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University sweeps at C.C. event in Brooke

WELLSBURG — When it comes to cross country, the first five runners who cross the finish line accumulate the team’s total points for the meet.

However, the next two runners are just as important for a team in case of a tiebreaker. Hence was the case for the Wheeling Park boys team Thursday at the West Virginia Class AAA Region 1 Cross Country Championships at Brooke High School.

With the Patriots and Morgantown at 61 points after five runners, it came down to the sixth runner. With Isaak Murphy crossing the finish line in 23rd, it gave Wheeling Park a second-place finish at the meet and also gave them the opportunity to run at the state meet.

“It’s always good when your guys are disappointed by finishing second,” Wheeling Park coach Jacob Galik said. “We let it get away from us at the beginning. It was obviously a fast course. I could tell right away that we fallen a little bit too far back, and we had to expend a ton of energy to get back into it, which we absolutely did. But, by the time it got her, we were absolutely cooked.”

University came in first place, scoring 33 points and placing its top five runners in the top 10. The top three teams and top 10 individuals get the opportunity to run at state.

Larry Josh Edwards paced the way for the Hawks, winning the race with a time of 15:42.99.

Ronnie Saunders led the way for the Patriots by placing second in a time of 16:10.05. Vincent Diprosperis came up huge for the Patriots as he placed in the top 10, finishing seventh in a time of 16:45.43.

“But, having said that, a couple guys PR’d (personal record). (Vincent) Diprosperis had a huge race for us. Brenden stepped up for us. Murph broke the tie to get us to finish second. Those other guys, Ronnie, Quintin and C.J., they’ll have better days next week at states. And, like I said, it’s always good when you are a little bit disappointed by finishing second.”

With Saunders finishing second, it was the first time this season that he was not the first person to cross the finish line when he was in the field. Going into Thursday, he had secured six straight victories to start the season.

While Saunders stated he did not run his best race, the humbled senior was happy that he will be able to travel to Ona next weekend with his teammates.

On the girls’ side, John Marshall’s Zara Zervos punched her ticket to Ona. The sophomore came in sixth place as she clocked in at 19:21.79. It’s the first time that she will be running at state in cross country,

“I’m so excited,” Zervos said. “Because last year at regionals, I had a really bad race and it really upset me. But that just gave me the motivation to push through this year as hard as I could and I’m so glad that it paid off and that I’m going.”

Zervos work was not done for the day. After her race, Zervos and her family traveled back to Wheeling Island Stadium for her to put on the soccer uniform as the Monarchs faced Wheeling Park in the West Virginia Class AAA Region One, Section One championship.

The University girls also won the meet with a team score of 28. The Hawks placed five runners in the top 10. Morgantown placed second followed by Preston in third.

Zoe Shetty of University won the race with a time of 17:51.20.

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