By Carl Holcomb
Moorefield Examiner
East Hardy Cross Country trio of Brianna Hamilton, Gracie Heishman and Jonathan Montgomery traversed the Class A Region II Camp Kidd 4-H Camp course in Parsons last Thursday for the third time this season and punched tickets for the state meet to give the Cougars representatives for the first time in two decades with a renewed program.
Fall colors surrounded the runners throughout the course with leaves falling in their wake covering 3.1 miles around Camp Kidd.
Heishman (14th) Montgomery (15th) and Hamilton (20th) are all state bound and received wooden medals for their Class A Region II placement and named to the second team all-region squad.
This trip had a fun time biting down on the medals for a celebration after the ceremony.
The girls cross country members formed a circle for prayer to begin the region meet.
The starting line was adjacent to a large camp cabin and in between the softball fields with the finish line in the same area.
It was a scenic start heading towards a wide open field with the mountain range in full view colored with Autumn hues, tenth runners cut back behind one of the ball fields and across a road to a steep hill.
There was a wooded area around the top of the hill, then the runners came back down the same hill with arms up in the air for balance and across the road and along a picket fence.
The runners continued to make strides behind a camp cabin and around the complex coming back in front of the cabin and back towards the ball field and over to the open field area and back to the finish line beyond the ball field.
The boys runners started shortly after the girls concluded their race.
The schools represented at the regional meet included host Tucker County, East Hardy, Pendleton County, Paw Paw, Doddridge County, Trinity Christian, Braxton County, Notre Dame and Calhoun County.
East Hardy Girls Cross Country junior Gracie Heishman finished in 14th place overall with a regional time of 24:17.86 and is in fifth place all-time in program history
Heishman set a personal season record time at Camp Kidd in just the third race there.
“It was pretty fun and exciting [medal]. It is all fairly flat, except for the two hills. Other than that, it is pretty good. Running the course before really helped me, knowing it better was good because I knew where I needed to kick it. We haven’t had a cross country team or state representative in so long, so it is exciting to bring it back,” East Hardy Girls Cross Country runner Gracie Heishman commented.
East Hardy Girls Cross Country sophomore Brianna Hamilton finished in 20th place overall with a regional time of 26:42.80 and is in eighth place all-time in program history.
“It was very exciting. I didn’t expect this at all. I liked most about the course is once you get up that big hill you have a nice stretch that makes it easy on you. [Course familiarity] Yes, it did. I had a time to shoot for and I just pushed myself so I could get another PR today,” East Hardy Girls Cross Country runner Brianna Hamilton stated.
East Hardy Boys Cross Country sophomore Jonathan Montgomery finished in 15th place overall with a regional time of 19:41.21 and is in eighth place all-time in program history.
Montgomery was in a very close foot race against a Trinity Christian runner vying for the finish line on the last leg of the race.
Montgomery had his second best time of the entire season at Camp Kidd during the regional race and cut time off from the previous visit there in Parsons.
“I am very excited. I was right on the edge. They Meade a rule that if the Top-10 from a team was going to state, then the next five individual would qualify and I made it, just barely. [Course familiarity] 100 percent. The first time I ran it I was kind of slow on the front, because I was scared off the hill, then I realized if you use that hill to your advantage it will help out a lot and you can pass kids on it which pushed me ahead just enough. My favorite part of the course was the last stretch, it is really fun and flat. You see it coming and you know it’s there and you can dig deep and give everything you’ve got. You don’t have to worry about a hill right there. It was a little annoying he beat me by not even a second, but it was a hard push and we both almost beat the kid in front of us. For here, it was my personal best at this specific course. It is amazing and everyone at our school has been supportive from the teachers to our classmates. They all cheer for us as we are leaving. It is really nice,” East Hardy Boys Cross Country runner Jonathan Montgomery remarked.
The girls team champion was Braxton County, runner-up was Doddridge County and Trinity Christian was third place.
The girls individual champion was Doddridge County’s Bailey Holden with a time of 20:09.39.
The boys team champion was Doddrdige County, runner-up was Tucker County and Trinity Christian took third place.
The boys individual champion was Doddridge County’s Carter Sias with a time of 16:40.37.
Factoring in the top three teams qualifying for the state meet, the next five individuals count for a state bid.
This year’s state cross country meet will be held on November 2 at Cabell Midland High School with the Class A division beginning at 3:00 p.m.
East Hardy Cross Country had state meet representatives from 1997 to 2003, including a state runner-up finish for Jessica Tusing in 1998 with a time of 19:17, while the boys top state finish was fifth place by West Garrett in 1997 with a time of 16:18.
Class A Potomac Valley Conference representatives earning state bids include Paw Paw’s Donovan Tanouye (region runner-up) and Taylor Carder, Pendleton County’s Callie Dunn and Cayson Armstrong.
Class AA Potomac Valley Conference representatives for the state meet includes Frankfort (champions) and Keyser boys and girls teams, plus the Hampshire girls team.
East Hardy Cross Country exceeded expectations and achieved the overall goal of qualifying for the state meet in its first season since 2004.
“I am super proud of my kids this year. They did everything I asked of them. They put the time in and even stayed a little after practice for extra running and stretching. First year we have had a team in 20 years. I couldn’t ask for more. They exceeded my expectations. It has nothing to do with my coaching. I have no clue what I am doing, but have learned a lot this year. It is all on the girls and boy on the team. They decided to see if they could go to state and they pushed themselves harder than I thought they would. They knew that I was tying to make them better and they are getting better. I told them that to be comfortable, you have to be uncomfortable to get comfortable. We are moving from one stage to another. They made it to state and once they get down there, who knows what will happen. If regionals are up there again in Tucker County, I hope our athletic director schedules more meets there to learn it and get better at that course. It is kind of fun to see this happen. The runner who got all this started was Gracie Heishman and that was her goal from the get-go. I am super proud she is getting to go as a junior. I hope kids in the future have an interest in this program after seeing the success this first year, so we can have more runners coming out next year. It is pretty cool to go to state in our first year back in 20 years. Their faith in themselves pushed them to this goal,” East Hardy Cross Country coach Devin Hamilton concluded.
