TENNERTON – The Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers and Lady Bucs will host the Big 10 Conference Cross-Country Championships this Thursday at the high school course.
“It means the world to me,” stated Buckhannon-Upshur first-year head coach Justin Bowers. “This is my first year as head coach and I’ve learned a ton. To have our conference meet at home makes for a fun pinnacle of the season. We’re running where we run every day, so if there’s such a thing as a home field advantage to cross country, we have to own that. We know the trails, we know the hills, and we know when to push. It just means there can’t be any excuses.”
Bowers calls the B-U course on of the tougher courses in the Big 10.
“We have one of the harder courses in our conference,” remarked Bowers. “There are two primary hills and a lot of rolling terrain. It’s a fun course with all the elements of a good cross-country course – single track trails, open fields, and a couple of steep climbs. By the time the kids come out of the trails in the final 1/2 mile of the course, it has hit their body hard. They have to push and dig deep to finish strong.”
While the Big 10 is loaded on both sides (five girls’ teams and five in the top 10 in the RunWV Power Rankings), Bowers is hopeful for a strong showing from both of his teams.
“My hope is that they perform to the best standard they can,” stated Bowers. “They’ve worked incredibly hard this season, and we talk all the time about really wanting to set the stage for them to maximize their potential at the right time. With all the intensity of workouts they’ve done starting clear back in June, the expectation now is that they reach their goals. There are some really tough teams in our conference. Elkins, Grafton, Preston are all performing at very high levels. Our girls have been battling back and forth with Lincoln all season. East Fairmont, Fairmont Senior, and Bridgeport are all tough as well. I’m excited to see how we do. Other than our three seniors, we’re a young, scrappy team that has shown up every day and put in the work.”
For the Bucs, seniors Alex Sappey and Joey Nolte are expected to be in the mix for a conference title. Sappey is ranked 11th and Nolte is 13th in Class AAAA according to RunWV Power Rankings. B-U and Preston are the only two Class AAAA teams competing in the Big 10 Conference Championships.
“I have big expectations for Joey and Alex and think they’re as ready right now as they’ve been in any of the years I’ve been coaching them,” noted Bowers. “They keep making each other better and it’s a blast to watch. We’re excited to see the results!”
For the Lady Bucs, they will be led by sophomores Gwendolyn Rogosky and Isabella Bowers.
While the conference championships are an important meet, coaches have to be strategic with how they compete with the regional tournament looming next week.
“I look at conference as another test of our fitness and performance – another workout in a lot of ways,” stated Bowers. ”The goals are always to send runners and hopefully a team to states, and that comes down to the regional meet on October 25th. So, conference is our last chance to show up and get ready for that. With that said, there’s a lot of pride on the line. We’re battling our neighbors, and for our younger kids that means a ton.”
