West Virginia State XC Championships 2011

Philip Barbour Wins Boys and Girls AA-A State Championship The last race at the West Virginia State Cross Country Championships was expected to be the wildest race of the day. It was the boys’ AA-A race. It didn’t disappoint.

Going into Saturday’s AA-A girls’ race, all anybody wanted to talk about was the showdown between Charleston Catholic’s Sami Harris and St. Mary’s Maggie Drazba.After the race, people were talking about Drazba’s complete domination of the Cabell Midland course.

Jacob Burcham and Victoria Cooke Take Individual Titles Morgantown Girls Set New Team Average Record of 19:36.0 The Jefferson boys pulled off the upset of the year by defeating favored Cabell-Midland in a race that came down to the wire. In the girl’s AAA race, Morgantown, led by freshman sensation Victoria Cooke’s sizzling 19:02.07, powered their way to victory over season-long rival University by a score of 38 to 55. 

Victoria Cooke from Morgantown and Jacob Burcham from Cabell Midland 2011 AAA State Champions. Maggie Drazba from St. Marys, and Andrew Shaffer from Richwood 2011 A-AA State Champions. Morgantown girls and Jefferson boys 3A State Champions. Philip Barbour claims both girls and boys A-AA team titles. Results and performances are posted. We will have full meet recaps and photos later. 2011 West Virginia State Meet Page

More 3A Girls

Nothing should be assumed or predicted in the A-AA boys race. It appears to be the wild card of all the races on Saturday. Cross country will get a special treat because it will be the last race of the day.

It’s the classic individual, head-to-head cross country rivalry. Maggie Drazba versus Sami Harris.

With the season ending State Championships looming this Saturday at Cabell-Midland High School in Ona, West Virginia, it’s time to take a look at the contenders for this year’s AAA team and individual titles. 2010 Champion and current WVRunners #1 Cabell Midland again enters the meet as the clear favorite to emerge as team champions.   

The girls AAA race sizes up as a tough clash between two powerful Region I teams.  WVRunners #1 Morgantown barely edged WVRunners #2 University 39 to 42 for the Regional title.  The State Championship race figures to be just as close with the outcome very much uncertain.

WVRunners Top 3A 100 Boys and Girls Pre-State Meet 5K rankings

WVRunners Top 1A/2A 100 Boys and Girls Pre-State Meet 5K rankings

Note: Any updates are automatically captured) Coaches, please check and make sure your athletes' names are spelled correct. If you see something that needs fixed, email wvstatemeet@gmail.com immediately. Deadline to get names spelled correctly in State Meet Program must be emailed by NOON on Sunday, October 23rd. If it is after this deadline, we will at least have names corrected for the race numbers and results. Attention: WV State Cross Country Championship Qualifiers  

These are the final top 5 team rankings by classification. Even though 1A and 2A are combined at the the West Virginia State Cross Country championship, we want to recognize each classification.

Philip Barbour Ladies Favored to Repeat as State Champions   On the girls’ side of things in the AA-A classes, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is Sarah McCauley graduated and will be running at WVU this fall. The bad news is that Philip Barbour returns the other six runners that blew the away the second place Shady Spring by 58 points at the state meet.   The Colts may have another runner take home the individual crown. Last year, then-sophomore Briana Waybright finished fifth and freshman Katie Mahoney finished ninth.   However, when talking about the individual title, the conversation starts with St. Mary’s Maggie Drazba and Charleston Catholic’s Sami Harris.

Defending AAA Champion Jacob Burcham Nearing the Finish Line Last Year   For anyone that has followed running in the state of West Virginia over the last few years, the names are familiar: Brandon Doughty, Cody Pelliccioni and Dayton McVicker.   The threesome has now graduated and are beginning their collegiate careers--Doughty and McVicker at the University of Oklahoma and Pelliccioni at North Carolina State.   A new wave of running talent is eager to leave their legacy in West Virginia cross country history. The up and coming talent is headlined by rising Cabell Midland junior Jacob Burcham the defending West Virginia AAA cross country champion.