Devil boys dominate at Chick-fil-A

MINERAL WELLS-Domination.

In Jackson County they spell the word R..A..V..E.N..S..W..O..O..D.

No cross country team in Mountain State history ever has held a stranglehold on the sport like the Red Devil boys. Eight straight Class AA/A championships later, the red and black are still the team to beat when West Virginia's best collide at Cabell Midland on Saturday, Nov. 1.

No. 1 ranked Ravenswood once again displayed its power on Saturday when it ran away from the field for a 36-87 victory over No. 7 Grafton for the championship of the Chick-fil-A Invitational held at the 4-H Campgrounds off Butcher Bend Road.

"This group of seniors came into the season with a chip on their shoulders," Ravenswood head coach Bryan Canterbury explained. "They think they have something to prove everytime they take to a course."

And prove something they did as senior Nathan Rees paced seven Ravenswood runners' into the race's Top 30 finishers for the victory. Rees finished the 3.1-mile course in 17 minutes and 28 seconds, good enough for second place behind Weir's Ronald Read (16:57), followed by Alex Cole (6th, 18:34), Derek Murray (7th, 18:37), Matt Knowlton (9th, 18:41), Jordan Seabolt (12th, 18:57), Ben Schindler (25th, 20:02) and Matt Deberry (30th, 20:29).

Finishing in third place with 103 points was No. 3 Wheeling Central followed by Weir (124), Doddridge County (145), Newark Catholic (151), Williamstown (163), Ritchie County (210), Oak Glen (216), Shady Spring (226), Calhoun County (229) and Belpre (290).

Joining Read and the Ravenswood runners in the Top 10 was Newark Catholic's Bryson Wade (3rd, 17:59), Wheeling Central's Rob Bonenberger (4th, 18:12), Grafton's Drew Woodford (5th, 18:25), Doddridge's Daniel Clevenger (8th, 18:38) and Ritchie's John Perry (10th, 18:49).

In the Class AA/A girls' division Newark Catholic (Ohio) made a mockery of the competition, winning by a 54-75 margin over No. 4 Grafton. Top ranked Shady Spring finished third with 77 points followed by Wheeling Central (101), St. Marys (107), Doddridge County (129), Williamstown (155), Ritchie County (214) and Tyler Consolidated (220).

Shady Spring's Chelsea Callaway (20:38) continued to show why she will be the girl to beat at the state meet in November, winning by 32 seconds over Grafton's Chanel Alexander (21:10).

Third place went to the Bearcats' Molly Summers (21:12) followed by Newark Catholic's Ali Ernest (21:23), Williamstown's Emily Kittle (21:44), St. Marys' Ali Johnson (22:03), Newark Catholic's Mariah Brennan (22:13), Wheeling Central's Jesse John (22:14), Doddridge's Bethany Carroll (22:20) and Shady Spring's Desiree Roseberry (22:23).

The closest races of the day, however, belonged to the Class AAA field-where a pair of one-point decisions separated first place from second.

In the boys' race South Charleston's David Caldwell swept to a 42 second victory, covering the 5,000 meter course in 16 minutes and 56 seconds. But, St. Albans' Caleb Ellis paced four Red Dragons' in the race's Top 11 to lead the Kanawha County team to a 58-59 win over Winfield.

Parkersburg's Dustin Meyers and Ripley's Preston Whitney were the only locals to crack the Top 10, finishing in fourth and eighth place, respectively.

Parkersburg South finished fourth with 106 points followed by Parkersburg with 125.

The girls race was just as Winfield's Megan Truelove was the top individual to cross the finish line (20:26), but Hurricane's depth prove to be just a little bit better than University's as the Redskins copped a 44-45 victory.

Big Red senior Andrea Sall placed sixth overall with a time of 21:12 while teammate Madison Hill was eighth (22:00).