Drazba Dominates; Philip Barbour Girls Take AA-A Title

Maggie Drazba Stakes Claim To Best Ever

Magie Drazba of St. Marys Winning her 3rd XC State Title - Lance McDaniel photo

Cross country is a team sport, and Philip Barbour girls and Fairmont Senior boys took the A-AA titles. However, on this day all eyes were on an outstanding individual that is simply the best female high school distance runner ever in the state of West Virginia. Maggie Drazba, a senior, from St. Marys shattered the course record by almost 15 seconds with a blazing time on the difficult Cabell Midland 5000 meter course in Ona, West Virginia in 17:17.89. Drazba eclipsed the record set last year by Samantha Nightingale of Blue Spring South High School from Missouri. On the day, her nearest competitor was 2 minutes and 6 seconds back.

Drazba now owns the best all-time West Virginia high school distance records in the 5000m (17:17.89), 1600m (4:51.88), 3000m (9:55.66) and 3200m (10:27.32). Last season in outdoor track Drazba set 4 state meet records. The defending and three time (freshman, junior and senior years) cross country state champion was undefeated this cross country season. Check out this link to find out more about Maggie

Magie Drazba WV Runner Profile

Philip Barbour 2012 WV Cross Country A-AA Champs - Lance McDaniel photo

The Philip Barbour girls pulled off the three-peat of WV Cross Country A-AA State Champions defending their titles as they nipped a talented Frankfort team by a score of 75-81 by placing 3 girls in the top 6 . Brianna Waybright, a senior, led the team with a third place finish in 19:35. Following closely in the scoring was junior Allison Villars (5^th;19:44), junior Marissa Long (6^th;19:56), junior Katie Mahoney (15^th, 21:24) and sophomore Haley Truman (45^th;23:01). Philip Barbour will be returning 4 of their top 5 runners.

 Second place Frankfort was led by West Virginia State runner-up and senior Katie Jan who took 2^nd with a time of 19:24. Rounding out the scoring for the team of Falcons from Ridgeley was freshman Julianna Bucher (8^th;20:10), freshman Casidy White (16^th;21:32), freshman Faith Sentelle (19^th;21:36) and junior Ashley Noah (36^th;22:26). The freshman dominated team of Frankfort will also be returning 4 of their top 5 runners.

Katie Jan of Frankfort - 2012 AA-A WV State Cross Country Runner-up - Lance McDaniel Photo

The other overall top ten finishers earning the All-State designation and spotlight on the podium were senior Emma Harrison of North Marion (4^th;19:37), senior Kristen Mastrantoni of Weir (7^th;19:57), Kylie Rutherford a junior from Wayne (8^th;20:04) and senior Morganne Phillips of Bridgeport (20:05).

2012 West Virginia Cross Country A-A Girls All-State Team - Lance McDaniel photo

WV Runners staff member Rollie Jacobs said it best, “When you add in Jacob Burcham setting a new meet record in beating his own winning time last year by 50 seconds and Amelia Paladino also setting a AAA meet record in beating last year’s winning time by 1:15, it all adds up to one of the greatest West Virginia Cross Country Championships in history”).

Congratulations to all the participants, coaches, fans, parents, media, the WVSSAC, and Cabell Midland for a most memorable day in the history of West Virginia Cross Country State Championships. We want to wish all the competitors good luck who are heading to National meets in the coming weeks and months.