A class act, Roach cruises to state title
Indians five points short of upsetting nine-time winner Ravenswood
By Kevin Spradlin
TriStateRunnur.com
ONA, W.Va. –Lenny Roach had several options after winning the West Virginia Class AA-A state cross country championship on Saturday at Cabell Midland High School.
The Berkeley Springs senior could have sought congratulatory remarks from friends or family. He could have looked for the ever-watchful eyes of Indians coach John Rowland. Or he could have taken a moment to reflect within upon his personal accomplishment. But Roach didn’t do any of those things.
Instead, after grabbing a clear plastic cup filled with ice-cold water, Roach did a complete 180 and turned his attention to the finish, where he soon expected his teammates to follow in his footsteps across the finish line – which Roach crossed in 16 minutes and 16 seconds.
You see, Roach knew his team had the best shot of any team on hand to knock of eight-time defending champion Ravenswood for the team title. And he wanted that far more than accolades for his individual achievement.
In fact, a Ravenswood coach said it best. After Roach was handed his finisher’s card – and teammates John Mundey (8th, 17:04), Jake Wise (13th, 17:18), Cory Yarrington (22nd, 17:38), Caleb Smiley (59th, 19:02), Austin Reece (67th, 19:29) and Olman Gusman (68th, 19:37) all received their cards, Roach received a compliment of the highest order.
“You are an amazing competitor,” the coach – his opponent – told Roach.
Just like any other endeavor, Roach took the comment in stride. The task at hand, he knew, was to focus on whether his Indians finished far enough ahead of everyone else to knock off Ravenswood, winners of the last eight AA-A team titles.
“We’re hoping to end their streak,” Roach said, adding a foreboding “but …” at the end.
Roach had little reason to worry about his individual victory. The purple-and-gold clad harrier started at the front and was never seriously challenged. At the 1-mile mark, he had three runners tucked in behind him, all of whom thought they had a chance. Ten minutes into the 5,000-meter race, Roach had a nearly insurmountable 20-second lead which only widened over final 1.1 miles.
But … Ravenswood won. Again. The Red Devils, led by runner-up senior Nathan Reese in 16:48 – 32 seconds behind Roach – tallied just 77 points, to the Indians 81, to win their ninth consecutive state championship.
Philip Barbour, whose top two runners, Riley Freeman and John King, didn’t place in the top 10, still finished third with 89 points. Freeman was 11th in 17:09 and King 12th in 17:14. Chris Toompas was 21st (17:32), John Higgins was 24th (17:52) and Chase Bryne rounded out the team’s scoring five by placing 48th in 18:42.
After Roach and Reese, Weir senior Ronald Read eeked out a spot in the top three over Tucker County runner David Rhodes. Read finished in 16:50 to Rhodes’ 16:51 while Brent Roark of PikeView and Cuylor Edgell of Doddridge County placed fifth and sixth, respectively, with the same time of 16:56.
Rhodes, a junior, was unphased by the near-freezing temperatures runners awoke to Saturday morning. Tucker County coach John Eye said Rhodes had run two days in knee-deep snow in Canaan Valley leading up to the state meet.
“I worked hard all year,” said Rhodes, a junior. “I’m learning that you have to run all year long to get where you want to be. My ultimate goal is to get first place” in 2009.
Notes: The first five finishers of the boys’ AA-A race all had last names beginning with the letter ‘R’. … Nine of the 83 runners, or 10.8 percent of the field, had last names beginning with ‘R’. … Drew Woodford, a Grafton sophomore, was not ranked in the top 10 by RunWV.com going into the state meet. Wearing bib No. 41, Woodford placed seventh overall in 17:01. Same goes for Richwood junior Derrick Chaffin, wearing No. 68. Chaffin was 10th in 17:06.
Contact Kevin Spradlin at run@mountainMDmarathon.org.
Indians five points short of upsetting nine-time winner Ravenswood
By Kevin Spradlin
TriStateRunnur.com
ONA, W.Va. –Lenny Roach had several options after winning the West Virginia Class AA-A state cross country championship on Saturday at Cabell Midland High School.
The Berkeley Springs senior could have sought congratulatory remarks from friends or family. He could have looked for the ever-watchful eyes of Indians coach John Rowland. Or he could have taken a moment to reflect within upon his personal accomplishment. But Roach didn’t do any of those things.
