If Bridgeport’s boys cross country team was going to falter in light of preseason expectations, their effort in their season-opening meet Saturday would not be a strong one to submit as evidence that was going to happen.

 

Instead of wilting, the Indians dominated. And they dominated to an impressive tune in the St. Marys Autumn Classic with a winning score of 56.

 

Not only was the total good enough for the win, but it also held off Class AAA power Wheeling Park. The Patriots finished with 64 points in the 16-team field and was the only team within sniffing distance of the Tribe.

 

Third place Doddridge County and fourth place host St. Marys were well off the pace. The Bulldogs at 123 and SMHS at 129 were the next in line in the Class AA-A portion of teams competing.

 

Bridgeport was able to get the win thanks to having its top four runners finish in the top 11 overall. There were 182 runners in total that competed.

 

“Our first four (Jimmy Lacaria, Mark Duez, Timmy Kinney and Drake Bolle) did a great job.  All four were in the 17 minute range; the next group was unfortunately a couple of minutes behind them.  The fifth runner for a cross country team is critical and we need to find someone to step up and take that fifth spot,” said Griffith. “The last several years we have had the top five all within a minute or less of each other.  That gives us a big edge over most teams.  Right now we don’t have that person, but I think we will as the season progresses.”

 

Lacaria had a monster day. Not only did he help BHS get the win, but he finished first in the crowd of nearly 200 runners. Lacaria finished with a time of 17 minutes, 7.4 seconds, which was nearly eight seconds ahead of the runner-up from South Charleston.

 

“Jimmy looked very strong.   We have been training pretty intensely over the last few weeks so he was a little tired at the finish, but he still ran a great race,” said Griffith. “He finished ahead of Josh Greear of South Charleston who is ranked number five in ‘AAA’ right now.”

 

Duez was the next highest finisher with a seventh place overall mark thanks to his time of 17 minutes, 32.9 seconds. Kinney was right behind at No. 8 thanks to a time of 17 minutes, 29.5 seconds.  Bolle came in at the 11^th spot with a time of 17 minutes, 56.7 seconds.

 

“Duez, Kinney and Bolle all had good races.  I know that they are all capable of more and hopefully they realize that and really focus on our mission,” said Griffith.

 

While the girls didn’t win their side of the ledger, they were competitive. In fact, in the field that included 14 teams – nine with full units – Bridgeport managed a third place finish.

 

BHS finished with 81 points, which was just off the pace of Doddridge County at 79 points for a runner-up spot. Wheeling Park won the event with 63 points.

 

“The girls did great.  We are starting to see the same pack mentality out of the girls that we have seen with the boys the last few years,” said Griffith. “Their training has been coming along very well.  The girls are a very young team and they continue to adjust to the high school training load.  I expect them to continue to improve dramatically over the next several weeks.”

 

BHS had four runners in the top 24 and three in the top 20 to help itself to the strong showing. Jenna Soltesz was the top finisher was in the 13^th spot at 23 minutes, and 4.3 seconds, while Brooke Wagner was right behind at No. 14 with a time of 23 minutes, 4.5 seconds. Emma Campbell at No. 17 with a time of 23 minutes, 26 seconds and Caroline Ferrell in 24^th place with a showing of 24 minutes, 12 seconds rounded out the top four for the Tribe.

 

“I was very pleased with all three of them,” said Griffith of his top 20 finishers. “I know Jenna wanted to run a better time, and she will as the season progresses.  Brooke and Emma ran fantastic races for their first high school races.  In fact, this was Emma’s first cross country race of any kind.  So I think they have very bright futures with the program.”

 

Griffith also had praise for another runner.

 

“Haley Chamberlain had a very good day.  She had never run before until this past track season.  Her improvement has been phenomenal over the last six months,” said Griffith. “To be honest I was pleased with all of the girls on the team.”

 

The best, however, might still be to come.

 

“We had several girls not eligible yet due to not having enough practices, so we could have done a little better,” said Griffith. “This week will be the first opportunity to see the entire team race together.  I am very excited for that.”

 

The Charles Pointe Indian Run Invitational, one of the state’s biggest meets and one of the few held in Bridgeport, is Saturday. The Class AA portion of the meet starts at 8 a.m. and events continue into the afternoon.

 

Details on this weekend’s race later this week on Connect-Bridgeport. Photo gallery of Saturday's race also coming up today on Connect-Bridgeport.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Jimmy Lacaria leading the pack, while the Tribe's Jenna Soltesz is shown in the second photo. Timmy Kinney, pictured below, had another strong race.