HUNTINGTON – Savannah Pritt produced the fastest performance in Cabell Midland girls cross country history at what she colorfully called her least favorite venue.

Herbert Hoover was Born, again. Sam Born’s emergence from a three-way scrum for a region title gave the Huskies a sweep of individual laurels.

Maysen Fletcher, Trace Marshall and Abigail Torman did what they do – win races in routs – and Kyle Peters responded to a challenge as a champion.

The six WVSSAC region cross country championships conducted on Saturday at the Huntington YMCA Kennedy Center on the banks of the Ohio River featured stellar individual performances, as well as opportunities for fresh teams to lock up state-meet bids in the SSAC’s new four-class system.

Class AAAA South Region girls

Placing five finishers in the top nine, Cabell Midland cruised to victory, tallying 29 points to runner-up Hurricane’s 71.

That’ll send the Knights on to their home course in Ona for the state meet on Nov. 1.

Home sweet home for Savannah Pritt, who scorched the Kennedy Center course to the tune of an 18:07.42 mark – a new school record, Cabell Midland coach Chris Parsons said – but didn’t especially enjoy it.

“This course is my least favorite course ever,” Pritt said, stifling a grin. “I actually hate running this course. It’s just flat; it’s just soccer fields. It’s kinda boring.

“That’s what I love about Midland’s course, because you know, I’m like, striding up the hill,” Pritt went on, pantomiming pumping her arms in ascent. “I’m trying not to die going up these dang hills.”

That’ll be next weekend’s problem. On Saturday, Pritt held off a charge from Parkersburg’s Morgan Metz, beating one of her best friends, she said, by 4.2 seconds.

The team competition was not nearly as close. Cabell Midland’s Adalyn Cantrell (fifth, 19:15.69), Emma Coakley (sixth, 19:26.30), Lindsey Bailey (eighth, 19:29.85) and Audrey Adkins (ninth, 19:31.82) joined Pritt in the top nine finishers.

“This is just another step towards a state championship,” Parsons said. “We gotta face Morgantown; they beat us early in the season, but we got one of our runners back. Of course, it’ll be a battle, and this has been kind of a yearlong thing we’ve been going for.”

Hurricane took runner-up status, led by Francy Tidd (18:47.90) and Sofie Zappitelli (19:12.33) in third and fourth, respectively. Ella Sturm (17th, 20:21.37), Addison Frye (22nd, 21:04.81) and Ella Dye (25th, 21:37.10) completed Hurricane’s contingent.

Under the new Class AAAA super region format, the top six teams Saturday advanced to the state meet, as well as the top 10 runners not on a state qualifier.

That sends Parkersburg South, Parkersburg, Buckhannon-Upshur and George Washington – Nos. 3-6 – on to join Cabell Midland and Hurricane next week.

Parkersburg South will compete in the state meet as a team for the first time since 2009, while George Washington is on to state for the first time in three years.

Class AAAA South Region boys

Woodrow Wilson’s Kyle Peters ran against seven of the same schools in Saturday’s field as were in the Mountain State Athletic Conference meet a week earlier, so he thought he had his competition measured.

Then Parkersburg’s Connor George hung in his hip pocket nearly to the finish before Peters prevailed by nearly six seconds in a title-winning trip of 15:38.84.

“Going into that first mile, I was like, ‘Dang, were they holding back the first race, or did I fall off a little?'” Peters mused.

Either, neither or both, it didn’t matter. Peters’ effort was enough to claim a region crown, staving off a late challenge.

“I heard that (George) was catching up, and I was like, ‘All right, I got a downhill, just pick it up and hold on,'” Peters said. “All I wanted was to not see another person after the second mile.”

As Peters showed his range, Cabell Midland displayed its depth. Two Knights were hurt on the course and got a ride on meet host Huntington High’s Gator.

With Xander Morgan and Trenton Hatfield thus elevated into scoring position in Cabell Midland’s top five, the Knights still got all their runners into the first 18 finishers to edge Parkersburg, 54-59.

Cabell Midland’s Dylan Dial was third in 16:11.86 to pace that effort. Colson Elswick (ninth, 16:48.04), Griffin Brunty (11th, 16:54.48), Morgan (13th, 17:09.48) and Hatfield (18th, 17:26.12) backed him.

Parsons, a legendary figure in West Virginia cross country and track and field coaching, couldn’t recall another time when two of his runners had gone out due to injury in the same meet.

“I thought, without those guys, Parkersburg’s gonna beat us, because it was close last week at the conference (meet),” Parsons said, “but they stepped up.”

The runner-up Big Reds, Woodrow Wilson, Hurricane, George Washington and Buckhannon-Upshur also earned state-meet bids with top-six finishes. The Buccaneers will compete as a team at state for the first time since 1999.

Class AAA Region 3 boys

The second race of six on the day was both the closest at the finish line and the only one won by a runner who wasn’t seeded in the top two.

Herbert Hoover’s Sam Born was tabbed fourth entering in the race, but fended off challenges from Shady Spring’s Ethan Dowdy and Capital’s Micah Hale to win.

Born came around in 16:45.09. Dowdy finished in 16:46.78 and Hale’s run was 16:47.66.

Born’s mind wandered, but not in distracting or destructive fashion.

“I was like, ‘I think I can do this; I think I can pull this off,'” he said. “I just started flashbacking through the whole season, and all the work we’ve been putting in, and that really just helped. Got that one last surge.

