By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
A cloudy and rainy morning greeted junior high, high school and even elementary cross-country runners from the schools of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference, as Ripley High School played host to the 2023 conference meet. The course in Ripley has a reputation as a tough one and the weather conditions certainly weren’t ideal but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the runners and the crowds assembled to cheer them on.
First up with the bright and early with the 9 a.m start time were the high school boys, 83 runners in all and the favorite was Whiteoak junior Landen Eyre and he lived up to that ranking, winning the SHAC title with a time of 15:47.2, nearly a minute faster than the runner-up, Whiteoak senior Weston Blair. The top finisher from Adams County was Manchester senior Connor Darnell, who placed fourth overall with a time of 17:22.4.
The top 15 runners in the high school races earned spots on the All-Conference Team and from Adams County that high school boys list will include North Adams sophomore Beau Hesler (6th-18:05.1), North Adams junior Ryan Reed (7th-18:11.3), Manchester sophomore Eli Crabtree (8th-18:14.3), and North Adams Junior Jimmy Hickey (14th-19:02.7).
The North Adam,s boys placed second overall in the overall team standings.
The high school girls race followed with 45 runners and the big winners were the West Union Lady Dragons, whose team performance allowed them to claim the 2023 High School Girls SHAC championship. West Union was paced by junior Sadie Armstrong, who finished sixth overall (21:43.7), followed by senior Allie McCarty (12th-23:31.9) and freshman Lydia Armstrong (14th-23:40.1). All three of those runners earned All-Conference honors. Coming in at 18th was Lady Dragons freshman Violet Randolph (24:12.2) with junior Lily Randolph 27th (26:35.8). Senior Sara Boldman was 35th (28:37.1) and freshman Kaylee Vogler 44th (33:48.1).
All of that added up to a team score of 61 fir the Lady Dragons, allowing them to just barely slip by second place Eastern Brown, whose team score totaled 62. The Lady Hounds of Manchester were third overall with a team score of 63, just two off the first place spot.
On the individual girls side, the favorite also came out on top as Peebles senior Samantha Seas took the SHAC championship with a time of 19:35.5. Five more girls from the county made the All-SHAC Team: Manchester junior Emma Hurst (4th-21:39.3), Manchester junior Madison Lejzerowicz (9th-23:22.5), North Adams senior Hunter Grooms (11th-23:31.2), North Adams junior Mckenna Shelton (13th-23:37.9) and Manchester freshman Gracie Barr (15th-23:48.7).
2023 SHAC XC HS Boys Team Scores: Fairfield 51, North Adams 69, Manchester 80, Whiteoak 119, Eastern Brown 138. Lynchburg 145, West Union 157, Ripley 177, Fayetteville 240
2023 SHAC XC Girls Team Scores: West Union 61, Eastern Brown 62, Manchester 63, North Adams 68, Fayetteville 76