KINGWOOD – Buckhannon-Upshur’s Lydia Falkenstein is the 2022 Big 10 Conference champion after winning the cross country conference race Thursday evening at Preston High School.

Falkenstein clocked a winning time of 19:19.3, defeating 93 other runners.

Teammate Samantha Shreve ran third with a time of 20:06.1.

Both Falkenstein and Shreve earned First Team All-Conference honors.

Unfortunately for the Lady Bucs, they were edged out of first place by Preston. Preston claimed the team title with 60 points while the Lady Bucs settled for runner-up honors with 62 points.

Jessica Williams ran 18^th for the Lady Bucs in 21:38.2 and Mia Sappey placed 19^th in 21:51.9. Both runners earned Second Team All-Conference honors.

The fifth scorer for the Lady Bucs was Miah Reger who claimed 21^st with a time of 22:00.5.

“Obviously it was not the result we wanted with the girls but it’s not the end for us,” remarked Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Taylor Stacy. “The Preston girls got us by two points so we know we’ll have our work cut out for us to make states next week at regionals. I’m really happy with how we performed. All the thanks goes to the kids for their hard work and effort over the season. We’re in a good position to make some noise at regionals next week and we’re excited to do just that.”

Buckhannon-Upshur will compete in the Region I championships next Thursday at Brooke High School.