The St. Marys boys cross country team celebrates on the podium after claiming the Class A state championship Saturday at Cabell Midland. (Photo by Tracey Bartrug)

ONA – No matter the sport, state championships are earned and St. Marys head cross country coach Steven Nutter is well aware of that.

Here Saturday afternoon during the final Class A race of the season at Cabell Midland, coach Nutter watched Tyler Consolidated junior Amos Kimble (16:09) win the individual title, but the Blue Devil boys slid past Charleston Catholic, 61-67, to capture the state team crown as the SMHS girls finished runner-up to Braxton County, 45-61.

Junior Bryce Bills led the squad from Pleasants County with a third-place effort of 16:50, which was 22 ticks off the pace of Paw Paw senior Donovan Tanouye.

St. Marys senior Reece Westfall just missed the top 10 and had to settle for second team all-state after placing 11th with a time of 17 minutes and 26 seconds.

Junior Blue Devil teammate Max Dauch (13th, 17:30) followed in third and joined Westfall on the second unit alongside sophomore Parker Barnes (16th, 17:40). Senior Jay Mote made his last race count by breaking 19 minutes with an 18:54 to secure 31st.

St. Marys’ Bryce Bills competes in the state cross country race Saturday at Cabell Midland. (Photo by Tracey Bartrug)

“They were predicted ahead of us. Honestly, we’ve battled all year,” admitted coach Nutter, who also had junior Tristan Murner (45th, 19:39) and 10th-grader Daniel Winland (47th, 19:50) toe the start line and finish, of runner-up Charleston Catholic (61-67). “For us to come out on top was huge for us. Bills didn’t set a PR today. They had to wait on the line about 30 minutes and it got real hot. It was all about placing today, but that was definitely the best overall race he’s ran all year and put himself in a position to be successful early.

“He was about seventh going up the hill and once he got to the mile he took off and flew and kept catching those boys in front of him. He really ran the last mile well and gapped everybody in that third position and was able to hold on. Third place as a junior and last year he hurt his knee, so for him to come back and get third for us was huge. He getting third and Jay Mote running the race he did was the kicker for us. Max Dauch was diagnosed with mono about six weeks ago, so for him to run at the state meet and run as good as he did was phenomenal.”

The Blue Devils also had other roster issues, not only for the boys but the girls.

“Desmond Parks was in our top seven all year and ended up coming down with pneumonia,” Nutter continued. “He was our five guy, four guy a couple of times and he was out. We had to have guys step up, not just today, but throughout the entire season.

“Runner-up at the LKC with those guys and won the regional. For us to win, it was a complete team effort. It wasn’t one guy. Certain guys stepped up, but the guys who had to do their job – Max, Reece, Parker – did their job, and Bryce and Jay just balled out, stepped up and ran the races of their lives.”

Ritchie County senior Dylan Malolepszy (4th, 16:59) cracked the top 10 for the second time in his career. Carter Sias’ hopes of becoming a four-time first team all-stater at Doddridge County continued as the junior, who placed fourth as a freshman and sixth as a sophomore, was 4 seconds off the pace of Malolepszy to crack the top five.

Magnolia senior Landen Davis, a state runner-up as a junior after placing seventh as a sophomore, ran a 17:06 to end his Blue Eagle career with one more first team honor after placing sixth. Silver Knight sophomore Travis Moore was just 2 ticks behind Davis and took seventh as TCHS finished fifth as a team behind both DCHS (100) and Magnolia (119).

The Class A girls title was made a lot easier to attain with two-time defending champion Williamstown jettisoned up a classification by the WVSSAC.

Although only the top five runners count in cross country, Braxton County managed to place their top six on the podium thanks to Laura Cain (2nd, 20:13, SR), Addison Lloyd (10th, 21:32, JR), Leah Payne (12th, 22:05, SO), Bethany Payne (13th, 22:19, SR), Teagan Huff (17th, 22:47, SR) and Reece Carpenter (18th, 23:04, FR). Eagle freshman Chelsea Payne (23:58) crossed in 26th.

St. Marys sophomore Anna Bennett had the top finish for coach Nutter after her time of 20 minutes and 41 seconds gave her fifth place and a spot on the all-state first team.