Instead, after grabbing a clear plastic cup filled with ice-cold water, Roach did a complete 180 and turned his attention to the finish, where he soon expected his teammates to follow in his footsteps across the finish line – which Roach crossed in 16 minutes and 16 seconds.
You see, Roach knew his team had the best shot of any team on hand to knock of eight-time defending champion Ravenswood for the team title. And he wanted that far more than accolades for his individual achievement.
In fact, a Ravenswood coach said it best. After Roach was handed his finisher’s card – and teammates John Mundey (8th, 17:04), Jake Wise (13th, 17:18), Cory Yarrington (22nd, 17:38), Caleb Smiley (59th, 19:02), Austin Reece (67th, 19:29) and Olman Gusman (68th, 19:37) all received their cards, Roach received a compliment of the highest order.
“You are an amazing competitor,” the coach – his opponent – told Roach.
Just like any other endeavor, Roach took the comment in stride. The task at hand, he knew, was to focus on whether his Indians finished far enough ahead of everyone else to knock off Ravenswood, winners of the last eight AA-A team titles.
“We’re hoping to end their streak,” Roach said, adding a foreboding “but …” at the end.
Roach had little reason to worry about his individual victory. The purple-and-gold clad harrier started at the front and was never seriously challenged. At the 1-mile mark, he had three runners tucked in behind him, all of whom thought they had a chance. Ten minutes into the 5,000-meter race, Roach had a nearly insurmountable 20-second lead which only widened over final 1.1 miles.
But … Ravenswood won. Again. The Red Devils, led by runner-up senior Nathan Reese in 16:48 – 32 seconds behind Roach – tallied just 77 points, to the Indians 81, to win their ninth consecutive state championship.
Philip Barbour, whose top two runners, Riley Freeman and John King, didn’t place in the top 10, still finished third with 89 points. Freeman was 11th in 17:09 and King 12th in 17:14. Chris Toompas was 21st (17:32), John Higgins was 24th (17:52) and Chase Bryne rounded out the team’s scoring five by placing 48th in 18:42.
After Roach and Reese, Weir senior Ronald Read eeked out a spot in the top three over Tucker County runner David Rhodes. Read finished in 16:50 to Rhodes’ 16:51 while Brent Roark of PikeView and Cuylor Edgell of Doddridge County placed fifth and sixth, respectively, with the same time of 16:56.
Rhodes, a junior, was unphased by the near-freezing temperatures runners awoke to Saturday morning. Tucker County coach John Eye said Rhodes had run two days in knee-deep snow in Canaan Valley leading up to the state meet.
“I worked hard all year,” said Rhodes, a junior. “I’m learning that you have to run all year long to get where you want to be. My ultimate goal is to get first place” in 2009.
Notes: The first five finishers of the boys’ AA-A race all had last names beginning with the letter ‘R’. … Nine of the 83 runners, or 10.8 percent of the field, had last names beginning with ‘R’. … Drew Woodford, a Grafton sophomore, was not ranked in the top 10 by RunWV.com going into the state meet. Wearing bib No. 41, Woodford placed seventh overall in 17:01. Same goes for Richwood junior Derrick Chaffin, wearing No. 68. Chaffin was 10th in 17:06.
Contact Kevin Spradlin at run@mountainMDmarathon.org.
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Lenny Roach
Nathan Rees
Rebekah McBride
Desiree Roseberry
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Battle of the Potomac
West Virginia athletes are invited to register and race under TEAM VA
GROUP INCENTIVE*
November 15, 2008 - Smokey Glen Farm - Gaithersburg MD
*FREE Chicken Dinner and Gas Card ($50) to the first 10 groups who
sign up 10 or more athletes for XC BORDER WAR 3.
*Top 5 finishers in boys and girls seeded races earn invitations to
NXN Southeast Regional on 11-29 More Information
2007 Race Page
West Virginia athletes are invited to register and race under TEAM VA
GROUP INCENTIVE*
November 15, 2008 - Smokey Glen Farm - Gaithersburg MD
*FREE Chicken Dinner and Gas Card ($50) to the first 10 groups who
sign up 10 or more athletes for XC BORDER WAR 3.
*Top 5 finishers in boys and girls seeded races earn invitations to
NXN Southeast Regional on 11-29 More Information
2007 Race Page
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McBride wins, Armentrout 6th in girls AA-A race
Frankfort girls 12 points behind fourth place
Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News
ONA, W.Va. – The bond between a coach and his athlete can seem a far-flung concept to those who never step foot on an athletic field.
