RUNNING HARD — Edison’s Josie Lesnansky competes during Saturday’s OVAC Cross Country championships in Cambridge. She placed 14th overall. - Kim North

CAMBRIDGE — On a beautiful morning to run, Wheeling Park’s Brenna Tipton overcame some nervousness to run away from the 182-runner field in the girls portion of the OVAC Cal Pokas Cross Country Championships at the 3.1-mile Cambridge High School course.

Tipton broke the tape in 17-minutes, 54.31-seconds to beat University’s defending champion Abigail Rogers who clocked out in 18:39.41. Tipton was also the Class 5A winner. Martins Ferry’s Alanna Williams was third in 19:02.31.

“It feels really good. I was really nervous this morning, more than normal,” Tipton said afterwards. “I just told myself at the (start) line ‘all I can do is run my own race. That’s what I did and it worked out for me.”‘

Tipton said she was pretty even with Rogers for the first 800 meters, but then slowly pulled away.

“I haven’t run against Abigail or Alanna yet this year. I was really excited today because it was new competition … good competition … but I just ran my own race and it worked out for the best.,” she said.

Tipton was runner up to good friend Rogers in 2024 in a time of 19:06, but not this year.

“I broke 18 (minutes) for the first time this year last Friday with a 17:58, so it felt really good to beat that (mark) again today. I was very excited to run a minute faster today.

“The cooler temperature made it more enjoyable to run, but you still feel like crap when you’re finished,” she said with a smile.

Rounding out the top 5 overall placers were Morgantown’s Lauren Hawkins (19:12.98) and Shenandoah’s Ida Estadt (19:23.56) in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Edison’s Josie Lesnansky was the top finisher in Class 4A in 20:11.71, while Williams took the top spot in Class 3A. The top Class 1A/2A finisher was Shadyside’s Chloe Meholovitch in 19:41.49.

Morgantown, with five runners in the top 13, won the Class 5A team title over city rival University, 46-65. Edison (Class 4A), Bellaire (Class 3A) and Shadyside (Class 1A/2A) also won team crowns.

BOYS

University defended its overall and Class 5A championships with the top three individual finishers and five in the top 32. Ethan Conroy won the race in 15:51.712, while teammates Micah Gainer (16:07.45) and Logan Conroy (16:12.99) were second and third, respectively.

East Liverpool’s Maddox Roach (16:26.89) and Wheeling Park’s Rylan Moore (16:32.75) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Joining the Hawks as team champions were St. Clairsville (Class 4A); Bellaire (Class 3A) and Trinity Christian (Class 1A/2A).

Roach was also the top finisher in Class 4A, along with Bellaire’s Landen Perdue (Class 3A) and Magnolia’s Riley Dennis (Class 1A/2A).

OVAC Cal Pokas Cross Country

Invitational

(at Cambridge H.S.)

BOYS

Team Scoring

Class 5A

1. University 53; 2. Morgantown 98; 3. Warren Local 182; 4. Wheeling Park 236; 5. John Marshall 269; 6. Parkersburg South 302; 7. Brooke 485

Class 4A

1. St. Clairsville 310; 2. Edison 325; 3. Beaver Local 339; 4. East Liverpool 374; 5. Linsly 386; 6. Union Local 514; 7. Indian Creek 552; 8. Cambridge 614; 9. Weir 693

Class 3A

1. Bellaire 222; 2. Martins Ferry 320; 3. Shenandoah 353; 4. Fort Frye 443; 5. Columbiana 491; 6. Barnesville 572

Class 1A/2A

1. Trinity Christian 132; 2. Caldwell 428; 3. Wood County Christian 44; 4. Bridgeport 709

Individual Top 10

Class 5A

1. Ethan Conroy (Univ), 15:51.71; 2. Micah Gainer (Univ), 16:07.45; 3. Logan Conroy (Univ), 16:12.99; 4. Rylan Moore (WP), 16:32.75; 5. Gatlin McLain (PS), 16:39.75; 6. Luke Rettenberger (War), 16:54.82; 7. Joshua Shrewsberry (Morg), 17:12.53; 8. Alex Bishop (War), 17:24.41; 9. James Gipple (Univ), 17:26.84; 10. Timothy Samuel Jr. (Morg), 17:26.99

