Drazba Wins Showdown Against Harris
Maggie Drazba of St.Marys - File Photo
The 2011 GEICO Classic held at the West Virginia State Championship course at Cabell Midland in Ona, gave us some insights to the early season form of many teams and individuals in the hunt for State titles.
In the showcase event in which the top two contenders for the girls AA-A met, Maggie Drazba of St. Marys outdistanced Sami Haris of Charleston Catholic. Drazba's winning time was 19:33.7. Harris was a respectable 15 seconds back in 19:48.7. The two juniors have faced each other numerous times. Last year Harris was State runner-up to the now departed Sarah McCauley of Philip Barbour. However, Drazba came back in the outdoor track season and swept all three distance events to proove she is a worthy contender for the cross country crown. Fairview High School from Kentucky won the AA-A girls race with 83 points. The West Virginia top team, Philip Barbour, and the one favored to win it all came in 2nd with 103 points.
Will Shafer a junior from Scott and one of the top title contenders took the boys AA-A race in 17:00.7. Shafer placed 3rd last year at the State AA-A championships and looks to improve on that finish. Fairland HIgh School out of Fairland, Ohio won the race with 63 points. St. Marys boys team came in 2nd with 134 points.
In the AAA girls race, led by sophomore Amelia Paladino, University High School out of Morgantown easily won with 53 points. Hurricane was 2nd with 108. Paladino who finished 4th last year at the State meet and is a title hopeful ran the course in 19:41.8 to win by 14 seconds over senior Peyton Adkins from Gallia Academy of Ohio.
Junior Jacob Burcham of Cabell Midland removed any drama as who is the favorite to win it all come October. Burcham breezed to a 34 second victory in a time of 16:08.1. University High School senior Jordan Brown-Stobbe took 2nd in a comfortable margin with a time of 16:42.5. Parkersburg won the closest contest of the day by edging Winfield by a 101- 108 score