By Carl Holcomb
Moorefield Examiner
East Hardy Cross County’s entire squad earned state meet tickets which were elevated by the girls team dashing to the Class A Region II Tournament runner-up finish at Holly-Gray Park in Sutton last Saturday.
The girls harriers had three Top-10 medals (senior Gracie Heishman, freshman Shaye Barb and junior Brianna Hamilton) and two completed the course in the Top-20 (sophomore Danielle Funkhouser and senior Madison Cowgill) for the Cougars, while the boys harriers collected two Top-20 spots (junior Jonathan Montgomery and freshman Kane Persinger) to complete the state berths.
In just its second season back from a two decade hiatus, East Hardy Cross Country is sending its entire team back to Ona for the state meet with three returning members: Gracie Heishman, Brianna Hamilton and Jonathan Montgomery.
“Forever proud of this team. The Braxton County course was a true benchmark for these runners. Every member of the team improved his or her time by several minutes from the first race of the season. On to states,” East Hardy Cross Country coach Michelle Wolfe stated.
Reaching the state meet was the culmination of hard work and focus as each East Hardy harrier improved time at the regional meet in Braxton County and not because the Flatwoods Monster was hovering over the trail.
It was possible the Homecoming dance provided some inspiration to finish faster as the Cougars had to make the trek home for the evening party.
The Holly-Gray Park course was quite unforgiving as the first mile featured a steady incline, then rounding the second mile there was the steepest ascent that the Cougars ever faced this season.
The view was majestic with a pond and plenty of trees to navigate along the route.
“I’m really excited. The course is the hardest we ran, but definitely one of the prettier ones,” East Hardy Boys Cross Country junior Jonathan Montgomery noted.
East Hardy Cross Country coach Michelle Wolfe helped prepare the team for this regional meet with a visit to start the season and consistently using the large hill to Baker Park from the EHHS complex.
The Cougars located the Flatwoods Monster statue at Holly-Gray Park after the race for a group photo.
“I feel good. It’s a good experience especially it being my first year running cross country. It was good. It was my second time running it and I cut off seven minutes from my last race there,” East Hardy Girls Cross Country senior Maddie Cowgill explained.
East Hardy Girls Cross Country was led by Gracie Heishman with an eight place run in a time of 26:37.7, followed by Shaye Barb in ninth place with a time of 27:39.2, Brianna Hamilton was 10th overall with a time of 28:23.0, Danielle Funkhouser finished in 13th place with a time of 29:31.7 and rounding out the Cougars racing was Maddie Cowgill in 20th place with a time of 38:05.8.
“I am very excited to represent East Hardy as well as being excited to be on the team and to actually be able to go to state with this just being the second year for the cross country team,” East Hardy Girls Cross Country sophomore Danielle Funkhouser remarked.
“The trees were absolutely beautiful and the most challenging part was the gigantic hill that I had to run up. The park was very pretty with all the changes to the track as I ran. At times I was on the flat and could see everything and then I was in the woods and could see nothing.”
Heishman will be cheering for her teammates in spirit as she will be at the Future Farmers of America National Convention in Indianapolis during the state meet.
“Well sadly I won’t be gong to the state’s XC meet. I will be going to the national convention for the FFA. I’m really excited for the team to go to state and show off what they do best and to get our school’s name out there. Which I’m super proud of the team for getting region runners up when we’ve only had a team for two years now which is amazing and I can’t wait to see how they do next year,” East Hardy Girls Cross Country senior Gracie Heishman commented.
“Holly-Gray Park was definitely the hardest course we’ve been to all year. The first mile is all uphill and then right before you get to the second mile, there’s a really steep hill which Mrs. Wolfe did an amazing job preparing us for this race.”
East Hardy Boys Cross Country duo had solid improvements as their fellow teammates with Jonathan Montgomery taking 10th place in a time of 20:36.9 and Kane Persinger finished in 16th place with a run of 25:06.7.
As the team ventured home for the homecoming dance, Coach Wolfe’s adventure on trails continued with a Spartan 5k obstacle course with her husband on Sunday.
East Hardy Cross Country knows the expectations and has prepared for a strong showing at the WVSSAC state cross country meet this Saturday at Cabell Midland High School in Ona with the Class A girls session starting at 11:00 a.m. and the boys session commencing at 11:45 a.m.
