Lumberjacks and snakes couldn’t disrupt the tempo of the Cougars.
East Hardy Cougars pounced past trees and dodged snakes to earn three Top-20 finishes including a medal by Shaye Barb at the Potomac Valley Conference Cross Country Championships in Sunrise Summit.
A tree fell along the trail at Hampshire High School and it was cleared just in time for the PVC Cross Country Championships.
East Hardy Boys Cross Country senior Jonathan Montgomery spotted a small black snake along the trail during a practice run and kindly picked it up to move to safety, but no kiss for good luck.
The PVC Cross Country Championship commenced on the top of Sunrise Summit in a large field with the runners going around the Romney Middle School, then circling down in a mowed path between high brush and down past the Trojans athletic field house and to the football practice area and off into the woods.
The runners came back around the ball field and up the hill around Hampshire High School and entered into the football stadium to make one final lap around the track to the finish line with the time displayed and looming above on the giant scoreboard.
East Hardy Girls Cross Country sophomore Shaye Barb earned the lone PVC Cross Country medal for the Cougars in 10th place to join the All-PVC team in a time of 25:39.2.
“It was out of this world when it comes to thrilling. It was unfortunately, not my best time of the year. I loved all of the rolling and challenging hills on the course and the most challenging part was the last 400 meters. Me and Callie Dunn from Pendleton went 10th and 9th, so it was so exciting and fun for the both of us. It was just an overall great race for all of the girls with the great competition and representation,” East Hardy All-PVC Cross Country member Shaye Barb noted.
East Hardy’s Shaye Barb and Jonathan Montgomery showed tremendous sportsmanship running alongside teammates and competitors to cheer them on after their own finishes in the race.
PVC Girls Cross Country champion was Frankfort’s Bailey Ferguson in 20:19.9.
Joining Ferguson on the All-PVC Cross Country Team were:
Ava Barrick, Keyser 22:29.2
Bella Shoemaker, Berkeley Springs 23:31.9
Hailey McBride, FHS 23:51.6
Ainsley Friend, KHS 24:56.3
Rylee Yost, BSHS 25:03.8
Hannah Umstead FHS 25:10.2
Hayleigh Haggerty KHS 25:16.3
9. Callie Dunn Pendleton County 25:25.4
10. Shaye Barb East Hardy 25:39.2.
East Hardy junior Danielle Funkhouser finished in 19th place in the PVC Cross Country Championship in a time of 29:30.7.
All of the Top-20 girls runners finished under 30 minutes.
East Hardy Girls Cross Country runner Delanie Wolfe took 26th place in 34:07.1.
Frankfort Girls won the PVC Cross Country Championship crown with 26 points including five in the Top-10 with Ferguson leading the charge.
Keyser Girls earned the PVC Runner-up spot with 40 points and Pendleton County garnered third place with 63 points.
“I am proud of the team’s performance at PVCs. No one earned a personal best, but it was pretty hot and we tend to run better on Saturday mornings than Tuesday evenings. Luckily, the regionals race will be on a Saturday morning. However, our PVC competition is pretty amazing, so to have a medalist and two other Top-20 finishers is indicative of how much work the kids have put in this season. I was really proud of the way they attacked the hills. The coaches at Hampshire worked really hard to make sure the course was in good shape. We appreciate their care and hospitality. We are going to train hard the next two weeks and get as many state qualifiers as we can,” East Hardy Cross Country coach Michelle Wolfe stated.
Keyser Boys Cross Country senior Luca Altobello was the overall PVC Champion with a time of 17:44.1 leading the All-PVC Team.
There was a three-way tie for first place for the PVC Cross Country Boys Team Championship with Frankfort edging out Keyser and Hampshire in tiebreaker criteria with the time of their sixth runner.
East Hardy Boys Cross Country senior Jonathan Montgomery led the Cougars with a 19th place finish in a time of 20:33.5, followed by Carter Myers in 32nd place in 23:46.6.
The Top-36 runners finished with times under 25 minutes.
East Hardy’s Kane Persinger took 44th place in 27:41.3, followed by Hayden Myers in 46th place at 30:00.8 and Evan Sears in 47th place at 30:03.7.
As a team, East Hardy Boys Cross Country finished in 6th place at the PVC Championship in Sunrise Summit.
This was one final test preparing for the regional championship at South Harrison with a state berth on the line.