But for anyone watching Frankfort junior Rebekah McBride and Falcons coach Nathan Hayes on Saturday, seeing is believing.
McBride was escstatic, and rightfully so, after she led 72 other runners to the finish line of the West Virginia Class AA-A state cross country championship meet at Cabell Midland High School. She high-fived her teammates and hugged friends and family.
The first look between McBride and Hayes, however, was one of mutual respect.
“My coach (Amanda Moreland) just said to give it my all,” said McBride after conquering the 5,000-meter course in 19 minute and 32 seconds. “I just wanted to do my best.”
Mission accomplished – accentuated by Hayes’ embrace of McBride and a 360-degree, feet-off-the-ground exclamatory swing in the air.
“I really believed going down here, Rebekah was going to win the race,” Hayes said. “Everything added up. She ran out of this world. Runner-up Desire Roseberry paced 61 Shady Spring to the team title with 61 points. Wheeling Central Catholic was second with 81 points, followed by Grafton (97), Berkeley Springs (99), Saint Marys’s (139), Charleston Catholic (147), Doddridge County (158) and Pikeview (176).
McBride jumped in front of the lead pack within the race’s first 300 meters. From then on, the race for first was between herelf, Roseberry and Sarah McCauley of Philip Barbour. McBride’s first mile was in 6:19. She was in front after two miles also, hitting the mark in 12:49 and held off both Roseberry (11 seconds back) and McCauley (19 seconds behind) for the win.
Hayes was approached shortly after runners began crossing the finish line. He quickly began to talk of an “amazing” performance. But a point of clarification was required, as the coach had more than one option from which to choose.
McBride’s teammate, senior Brittany Armentrout, had earned a sixth-place finish not without quite a bit of effort. She was only 23rd at the 1-mile point. On a single turn on the course, Hayes said, she picked up five spots.
A mile later, she was 11th and within distance of the top 10 runners, all of whom earn all-state honors.
Armentrout’s performance, said Hayes, “is something that makes you feel so amazing. She ran so smart.”
“It’s all heart,” Hayes said. “It’s everything it should be.”
For Armentrout, though, it might have been something just plain ordinary. Unhappy with her performance at the regional championship – “I wasn’t feeling too well” – Armentrout was ready to make amends for what she considered a dismal performance.
“It made me want it even more,” she said.
McBride led Frankfort to a fifth-place finish in the team standings with 111 points. Senior Victoria McBride was No. 3 runner for the Falcons while senior Allison Tappe (44th, 22:47) and Sarah Messenger (49th, 23:01) rounded out the team’s scoring five. Serving as capable displacers were Michelle Pyles (59th, 23:37) and Jordan VonHagel (66th, 24:42).
Keyser sophomore Hannah Biser, competing as an individual representative of the Golden Tornado, finished 43rd in 22:45.
Frankfort’s Johnny Macklen placed 25th overall in the boys’ Class AA-A race. Macklen finished in 17:53. After a 5:43 first mile, he said he just couldn’t find a groove.
“I felt good going out,” Macklen said. “I just … died off.”
Hayes saw it a bit differently. He said Macklen, a senior, couldn’t just his cross country career on a single race. The end result on Saturday isn’t “a reflection of everything he’s accomplished this year,” Hayes said.
“The thing that hurt him is this course does not punish kids who go out hard,” Hayes analyzed.
In the boys’ Class AAA race, Hampshire’s John Paul Binotto placed 14th to lead the Trojans with a time of 17:16. Junior Nathan Whiteacre, 44th in the field of 88 runners, was the only other Hampshire harrier to crack the top 50. Whiteacre finished in 18:11 while teammates Tim Loughran (51st) stopped the clock in 18:18 and Chris Wilson (64th) finished in 18:59.
The Hampshire boys placed eighth in the 11-team field with 199 points. Wheeling Park won with 67 points.
Hampshire’s girls team, with four of its top seven runners in the ninth grade, placed sixth among 11 teams with 148 points. University won with 81 points.
Freshman Danielle Lewis led the Trojans with a 15th-place finish in 20:10. Sophomore Carissa Guyer was second on the team and 32nd overall in 21:08 while senior Rana Conneway rounded out the top three in 38th place and a time of 21:33.
Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.
