CLARKSBURG – The Buckhannon-Upshur Buccaneers placed three runners in the top 20 at the Big 10 Conference Cross-Country Championships Thursday at Robert C. Byrd High School.

Jack Waggy led the Bucs placing an impressive third place with a time of 17:49.66 to earn First Team All-Conference honors.

B-U’s Joey Nolte also earned First Team honors and Alex Sappey earned Second Team honors as Nolte ran 11^th in 18:20.53 while Sappey placed 16^th with a time of 18:45.97.

“Jack had a good bounce back race which helped boost his confidence rolling into regionals,” stated Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Taylor Stacy. “Joey rounded out the last spot for First Team All-Conference and Alex ran really strong to earn Second Team honors.”

The rest of the B-U line-up were Isaac Snodgrass in 36^th (20:05.91), Jeremy Allman in 48^th (21:19.38) and Bryce Mullens in 53^rd (21:41.06).

As a squad, the Bucs placed fourth out of 12 teams with 106 points.

“We had lots of personal bests,” remarked Stacy. “It wasn’t quite the team performance we’ve had in years past but we’re still proud of our team and the way they competed.”

Elkins won the team title with 52 points while Bridgeport was second with 84 and Fairmont Senior was third with 104.

Troy Zorick of Bridgeport won the individual title with a time of 17:27.15 while Nathaniel Struck of East Fairmont was second with a time of 17:46.78.

The Bucs will compete in the Region I Championships this Thursday in Wheeling.

“We hope to earn some spots for states at regionals,” concluded Stacy.