begin with middle school action at 9 a.m. and high school racing starts at 10 a.m.