In a dominant showing, the Bridgeport boys cross country team rolled to its second straight Class AA-A, Region II championship today at Berkeley Springs High School. The Indians managed to place all seven of the runners that scored in the top 10.

 

“The boys just did a great job,” said BHS Coach Jon Griffith. “To have all seven in the top 10 is incredible.”

 

The win puts the Indians, the state’s top-ranked team, according to RunWV.com, as favorites to repeat as state champions. The state meet is Nov. 1 at Cabell Midland High School. More details on that meet next week on Connect-Bridgeport.com

 

Bridgeport was led by the 2-3-4 finish of Michael Duez, Jimmy Lacaria and Arryn Tennant. Duez and Lacaria, as they have in several recent races, came down to the wire.

 

“Michael did another great job today. He and Jimmy fought it out to the end. That’s what we want. Those guys are pushing each other and it’s good for the team and everybody involved.”

 

Four others also were in the top 10. Jack Funk took home seventh, Troy Pallay was in eighth, Ian Frailey came in at the number nine spot and Timmy Kinney finished at the 10^th position.

 

“All seven were within 27 seconds of each other. That’s just phenomenal in cross country. With your runners, anything within a minute and a half is considered very impressive,” said Griffith. “That type of pack running can truly make a difference and it did today.”

 

Things didn’t go nearly as well for the girls’ team. Unfortunately, the team didn’t qualify for the state meet and there were no individual qualifiers as well.