The East Hardy High School Cross Country team had an early wake-up call from the rooster to travel to Lost Creek to compete in the Class A Region II Cross Country Championship on Saturday morning.
East Hardy Cross Country team garnered five state tournament berths and had seven runners finish with personal best times at South Harrison High School, despite the slick conditions and chilly air.
East Hardy Girls Cross Country was led by sophomore Shaye Barb finishing with a time of 23:27.5 for fifth place at the regional championship.
Barb took a tumble during the race, but kept on trucking to earn the medal showing her resiliency and toughness as a warrior.
Cougars Girls runner Danielle Funkhouer took 11th place overall in a time of 25:31.7 and Delanie Wolfe placed 16th in a time of 29:42.2.
The South Harrison course wrapped around the athletic complex and into surrounding farm land with rolling hills.
East Hardy Boys Cross Country was guided by senior Jonathan Montgomery with a seventh place regional medal time of 19:19.9.
Cougars Boys runners following were Carter Myers in 13th place in 20:26.6, Kane Persinger in 16th place in 21:32.4 (four minute improvement), Evan Sears in 26th place at 25:35.2 and Hayden Myers in 28th place in 26:32.1.
“I’m really proud of the whole team. We got up early and traveled 2.5 hours. It was chilly and slippery at South Harrison. Shaye even took a tumble on the course, but she has the nickname ‘Warrior’ because she always fights back from any setback. Everyone had improved times. Almost everyone set a new perusal best record of the whole season. Our goal is always just to get stronger and faster. We tell the kids they are just running their own race. Of course, it’s extra sweet when they medal and qualify for state. We were excited for the Tucker and Pendleton runners who qualified, too. We see them at almost all of our meets and the camaraderie is really lovely. Five of our East Hardy runners have one more race. The state course is tough, but it’s fun to compete with the very best runners,” East Hardy Cross Country coach Michelle Wolfe remarked.
