KINGWOOD – The Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers are your 2022 Big 10 Conference cross-country champions!

The Bucs claimed first place in the conference championship Thursday at Preston High School.

The Bucs amassed 51 points, well ahead of second-place Fairmont Senior who scored 61 points while East Fairmont was a distant third in the 12-team event with 87 points.

All five scoring Bucs finished in the Top 20 as those who placed in the Top 10 earned First Team All-Conference honors while those placing 11^th to 20^th earned Second Team All-Conference honors.

Jack Waggy took second overall with a time of 17:10.7 while Jordan Gillum was fourth with a clocking of 17:24.3 and Reis Leonard was sixth with a time of 17:44.6.

The two other Bucs scoring were Joey Nolte in 19^th (18:45.9) and Owen Cutright in 20^th (18:57.2).

For his efforts, Nolte was named as the Performer of the Meet.

“I am really happy for the boys and the fact we finally got our seniors a Big 10 Championship,” stated Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Taylor Stacy. “We had some great individual performances all-around that led to a big team win. This is a really good confidence boost rolling into regionals next week.”

Slate Swiger of Lewis County won the individual title with a time of 17:02.8.        

The Bucs will compete in the Region I championships on Thursday at Brooke High School.