Scott Welch knew it. Melissa Kaiser already did, too.
And judging from the performances turned in during the Class AA-A girls’ race at the West Virginia championship meet, those in attendance definitely know it now. What is it?
Cross country is a team sport.
Three of the top four teams in a tight race for the 2013 state crown did not have a single runner in the individual top 10. The top team in the state would be the one with the best pack.
Led as it was all season long by senior Marissa Long, Philip Barbour extended its AA-A title streak, claiming its fourth championship in a row in a tiebreaker over Charleston Catholic. Both teams finished with 91 points, and it was a higher-placing No. 6 runner that gave the Colts another state title.
“This is one of the ways that this fourth time win has been the hardest because the other three times we had a 1, 2 or 3 (in team points),” Philip Barbour’s Kaiser said. “We knew going in with the talent that is in Class AA-A right now, we knew that’s not (Marissa). We knew that she was not going to pull an under 5 number that we’ve always had.
“But our pack has been so solid everywhere we went this year, right on the heels of each other. We have not known from race to race who was going to be in spots 2 through 5. It has been different almost every race. Marissa has led them all year, but (Nos.) 2 to 5 we could not even guess who it was going to be and in what order.”
Long and classmate Allison Villers got things started for Philip Barbour with a back-to-back finish, claiming 17th and 18th overall in 21:10.74 and 21:12.54. However, the Colts had some ground to cover as Charleston Catholic already had a runner in the chute and two more headed toward the finish.
“We knew that they had depth, we have depth but we don’t have as much as they did,” Charleston Catholic’s Welch said. “As they were coming into the finish line, we knew that they weren’t as sharp maybe as we thought they were going to be even though it was so very, very close.
“And Berkeley Springs scared us to death as they were flying all over the place. And then when we added it up, we each had 91. We were stunned to a certain extent that it was a tie because we thought we probably lost.”
For the Colts, sophomore Marley Dib followed in 21:30.68 for 26th overall and 16th in the team scoring. That gave Kaiser’s squad 39 points after three finishers, the same total as Charleston Catholic got from freshman Hannah Gacek (12th overall in 20:57.65), sophomore Peyton Keener (24th overall in 21:27.90) and classmate Payton Mullens (27th overall in 21:36.23).
The teams were still deadlocked after freshman Lia Preston (34th overall and 23rd in team) and senior Annie Crockett (41st overall, 29th team) finished for Welch’s team, and freshmen Brianna Williams (33rd overall, 22nd team) and Cara Kirk (43rd overall, 30th team) crossed the line for Philip Barbour. The state title would come down to the best finishing sixth runner from the team teams, and the Colts had that wrapped up as junior Haley truman and senior Katie Mahoney both finished ahead of Charleston Catholic’s No. 6.
“We were hoping we could beat Philip Barbour, but we didn’t expect it,” said Welch, whose wife and assistant coach had the meet scored almost to a T and knew the end result before it was officially announced. “We knew they had an injury and a girl that was coming back. We had a girl that had been fighting pneumonia for the last two weeks.
“We were hoping to get second and to tie and to get in that position shows you how team oriented this sport is. Not one of our two teams (had a runner in the) top 10. None of the girls are on the podium for top 10, which shows you how team oriented Philip Barbour and we were this year and along with Williamstown too because they were in the top four and they didn’t have anybody (in the top 10).”
For Philip Barbour, the announcement of the final results lifted a huge burden from the team.
“Yes, it definitely is something special, but it’s been something that has been very weighing, very difficult for teen-age girls to carry,” Kaiser said of becoming the first girls’ team in state history to win four consecutive cross country championships. “The high expectations and the winning first everywhere you go, looking at the rankings and listening to people congratulate them, telling them it’s all going to be OK. They go in thinking that if they let down the least little bit, it’s going to be their fault.
“That was kind of my fear for the last two months is that one of these girls was going to have to walk away thinking that if was them because you can’t tell them any different no matter what you say when you are broken hearted as an athlete.”
While the Colts made four in a row reality at Ona, that number of state championships is now a possibility for one standout freshman. Grafton’s Alicia Parsons ran away from the field in the second half of the AA-A race, claiming a West Virginia title in her first try with a winning time of 19:03.23.
“No, I was really surprised,” Parsons said when asked if she was expecting a time that fast. In one of the key early season meets of 2013, the freshman finished second overall (first W.Va. runner) on the same course in the GEICO Classic at 20:18.63.
In the opening mile of the state championship race, it was like reading the official meet program, with the competitors wearing bib Nos. 1-5 leading the way. The first mile passed in 6:20 as Parsons was joined by Oak Glen senior Kelsey Chambers, junior Hailey Miller of Ravenswood and Berkeley Springs juniors Danielle Haynes and Kinsey Reed.
“Honestly, I was kind of surprised,” Chambers, who finished third at GEICO, said of the five-runner pack after the opening mile. “The first mile wasn’t as fast as I thought, but it was still a really good pace and everyone stayed together pretty well.”
The lead group was reduced to three as Parsons, Reed and Chambers set the pace. When the leader reached the two-mile mark, it was Parsons followed by Reed and Chambers.
“At GEICO, she took out really fast,” Chambers said of Parsons, who was the leader at two miles in 12:40. “She got a lead on me from the very beginning at GEICO so I could not let that happen today. When we took out, I just made sure I stayed with her.
“Coming down the last mile, she got a lead, had better speed than me I guess. I tried to stay as close as possible, not let her get too far away. I was going to try to pass her at the bottom of the hill, but it just wasn’t happening. I tried as hard as I could to catch her.”
Chambers secured the runner-up spot with a strong drive to the finish, crossing the line in 19:14.26 to Reed’s 19:20.24. Montana Garrett, another freshman from Grafton, was fourth in 19:54.55, while Miller placed fifth in 20:06.18.