Senior Natalie Bartrug (7th, 20:57) nabbed a spot on the first unit and freshman teammate Mariah Whitlock (19th, 23:05) had enough left in the tank for second team.

SMHS sophomore Maddie Smith (22nd, 23:22) and junior Savana Burd (24th, 23:28) rounded out the scoring. Sidni Gerlach (30th, 24:28, SO) and Brooklyn Davis (32nd, 24:44, SO) followed for the Blue Devils.

“One meet this year it was the first time since Dave Davis and I have kind of taken over nine years ago that we had an incomplete team,” coach Nutter admitted. “To have an incomplete team at Ripley five weeks ago and to battle back from those injuries and end up having seven girls healthy and get to the line, and end up pulling off a runner-up. It’s the first one since 2019 for the girls.

“It was a huge accomplishment. We had an amazing senior leader in Natalie Bartrug and Anna Bennett has been amazing all year. Her workouts have been really good and her dedication is amazing. For those girls to lead us and have all those other freshmen and sophomores step up and do the things they did was very special for our program.”

Also earning all-state honors on the first team from the Mid-Ohio Valley were Ritchie County’s Bentlee Williams (4th, 20:35, JR), Doddridge County’s Catherine Cottrill (6th, 20:45, SR) and Ravenswood junior Riley Sotomayor (8th, 21:22).

Second team podium efforts belonged to Wood County Christian freshman Elliot Handley (14th, 22:19), Red Devil Gwyn Gorrell (15th, 22:34, SO) and Bulldog junior Kaitlyn Key (16th, 22:36).

Three other boys also landed on the second team – Doddridge County’s Samuel Gola (17th, 17:47, SO), Tyler Consolidated’s Brody Nice (18th, 17:51, SO) and Magnolia’s Riley Dennis (19th, 17:52, JR).

The Doddridge County boys squad also included Cory Swentzel (23rd, 18:16, SO), Gunner Kimball (26th, 18:24, SR), Jerod Trent (50th, 20:05, JR), Colton Key (56th, 20:26, FR) and Jacob Berke (62nd, 20:47, JR).

Davis and Dennis from the Blue Eagles also competed with teammates Parker Werkau (27th, 18:26, JR), Corey Trotto (35th, 19:17, SR), Alex Yeager (63rd, 21:12, JR) and Nicholas Matheney (75th, 23:36, JR).

Joining Kimble, Moore and Nice for the Silver Knights were Malakhi Davis (66th, 21:38, FR), Jonathan Cross (67th, 21:52, SO) and Trey Myer (71st, 22:29, FR).

Ravenswood sophomore Gavin Wilburn (21st, 18:12) just missed out on second team all-state honors for the eighth-place Red Devils, who also had Mason Kerns (34th, 19:15, FR), Linkin Andrick (51st, 20:11, SO), Isiah Nesselroad (57th, 20:30, FR), Cole McGoskey (61st, 20:46, FR) and Brady Donohew (76th, 23:45, FR) competing.

Wood County Christian was represented by Koa Navarro (22nd, 18:14, SO), Jimmy Erlandson (28th, 18:29, JR) and Holden Misel (30th, 18:35, JR).

Also finishing from the area were Wirt County’s Matthew Balis (25th, 18:23, JR), Byron Long (33rd, 19:06, JR), Sam Williams (59th, 20:46, FR) and Trevor Starcher (73rd, 22:39, SR).

The Bulldog girls had just two other finishers – Taylor Bodkin (44th, 26:42, SO) and Josie Barr (53rd, 28:55, FR) – en route to third place.

Ravenswood’s girls also had finishing efforts from Kadi Price (39th, 26:01, SR), Riley Curfman (42nd, 26:17, JR), Mckenzi Nesselroad (43rd, 26:18, SR), Sono Kanazawa (47th, 27:27, SR) and Alexis McVey (48th, 27:28, FR)

Other area finishers for the girls included Wood County Christian’s Amber Perkins (25th, 23:58, JR), Tyler Consolidated’s Lily Haught (27th, 24:10, JR), Wirt County’s Megan Cutlip (28th, 24:11, SR), Silver Knight Andi Fiber (34th, 25:19, FR), Tigers Lily Cross (36th, 25:22, JR) and Zoe Yoak (59th, 29:57, FR) along with Calhoun County’s Gabi Smith (46th, 27:10, SO).