CAMBRIDGE, Ohio – It was an all-Monongalia County Day Saturday because the OVAC Cal Pokas Boys Cross Nation Championships had been held on the chill-filled 3.1-mile course at Cambridge (Oh.) Excessive College.
College Excessive, with 4 runners main the pack, amassed a minuscule 20 factors to 70 for runner-up Morgantown atop the Class 5A discipline. The Hawks and Mohigans every had seven runners earn all-OVAC standing by ending within the prime 30.
Senior Drew Zundell, the 2022 total runner-up, moved as much as the highest spot by working a 15-minute, 49.49-second race. He was adopted by teammates Tyler Umbright (15:51.20), Jacob West (15:56.62) and Ethan Conroy (16:00.87) earlier than Wheeling Park’s Seth Franke clocked in at 16:03.97 for a fifth-place end. St. Clairsville’s Ben Shields was proper behind in 16:08.91.
“It feels fairly good to be an OVAC champion, however I’m extra completely happy for my group than I’m for myself,” he downplayed his victory. “My teammate Tyler (Umbright) had a extremely good run. He was proper behind me the entire time and we labored collectively for the primary mile or so.”
After putting second final yr to a graduated teammate, Zundell used the runner-up spot as motivation, together with being definitive.
“Final week I used to be fourth on my group (in a race) which is uncharacteristic. Folks discuss defining moments in sports activities like a giant win, however defining moments will also be your greatest loss. A defining second is the way you reply to that unhealthy second. You come again in your subsequent race and make it your greatest. That’s what I did right now.”
He ran the race with a bandage throughout the bridge of his nostril with the phrase, ‘definitive’ on it.
Wheeling Park’s Redick Moore (16:21.83) and Isaak Nizami (16:43.41) completed eighth and fifteenth, respectively, to make the all-conference group, as did Wheeling Central’s Aidan Scott (16:25.37) who checked in ninth.
Magnolia’s Landen Davis (nineteenth); St. Clairsville’s Caleb Bryniarski (twenty third); Barnesville’s Conner Starr (twenty eighth) and Brooke’s Gavin Scott (twenty ninth) rounded out the native all-OVAC honorees.
Within the group races, St. Clairsville (Class 4A); Shenandoah (Class 3A) and Trinity Christian (Class 1A-2A) had been topped champions.
By KIM NORTH/The Intelligencer
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