Parkersburg South’s Sophia Shamblin hands the baton off to teammate Jalyn Eddy during the city dual relay meet earlier this season. The duo helped the Patriots advance to the state cross country championships for the first time since 2009. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

PARKERSBURG — Things will be a little different this year when the state cross country meet gets underway on Saturday in Ona at Cabell Midland.

For the first time ever, there will be four classes and both Parkersburg High and Parkersburg South will be well represented when the girls race begins at 9 a.m. and the boys 45 minutes later.

The Big Reds of head coach George Angelos qualified both the girls and the boys team from the Class AAAA South Region, while the Patriot girls of head man Brian Blanc advanced to the big show for the first time since 2009.

Both the PHS and South girls are hoping to challenge for top-five showings and the red and white boys are predicted to finish fourth by runwv.com.

“So proud of how resilient our program has been this season,” admitted coach Angelos. “Due to graduation or injury, our girls ran only two of our seven from the regional last year and our boys only three of the top seven and yet still, we’ve found a way to make it happen. Many have had us as a top five team in the state all season and our boys took what most believe to be the number two in the state to the wire on Saturday. We’re excited about making the state meet, but we’re working hard to create a culture whereas making the state meet is not a season goal, instead it’s an expectation.

Parkersburg’s Rogan Mincks and Wood County Christian’s Koa Navarro, pictured here earlier in the year at the Chick-fil-A Invitational, will be representing their respective schools on Saturday in Ona at the state cross country meet. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“Our goals are tied to the state championship meet. Every team is trying to get their top seven to the line and if we can do that, we have individual and team goals that can and will make Saturday very exciting for us. From the grand opening of our locker room, to a local goal of sweeping the Chick-fil-A Invitational earlier in the year, to providing our athletes the opportunity to run on one of the countries largest stages at the Southern Showcase in Alabama, to just fun stuff like a team trip to watch our alumni compete at a college meet, team trips to Kings Island and Nashville, to having both teams toeing the line at the state championship meet. We’ve had a great season!”

During last week’s regional the Patriot girls placed third with 85 points to finish just ahead of the Big Reds’ 92.

PHS junior Morgan Metz is hoping to continue the climb. After finishing 42nd in Class AAA as a freshman, the Big Red became an all-stater last year when she placed fifth.

Metz had a more than solid effort at the regional as she finished 4.2 seconds behind Cabell Midland champion Savannah Pritt’s 18:07, which established a Kennedy Center course record.

Parkersburg South’s girls were able to secure third by placing five runners inside the top 30 thanks to freshmen Alyssa McCrady (7th), Haley Raper (10th) and Sophia Shamblin (24th) as well as sophomore Jalyn Eddy (15th) and junior Lexi McKinney (29th).

Metz was followed by junior Audrey Wagoner (14th), senior Olivia Carpenter (16th), freshman Hadley Edwards (26th) and senior Seneca Lang (34th).

The two rivals also had a tight finish between their No. 6 runners with Big Red junior Allison Poole finishing 36th and Patriot freshman Isabella Ferrell coming in a spot behind.

“I couldn’t be happier with our regional competition,” stressed coach Blanc. “Both the boys and girls squads ran their guts out. We had 13, 14 run their season best by a collective eight-plus minutes. I gave each of them a hefty goal to shoot for going into the race, a competitor to chase after and stay with who was projected to finish ahead of them, and a goal pace that would land them a PR.

“Almost everyone met the set goal and the one that didn’t was only off by a few seconds and still qualified for the state meet as an individual. With every girl outperforming projections, we dropped our projected team score by 44 points and upset our crosstown rivals.”

Parkersburg’s boys finished right behind champion Cabell Midland, 54-59, as senior Connor George led the way with a runner-up effort. George took 15th as a sophomore in Ona before making first team all-state last fall by placing ninth.

George was followed at the regional by classmate Ricardo Salazar (10th), sophomore Rogan Mincks (12th), junior Carter Thorpe (14th) and freshman Drake Rollins (21st) with fellow ninth grader Calvin Lantz (25th) not far behind.

Despite not qualifying the boys team, coach Blanc was more than excited to see sophomore Gatlin McLain secure fifth with teammates Jesse Morris (JR, 20th) and Caysen Litton (FR, 41st) also advancing.

“Gatlin McClain had the run of his high-school career finishing fifth with a fast time of 16:26,” noted coach Blanc. “This has been the goal all season, peak at regional and make it to state. I am very proud of our runners for sticking to the training throughout the season when it would be tempting for most people to take a rest and recover midseason. Our team trusted the process knowing that we would get ourselves feeling 100% for regional.

“Now we just need to go to Cabell to do it one more time against the best in the state. I am very excited for this group to get to experience the state meet. It is a special occasion and anyone competing there earned their ticket through months of unrelenting training and dedication to their craft. I am already impressed with the growth of these athletes. I can’t wait to see how they fare against the rest of the state.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com