By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The 2026 cross-country season began on August 29 and Coach Donnie McCarty and his West Union Lady Dragons picked right up where they left off in 2025. The two-time defending district champions Lady Dragons saw their first action of the season at the Ripley Invitational and began with an individual and team first-place finishes.
West Union junior Stella Rhonemus was the high school girls individual champion at Ripley and it wasn’t really close as she finished nearly two minutes ahead of her closest competitor with her time of 20.54.0. Rhonemus was joined in the race’s top 10 finishers by a trio of teammates- junior Ella Shupert (5th- 22:45.5), senior Lydia Armstrong (6th- 23:04.9) and sophomore Tabitha Armstrong (7th-23:41.4). Senior Madison Stout was 12th overall with her time of 24:43.8.
The Lady Dragons, with their team score of 26, easily outdistanced second place New Richmond (54), North Adams, led by an 8th place finish from freshman Haylee Wheeler (23:56.9) and an 11th place finish from sophomore Trinity Bosko (24:42.5).
In the high school boys race, Peebles junior Calen Vogler placed fifth overall in a field of 39 runners, crossing the line in a time of 19:19.8. West Union sophomore Fletcher Watkins was 10th overall with a time of 20:06.2 with North Adams senior Jacob Thatcher coming in 13th in a time of 20:33.7. Eastern Brown was the overall team champion.
In the junior high girls race, North Adams eighth grader Kendall Geeslin raced to a top1 0 finish, placing eighth overall with a tine of 14:00.2. The highest county finisher in the junior high boys race was Manchester seventh grader Robert King, whose time of 13:09.0 was good for 16th place out of 69 runners.
Upcoming on the cross-country schedules will be the Dog Pack Challenge in Manchester on September 15 and the West Union Invitational on October 4.