Shady Spring Girls and Oak Hill Boys Win Region III A-AA

In less than ideal running conditions, Shady Spring senior Sarah Phillips captured the  girls’ AA-A Region III title.

 

With the temperature hovering around 45 degrees and a light drizzle falling, Phillips completed the tough PikeView course in 20:45, nearly 40 seconds ahead of second place finisher Kali Striker from Oak Hill.

 

Shady Spring’s Taylor Jackson and the Webster County duo of Allison Clevenger and Ryleigh McCoy rounded the top five. Phillips, Striker and Jackson were the only runners to break 22 minutes. Six through ten was Oak Hill’s Morgan Wynne, Richwood’s Breanna Mazzella, Webster’s Lindsey Sanson, Shady Spring’s Courtney Cook and PikeView’s Lauren Hatfield.

 

Phillips’s time was a season-best for her and ranks her 11th overall in AA-A going into the state meet.

 

In the team race, Shady Spring edged by Webster County to win. With just four teams being complete, it meant the region would only advance two teams to the state meet. PikeView finished third and Richwood took fourth.

 

Shady Spring will enter the state meet as the third best AA-A team while Webster is ranked 11th.

 

The boys regional race was expected to be a little more intriguing as Richwood’s Andrew Shaffer, Westside’s Cameron Davis, Oak Hill’s Wes Stowers and Shady Spring’s Tyler Kosut were all ranked in the top 20 in AA-A.

 

Shaffer ran 17:02 to take the victory. Davis ran 17:35 to hold off Stowers and Kosut. Both Stowers and Kosut crossed the line in 17:42 with third place going to Stowers. Independence’s Isaac Cales couldn’t quite break the 18 minute barrier as he finished fifth with a time of 18:01. Oak Hill’s Lucas Gardner ran 18:06 for sixth. PikeView freshman Jason Weitzel finished seventh. Shady Spring’s Justin Harper, Webster’s Brettley Harris and Independence’s Sam Wood rounded out the top ten.

 

Andrew Shaffer file photo

With eight complete boys teams, it meant the region would advance three teams to the  state meet. Oak Hill came in ranked second in AA-A. They placed five runners in the top 13 and put all seven runners in the top 16 to win the region by over 30 points with a total of 42. Shady Spring held off Westside for third, though neither team was challenged for their state meet spot. Fourth place Webster was more than 40 point behind both teams.