Frankfort girls 12 points behind fourth place
Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News
ONA, W.Va. – The bond between a coach and his athlete can seem a far-flung concept to those who never step foot on an athletic field.
But for anyone watching Frankfort junior Rebekah McBride and Falcons coach Nathan Hayes on Saturday, seeing is believing.
McBride was escstatic, and rightfully so, after she led 72 other runners to the finish line of the West Virginia Class AA-A state cross country championship meet at Cabell Midland High School. She high-fived her teammates and hugged friends and family.
The first look between McBride and Hayes, however, was one of mutual respect.
“My coach (Amanda Moreland) just said to give it my all,” said McBride after conquering the 5,000-meter course in 19 minute and 32 seconds. “I just wanted to do my best.”
Mission accomplished – accentuated by Hayes’ embrace of McBride and a 360-degree, feet-off-the-ground exclamatory swing in the air.
“I really believed going down here, Rebekah was going to win the race,” Hayes said. “Everything added up. She ran out of this world. Runner-up Desire Roseberry paced 61 Shady Spring to the team title with 61 points. Wheeling Central Catholic was second with 81 points, followed by Grafton (97), Berkeley Springs (99), Saint Marys’s (139), Charleston Catholic (147), Doddridge County (158) and Pikeview (176).
McBride jumped in front of the lead pack within the race’s first 300 meters. From then on, the race for first was between herelf, Roseberry and Sarah McCauley of Philip Barbour. McBride’s first mile was in 6:19. She was in front after two miles also, hitting the mark in 12:49 and held off both Roseberry (11 seconds back) and McCauley (19 seconds behind) for the win.
Hayes was approached shortly after runners began crossing the finish line. He quickly began to talk of an “amazing” performance. But a point of clarification was required, as the coach had more than one option from which to choose.
McBride’s teammate, senior Brittany Armentrout, had earned a sixth-place finish not without quite a bit of effort. She was only 23rd at the 1-mile point. On a single turn on the course, Hayes said, she picked up five spots.
A mile later, she was 11th and within distance of the top 10 runners, all of whom earn all-state honors.
Armentrout’s performance, said Hayes, “is something that makes you feel so amazing. She ran so smart.”
“It’s all heart,” Hayes said. “It’s everything it should be.”
For Armentrout, though, it might have been something just plain ordinary. Unhappy with her performance at the regional championship – “I wasn’t feeling too well” – Armentrout was ready to make amends for what she considered a dismal performance.
“It made me want it even more,” she said.
McBride led Frankfort to a fifth-place finish in the team standings with 111 points. Senior Victoria McBride was No. 3 runner for the Falcons while senior Allison Tappe (44th, 22:47) and Sarah Messenger (49th, 23:01) rounded out the team’s scoring five. Serving as capable displacers were Michelle Pyles (59th, 23:37) and Jordan VonHagel (66th, 24:42).
Keyser sophomore Hannah Biser, competing as an individual representative of the Golden Tornado, finished 43rd in 22:45.
Frankfort’s Johnny Macklen placed 25th overall in the boys’ Class AA-A race. Macklen finished in 17:53. After a 5:43 first mile, he said he just couldn’t find a groove.
“I felt good going out,” Macklen said. “I just … died off.”
Hayes saw it a bit differently. He said Macklen, a senior, couldn’t just his cross country career on a single race. The end result on Saturday isn’t “a reflection of everything he’s accomplished this year,” Hayes said.
“The thing that hurt him is this course does not punish kids who go out hard,” Hayes analyzed.
In the boys’ Class AAA race, Hampshire’s John Paul Binotto placed 14th to lead the Trojans with a time of 17:16. Junior Nathan Whiteacre, 44th in the field of 88 runners, was the only other Hampshire harrier to crack the top 50. Whiteacre finished in 18:11 while teammates Tim Loughran (51st) stopped the clock in 18:18 and Chris Wilson (64th) finished in 18:59.
The Hampshire boys placed eighth in the 11-team field with 199 points. Wheeling Park won with 67 points.
Hampshire’s girls team, with four of its top seven runners in the ninth grade, placed sixth among 11 teams with 148 points. University won with 81 points.
Freshman Danielle Lewis led the Trojans with a 15th-place finish in 20:10. Sophomore Carissa Guyer was second on the team and 32nd overall in 21:08 while senior Rana Conneway rounded out the top three in 38th place and a time of 21:33.
Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.