The first step toward competing and possibly winning one or even two Class AA state championships begins Thursday for the Bridgeport High School cross country teams. Tomorrow, the Indians will be competing for a Class AA and Class A Region II championships at the cross country course situated at Davis & Elkins College.

 

The girls race will begin at 1 p.m. and the boys follow at 2 p.m. Class AA and Class A will compete together.

 

Bridgeport’s girls figure to be in good shape to qualify as a team. They are currently ranked No. 3 in the state and are the highest ranked team in the region.

 

“The girls are positioned well going into the Regional Championships.  The only other top 10 ranked team in Region II is Doddridge County, who is at number in the last ranking (10-10-17).  While there are 23 schools in the Region, quite a few don’t field full teams,” said BHS Coach Jon Griffith.

 

The Indians will be fielding a full team. And they have perhaps the deepest team in school history.

 

“Julia Muller and Emma Campbell should be leading the girls’ race for us.  Desirae Schoonover looks to be the girl to beat in the regional race.  She and her sister Jaklin will be leading Doddridge County’s girls’ team,” said Griffith. “Alexis Morici of Elkins and Adelle Thrush of Robert C. Byrd are also strong along with Brooke Bennett and Emily Louk of Lewis County,” said Griffith. “Our top two girls should be right there with all of them.  The rest of our top seven should be close behind the front group.”

 

The boys should also be in good position to qualify their team for the meet. The boys are currently ranked No. 2 in the RunWV.com standings.

 

“The boys find themselves in a very similar situation to the girls’ team with Doddridge being the only other top 10 ranked team in the region.  Currently the latest rankings (10-10-17) show Doddridge County boys ranked tenth,” said Griffith. “We expect RCB and Elkins to make fairly strong showings as well though.”

 

The boys are led by senior Mark Duez who has been at or near the top of the finishes in nearly every meet. The team could get a boost as several runners are still rounding themselves into shape.

 

“We expect Mark Duez and Jackson Jacobs to continue their strong seasons with good runs on the Elkins course.   The young Doddridge boys, Carter Lipscomb and Brennan Gum, along with Dana Philips and Sam Starkey of RCB, and Mason Clark of Elkins should be up there with them,” said Griffith. “We hope to have our next three close the time gap between themselves and the front two.  If we hope to have a good state meet for the boys that is critical.” 

 

The regional scoring is determined from racing seven runners. The top five runners are counted toward your score by adding up where each finished and the lowest total wins. Although the sixth and seventh runners don’t count for a team’s scoring, they can push other runners further down the finish line and increasing the point total, which helps a team’s own chances of winning or placing higher.

 

While Bridgeport may be a favorite to win on both sides, Griffith knows it’s going to be a battle Thursday.

 

“Any time you compete in a regional event, every team is going to bring their best effort.  So we expect this to be a very competitive meet,” said Griffith.

 

As for the course, it’s not new to BHS. In fact, the Tribe has ran on it several times in the last several years.

 

“It is a good course with a sizable hill and a couple of water crossings.  It does get a little narrow up in the woods, but we have always done well on that course,” said Griffith. “Being Elkins' home course, they should have a little bit of an advantage on Thursday, but we hope to run well.” 

 

Although the Class AA and A teams will compete at the same time, individual champions for each class will be crowned.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows the BHS girls team after the Big 10 meet, while Julia Muller is shown in the second photo. Bottom photos are of Mark Duez followed by Jackson Jacobs.