Weekend of August 31 - Levi, Abe and Peyton win at GEICO

Cabell Midland 

 

MEET STORY AND PHOTOS BY PHIL GROVE

The heat was on, and the sparks were flying. Well, actually it was a few lightning strikes that put a kink in the schedule Saturday at the GEICO Classic.

In the end, a delay of nearly an hour caused by storms rolling through Ona was overshadowed by standout performances from some experienced and novice runners in the early-season test on the West Virginia state meet course. Levi Snedegar of Greenbrier East, Peyton Panger of Capital and Abe Merinar of Bridgeport recorded convincing individual victories, while the Bridgeport boys and Philip Barbour girls claimed team championships.

 

Greenbrier East Standout Rolls in AAA

Snedegar started conservatively in the first varsity race of the day as he was positioned about 25^th after the initial loop around the Cabell Midland baseball field. By the time the field reached the end of the first mile, the junior led by about 5 to 10 meters, having pulled Thomas Worthington’s Johnathan Kissel and Wheeling Park’s Albert Shrimp away from the pack.

“I was trying to take the first mile a lot easier than I did,” Snedegar said. “I decided to back off in the second mile. I was going to let (Kissel) go up the hill and wear himself down and attack on the downhill. Thankfully it worked out today.”

The Spartan runner was back in front at the 2-mile mark, passing through the arch in 10:50 and leading Kissel by at least 10 meters. The advantage continued to grow as Snedegar was timed in 16:33.61 to the Ohioan’s 16:45.34, while Musselman’s Shane Rigsby (16:55.59) also cracked 17 minutes and Winfield’s RJ Weiford (17:04.75) and Elkins’ Austin Hamrick (17:09.37) rounded out the top five.

“I was definitely hoping for a win,” Snedegar said. “(I am) looking to break 15:30 at some point in the year.”

Thomas Worthington made quick work of the team race, putting another runner in the top 10 and all five scorers in the top 15. The suburban Columbus, Ohio, school finished with 51 points to host Cabell Midland’s 94 and Parkersburg’s 117.

“We were very impressed with them last year (at the Rio Grande Invitational),” coach Eric Carter said of Chris Parsons’ Knights. “They sat their top three, and they still whooped us. So we wanted to see what that was all about, and it’s been nothing but fantastic. We came down last night, people have been great, this is a fantastic meet. It’s just a great experience for our guys.”

Having lost five of its top seven runners from last year’s dominant state championship team, Cabell Midland might have been expected by some to be less in the thick of things in 2013. A runner-up finish on their home course and a scoring spread of just 33 seconds has Parsons looking forward to the achievements of a team unlike the 2012 squad.

“I knew they were like a pack,” Parsons said in describing this year’s varsity squad. “This is totally different than last year’s team, so it’s a lot of fun seeing how close for that 1-7 that they can get.”

 

Merinar Rewarded for Patience in AA-A Boys

Although he waited even longer to take the lead in the AA-A boys race, Bridgeport’s Merinar was rewarded with the day’s fastest time. Ritchie County’s Johnny Hogue quickly went to the lead and had Pikeview’s Jason Weitzel and Merinar close behind as the trio had about 15 meters on the rest of the early top 10 as they attacked the opening hill.

“I was planning on going a little earlier, but the first mile was quick enough that I didn’t feel like that was prudent,” said Merinar, who finished 20^th at GEICO in 2012. “I was looking for sub 15:50 today, but conditions dictated otherwise. I was thinking if it was a cool, dry day, and it was a hot, wet day. Most important was getting a win.”

Merinar moved into second by the mile mark and soon assumed the lead. He never trailed again in finishing No. 1 in 16:24.65.

“It was a little muddy out there, humid ah but fun,” Merinar said of the conditions after the drenching rains hit and the lightning went away.

Weitzel stayed near the front throughout and was second in 16:39.42, while Scott Nesland of Philip Barbour closed well for third in 16:51.88. Hogue was fourth in 17:03.86, while Brettley Harris of Webster County (17:06.06) closed out the top five.

Merinar’s victory also got Bridgeport off to a quick start in the team standings. Jon Griffith’s Indians finished with 73 points as Matt Dearth (sixth) and Arryn Tennant (14^th) also ran well. Fairmont Senior was second at 101, and Philip Barbour claimed third at 154.

“We’re not really focused (on) now, we’re focused at the end of the year,” Griffith said. “When I talked to the boys this week, we just wanted to run a good race (and) get some decent times. We were hoping for a little better weather for our race, but unfortunately that didn’t happen so two weeks in a row we’ve been in the mud.

