File Photo by www.stonephoto.com
Sophomore Amelia Paladino of University won the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference (OVAC) championship held at Meadowbrook High School in Ohio in a WV#2 best time of 18:26.50.
Competing against 180 other girls and 21 teams, Paladino showed why she was on the WV AAA watch list to win the AAA State title as she now has won 7 of the 8 events she has entered this cross country season. With Drazba and Harris getting much of the attention in West Virginia, Paladino has quietly positioned herself as one of the best in the state.
A list of meets Paladino has placed first in her race are Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Championship, Bee-Knight Combo, Broadford Invitational, Two Rivers Athletic Conference Meet, Chick-Fil-A Invitational, Geico Classic, and her Univeraity Home Meet to start the season. At the Geico Classic, Paladino won the AAA race and was only 12 seconds back of Drazba who won the A-AA race.
Victoria Cooke a freshman from Morgantown took 2nd place in 18:58.46.
The University girls and Morgantown girls both finished with 49 points. However, showing why cross country is a team sport University’s 6th place girl senior Chandler Cottrell placed 23rd overall in 20:23.88 to give University the win. In cross country a tie involving the top 5 runners is decided by the 6th place runner in the tie breaker.
Jordan Brown-Stobee of University placed 2nd in the boys race for the top finishing WV runner and paced his team to a 2nd place finish with 71 points behind winner St. Clairsville of Ohio.