“You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength,” Born continued, quoting Philippians 4:13, “and (I) took off.”

Hoover coach Luke Teel called it “one of the more exciting finishes I’ve been able to see.”

The turning point in Born’s race, he said, was about halfway through the race, when he sensed his competitors saving something in the tank, and he decided to make them burn it.

“We were going a relaxed pace, and I knew they were saving energy for the end,” Born said. “So I put in a pretty good surge, got 20 meters on them and had them put some more effort to get back.”

The Huskies finished third to claim the final state meet berth, edging PikeView by three points. Dylan Straight, who finished in fourth place in 16:53.86, backed Born, as well as Andrew Arbogast, Grant Gardner and Jackson Kerr.

Shady Spring won comfortably, with 40 points to Ripley’s 66 and Hoover’s 67.

Dowdy, Caleb Rose, Charles David Northrop, Kyle Malay and Logan Malott finished in the top 14 among runners from schools with enough for the team competition to lift the Tigers.

The Vikings earned their first state trip as a team since 2013. They didn’t have a runner in the top seven, but packed four from the eighth- through 15th-place spots, including top-10 finishers in Eli Casto and Daniel Scholl.

“When I’ve had boys successful teams, I’ve never had a true No. 1 like I have on the girls,” veteran Ripley coach Jimmy Groves said. “But the boys seem to just bond, and they train together, and we just work together as a team.”

Class AAA Region 3 girls

Maysen Fletcher’s advantage was just a few seconds when she entered the woods.

By the time the Hoover star emerged from the forest, she’d ballooned the margin over Greenbrier East’s Neena McClintic to about 20 seconds. At the end, it was wider than that.

Fletcher, last year’s Class AA state champion as a freshman, continued building her storied resume with a 17:38.21 to win the region meet by 52 seconds over McClintic.

“After a mile, I wanted to pick it up and surge and get ahead of her so I could create a gap,” Fletcher said, “and then just keep improving each mile.”

The team finish was flip-flopped. The Spartans edged the Huskies 36-38, with Shady Spring tallying 48 to earn the region’s third and final state berth.

Greenbrier East got all five scorers across the line within the first 11 finishers on competing teams, while Hoover’s first five all made it in the first 14 and Shady Spring’s quintet counted among the first 17.

Jenna Brown (fourth, 20:03.39) and Audree Born (sixth, 21:09.64) joined Fletcher as Huskies in the top 10. Isabella Harris and Kynlee Nary rounded out Hoover’s fivesome.

For all the individual glory she has earned, Fletcher enjoyed being able to share the moment of state qualification with the Huskies.

“It’s so much better going out as a team, competing together,” she said.

McClintic, Maddie Lilly, Caroline Perilli Hancock, Kate Adkins and Jillian Styles counted toward Greenbrier East’s total.

Class AAA Region 4 boys

Trace Marshall wasn’t taking anything for granted. Not with hardware on the line Saturday, and the opportunity for more on the line.

Seeded as a big on-paper favorite, Winfield’s star completed the course in 58 fewer seconds than his closest competitor – as it turned out, fellow General Ari Clark – in 16:17.63.

“Definitely not underestimating it,” Marshall said of his mindset Saturday. “I came in and I knew that, yes, my (personal record) was pretty strong going in, but there was other guys here that were super strong, and on a day like this, if you don’t warm up right, or you don’t come in thinking, I gotta go and definitely get out there, then you don’t have a shot at it.”

No worries on that front, either for Marshall or for Winfield, which placed four runners in the top eight to clear St. Albans, 23-44.

Lincoln Haynes, Nikolaus von Wulffen and Jackson Tully backed Marshall to boost the Generals.

Grayson Guthrie, Ben Bonham, Abel Dalton, Jackson Eary and Anthony Horne produced the Red Dragons’ points.

Point Pleasant’s Wyatt Kirkpatrick, Nitro’s Sam Aulenbacher and Lincoln County’s Elliot Austin cracked the top 10 in third, fourth and ninth, respectively, to qualify for state as individuals.

Spring Valley came in third in the team standings to qualify for its first state meet appearance in school history. Caleb Marcum, Jonah Daniels, Jackson Daugherty, Kysen Wassell and Colton Davis gave the Timberwolves that distinction.

Class AAA Region 4 girls

Torman led a tour de force.

St. Albans’ Abigail Torman was the first of six Red Dragons to cross the finish line among the initial 12 finishers in Saturday’s region race.

Torman completed the course in 19:44.58, about 27 seconds in front of runner-up Juliana von Wulffen of Winfield.

Ava Templeton, Siena Braley, Evelynn Brennan and Mia Cloer rounded out St. Albans’ scorers to compile a 26, nearly halving its nearest competition in the second-place Generals’ 47.

Ella Lane also cracked the top dozen, although her total did not count toward the Red Dragons’.

Kayla Taylor, Isabella Thaxton, Emily Jividen and Emma Frazier joined von Wulffen in Winfield’s scoring column.

Spring Valley will compete in its first state meet, placing third to earn the region’s final advancing spot. Chezney Baker finished third to pace the Timberwolves and Mallory Maynard was seventh. Griffyn Butler, Marley Moore and Millie Workman rounded out Spring Valley’s top five.

Nitro’s Tessa Aulenbacher was fifth to earn an individual state berth.