WHEELING – Things didn’t go the way Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Taylor Stacy had hoped for his Buckhannon-Upshur cross-country Lady Bucs and Buccaneers in their Region I Championship Thursday afternoon in Wheeling.

No one from either team advanced individually to states and both teams finished fifth out of eight teams.

Samantha Shreve entered the race as the top Class AAA female runner, but an injury hampered her chances for state as she finished 15^th while the top runner for the Bucs, Jack Waggy, finished 23^rd.

“Regionals was a tough day for us and surely not the result we hoped for,” remarked Stacy. “We knew coming in our chances of getting a team out was going to be a hard and challenging task. Regardless we still wanted to go and compete to our best ability. We were hopeful Sam (Shreve) and Jack (Waggy) would make it out of the region as individuals but unfortunately it just wasn’t their day. Sam had been dealing with some pain in her calf and that seemed to culminate at the worst time of the year for us. It kept her from running with the top girls. That mixed in with the unfamiliarity of running from behind caught us by surprise and showed to be more than we were ready for.”

For the Lady Bucs, Shreve ended the event with a time of 20:36.21.

The rest of the B-U line-up was Anya Morehead in 30^th (22:41.71), Mia Sappey in 31^st (22:45.56), Angelina Winter in 32^nd (22:47.76), Mallory Moss in 35^th (23:10.19) and Pressley Bowers in 41^st (23:75).

Abigail Rogers of University won the individual title with a time of 18:45.56 while Madeline Gump of Morgantown was second with a time of 18:48.18.

The Lady Bucs placed fifth with 143 points.

Morgantown won the girls’ title with 30 points while University was second with 40 and Preston was third with 75. All three teams will advance to the state championship meet.

For the boys, Waggy clocked a time of 17:19.25.

Running behind Waggy for the Bucs were Joey Nolte in 26^th (17:44.93), Alex Sappey in 27^th (17:56.40), Isaac Snodgrass in 36^th (19:25.37), Jeremy Allman in 37^th (19:28.95) and Bryce Mullens in 45^th (20:20.01).

“Jack was in great position throughout most of the race, but lost position with about a mile left,” noted Stacy. “We still believe he’s capable of making states next year and is one of the best runners out there.”

University took the top three spots as Drew Zundell was first (15:55.96), Tyler Umbright was second (15:56.19) and Jacob Wright was third (15:57.26).

University won the boys’ title with 20 points while Morgantown was second with 65 and Wheeling Park was third with 78 points as all three teams will run at states.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t get the story book ending we were looking for,” concluded Stacy. “ Regardless of everything, it was still a great season for us. Nothing can take away from the hard walk these kids put in all season, and the sacrifices they made to accomplish what they have. We’re still proud of our crew and couldn’t ask for a better group of kids to coach.”

The state meet will be held this Saturday at Cabell Midland.