WELLSBURG – Your Buckhannon-Upshur cross country Lady Bucs are state tournament bound after finishing third in the Region I championships last week at Brooke High School.
The top three teams (along with the top 10 individuals) advanced to states as the Lady Bucs were a solid third with 79 points. This will be the second straight trip to states for the Lady Bucs.
Morgantown won the regional title with 23 points while University was second with 65 points. Preston was fourth out of the seven teams with 87 points. Just a week prior, Preston landed ahead of the Lady Bucs to win the Big 10 Conference championship by two points.
“Last week we told the girls our loss didn’t define us,” said Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Taylor Stacy. “We told them what will really define this team and who we are is how we approach and respond to the adversity. I think the result of regionals shows you what this girls team is all about. They pushed and fought together as a team to earn another trip back to states.”
Lydia Falkenstein was the top Lady Buc runner placing fourth with a time of 18:52.24.
B-U’s Samantha Shreve also placed in the top 10 as she took eighth with a time of 19:19.97.
The other three Lady Bucs scoring were Mia Sappey in 20th (21:03.57), Miah Reger in 23rd (21:33.61) and Jessica Williams in 24th (21:37.81).
The non-scoring Lady Bucs were Brianna Dalton in 28th (22:29.78) and Pressley Bowers in 35th (23:38.13).
“We had really big performances from Sam and Lydia as they came in strong for us and the other girls were right there in the mix helping the point total swing our way for third,” concluded Stacy.
Irene Riggs of Morgantown, who had missed most of the season, returned and easily won the individual title with a time of under 17 minutes with a clocking of 16:56.96.
Morgantown’s Madeline Gump was second with a time of 18:39.05 while University’s Claire von Boetticher was third with a time of 18:46.26.
The state championship meet will be held this Saturday at Cabell Midland.
The Lady Bucs will enter the state meet ranked fourth in Class AAA as four of the top five teams in the state in Class AAA are from Region I.
Morgantown is first while University is third and Preston was fifth.
Falkenstein is ranked third individually while Shreve is 13th in Class AAA.
The results:
TEAM STANDINGS
1. Morgantown 23; 2. University 65; 3. Buckhannon-Upshur 79; 4. Preston 87; 5. John Marshall 138; 6. Bridgeport 156; 7. Wheeling Park 198 (Brooke did not field a complete team).
INDIVIDUAL TOP 5
- Irene Riggs (Morgantown) – 16:56.96.
- Madeline Gump (Morgantown) – 18:39.05.
- Claire von Boetticher (University) – 18:46.26.
- Lydia Falkenstein (Buckhannon-Upshur) – 18:52.24.
- Amelia Summers (Morgantown) – 18:53.62.
LADY BUC RESULTS
Lydia Falkenstein (4th) – 18:52.24.
Samantha Shreve (8th) – 19:19.97.
Mia Sappey (20th) – 21:03.57.
Miah Reger (23rd) – 21:33.61.
Jessica Williams (24th) – 21:37.81.
Brianna Dalton (28th) – 22:29.78.
Pressley Bowers (35th) – 23:38.13.