“They did fine. We definitely didn’t run our best. I think we’ve got a lot of room to improve.”

 

Panger Dominates AAA Race

Capital’s Panger was the class of the group, jumping out to a 15-second gap after the first mile. The margin continued to grow as she covered the distance in 19:15.80 in her opening race of the 2013 season.

“I’ve been training really hard,” Panger said. “I ran a lot more miles this summer, I went to a running camp where I got in one of my 50-mile weeks. And then I just kept my mileage up, and that has really, really helped.

“It is definitely one of the harder courses I run. It doesn’t have nearly as many hills as some of the other ones, but that hill in the first mile is really intense, and if you are not careful, it can really knock you out for the rest of the race.”

Eighth a year ago in the state cross country meet and a double medalist in the 2013 state track meet, the junior believes she is ready to be recognized along with West Virginia’s best.

“I want people to know that I’m not a rookie anymore,” Panger said. “I know what I’m up against. Everybody is working hard, but I think that they know now that I’m ready to go with them.”

Brittney McMillion of Winfield stayed the closest to Panger, towing teammates Rachael Englund and Barkley Casto and a half dozen others. McMillion was second in 20:13.78, while Englund crossed seventh in 20:39.87 and Casto eighth in 20:52.45 to lift the Generals into second behind Ohio’s Thomas Worthington, 35-41.

“That was awesome, I was super impressed,” Winfield coach Kelsey Spang said of her team’s runner-up finish. “I told my girls today we are just going to see how you do. It’s their first meet of the season, and we just want to get a baseline and they impressed me so much. We had girls that I wasn’t expecting to do as well as they did, actually blow (their goals) out of the water. I was fully impressed by my athletes, both jayvee and varsity.”

Emily Fedders of Woodrow Wilson was fifth overall in 20:32.16.

 

Ohio Runner Outlasts Grafton Freshman

In the final race of the day, Alicia Parsons of Grafton performed anything like a freshman in her first high school competition. The soft-spoken Bearcat was the first to hit the long uphill that takes competitors to the upper loops and was in contention until late in the race.

The closest to Parsons on the zigzag climb during the first mile were Berkeley Springs juniors Danielle Haynes and Kinsey Reed and Newark (Ohio) Catholic senior Mary Richardson. After a mile, the freshman had 5 meters on Haynes and then another 20 back to Richardson.

As the field came back to the mile markers, Parsons still was in the lead with Richardson off her left shoulder. The others were running for third place.

“I was pretty happy with it,” the soft-spoken Parsons said of being in the lead in her debut 5K cross country race.

The skies had almost completely cleared by this time, and the AA-A girls had to battle the hottest conditions of the day along with a course that had taken a beating from seven previous races and Mother Nature.

“I was really excited to run in the rain because I love running in the rain, and right when we got to the starting line, the sun came out so it was sunny and hot and we still had to run in all of the mud,” Richardson said of the conditions, which caused her to fall late in the race on a downhill section.

The Green Wave runner gathered herself and quickly covered the gap to Parsons. Richardson then took the lead en route to a 19:49.41 victory.

“It was really fun, very fun,” the winner said. “I like hilly courses. We have a couple in central Ohio that are hilly. I love this course. I wish we could do state here.”

Parsons held on for second in 20:18.63, with Kelsey Chambers of Oak Glen third at 20:34.79 and Reed fourth in 20:56.31. Hailey Miller of Ravenswood was credited with fifth in 21:02.33.

Working toward a potential fourth consecutive AA-A state championship, Philip Barbour edged Newark Catholic for the event title, 86-90. Marissa Long led the Colts with her eighth-place finish.

“Being the first race of the year, they went out conservative I think and were just laying the groundwork for where we need to go from this point,” coach Melissa Kaiser said. “I just reminded them there’s a lot of three miles out there.

“Marissa has been the strongest at this point and at the top of all of our workouts. She leads those girls and she pulls them. The couple behind have really been pushing her. She knows she has to have somebody back there to push her to make her better.”

FLASH RESULTS: Mother Nature had her way with the schedule, but she could not stop Levi Snedegar of Greenbrier East and Peyton Panger of Capital from winning the AAA races and Abe Merinar of Bridgeport from claiming the AA-A boys' event. On the team side, the Philip Barbour girls and Bridgeport boys walked off with the AA-A trophies and Thomas Worthington of Ohio won both AAA championships.