Elkins holds cross country relay event at 4-H

Bulldogs run in Bearcat Invitational

BEVERLY – Elkins hosted the second annual Mountain State Forest Festival Jack & Jill Replays at 4-H Camp Pioneer on Saturday.    

In their lone home meet of the season, the Tigers’ top relay squad consisting of Dylan Fortney, Julia Biola, Trevor George, and Emilia Tenney, finished second in the five-team high school field with a time of 34:04.   

Morgantown took top honors by completing the 10k course in a time of 33:58. Josh Shrewsberry, Leyland Phillips, Joaquin Summers, and Jenna Conaway made up that unit.   

The event is the lone coed cross-country meet in West Virginia and its inspiration came from the Mountain State Forest Festival’s annual Jack and Jill Crosscut Sawing competition that is held during the annual Lumberjack Contest.     

The MSFF Jack & Jill Relays also featured seven middle school teams and each coed squad, both in middle school and high school, consisted one two boys and two girls. Each runner was tasked with completing a 2,500-meter loop at 4-H Camp Pioneer.   

“Most cross-country programs in our state have girls and boys who work together as training partners," said Elkins coach Scott Biola. “I think it’s special for them to have an opportunity to join forces and compete together once a year.”   

East Fairmont’s top two coed squads captured first and second place in the middle school race. Elkins Middle School placed seventh with a time of 44:34. That squad consisted of N.J. Patella, Kendall Ward, Lincoln Cooper, and Clara Kimble.   

The EHS cross country teams will return to action on Oct. 6 when they compete in the Tucker County Cross Country Invitation at Camp Kidd in Parsons.

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GRAFTON – The Tygarts Valley cross country team competed with over 150 runners at the Bearcat Invitational this past weekend.      

Holden Sharp, Blake Channell, and Taren Bennett all trimmed digits off their 5K times for the season at the meet. The program is in its first year of existence at the school and the three athletes are the lone competitors on the squad.   

“All three of our runners set goals for themselves, and not only did they achieve their goals, they established new personal records at the Bobcat Invitational,” said Tygarts Valley Cross Country Coach Rick Sharp. “Holden (Sharp) was our most improved runner this week by beating his season best meet time by over 4 1/2 minutes.”   

The Bulldogs will run at the Stonewall Jackson Invitational on Saturday before traveling to Parsons for the Tucker County Invitational on Tuesday.