Class 4A

1. Maddox Roach (EL), 16:26.89; 2. Jakob Schmidt-Weigand (Lin), 16:52.60; 3. Connor Bendo (UL), 16:55.20; 4. Luke Warrick (BvL), 17:09.44; 5. Brody Vulgamore (EL), 17:24.66; 6. George Dormas (StC), 17:53.76; 7. Brayden Biddle (Camb), 18:12.30; 8. Aaron Tucker (StC), 18:23.41; 9. Liam Westfall (ED), 18:26.75; 10. Blaine Hoobler (ED), 18:33.86

Class 3A

1. Landen Perdue (Bell), 16:35.89; 2. Michael Hutnick (WC), 17:13.84; 3. Brody Griffin (FF), 17:30.18; 4. Kaijon Cwerritos (Bell), 17:44.80; 5. Kai Brehm (Bell), 17:47.96; 6. Nicholas Miller (Ferry), 17:51.09; 7. Emmitt Slevin (Shen), 18:12.36; 8. Noah McElroy (Shen), 18:41.84; 9. Joel Tewksbary (Shen), 18:44.30; 10. Eric Hepner (Colum), 18:46.55

Class 1A/2A

1. Riley Dennis (Mag), 17:06.39; 2. Koa Navarro (WCC), 17:12.61; 3. Miles Steptoe (TChr), 17:20.42; 4. Channing Baldwin (TChr), 17:25.61; 5. Harper Jacquez (TChr), 17:49.61; 6. Cash Dobson (SCC), 17:49.90; 7. Alex Sheanshang (Cald), 17:58.68; 8. Aiden Danford (Cald), 17:59.20; 9. Jake Stephens (TChr), 18:03.85; 10. Mason Melohn (TChr), 18:04.78

GIRLS

Team Scoring

Class 5A

1. Morgantown 46; 2. University 65; 3. Parkersburg South 152; 4. Warren 199; 5. Wheeling Park 253; 6. John Marshall 311; 7. Steubenville 4547

Class 4A

1. Edison 216; 2. Linsly 248; 3. Beaver Local 391; 4. St. Clairsville 428; 5. Cambridge 502; 6. Union Local 566

Class 3A

1. Bellaire 152; 2. Martins Ferry 296; 3. Columbiana 331; 4. Barnesville 427; 5. Wheeling Central 517

Class 1A/2A

1. Shadyside 185; 2. Trinity Christian 302; 3. Steubenville Catholic 389; 4. Southern Local 438

Individual Top 120

Class 5A

1. Brenna Tipton (WP), 17:54.31; 2. Abigail Rogers (Univ), 18:39.41; 3. Lauren Hawkins (Morg), 19:12.98; 4. Cara Zundell (Univ), 19:28.55; 5. Zoe Zervos (JM), 19:38.69; 6. Leyland Phillips (Morg), 19:48.96; 7. Megyn Amsler (Morg), 19:50.21; 8. Tumaini Yawe (Morg), 19:51.54; 9. Alyssa McCrady (PS), 20:03.84; 10. Rosalia Biundo (Univ), 20:19.59

Class 4A

1. Josie Lesnansky (ED), 20:11.71; 2. Annabelle Holt (Lin), 21:38.02; 3. Hannah Roberto (BvL), 21:41.40; 3. Parker Sobota (Lin), 21:49.61; 4. Taylor Tucker (StC), 22:11.67; 5. Amelia Kampmeyer (OG), 22:24.69; 6. Georgie Long (BvL), 22:27.16; 7. Teanna Galberth (Lin), 22:28.44; 8. Lydia Krepps (ED), 22:30.64; 9. Annie Board (ED), 22:40.06; 10. Leila Cable (ED), 22:53.07

Class 3A

1. Alanna Williams (Ferry),19:02.31; 2. Ida Estadt (Shen), 19:23.56; 3. Kamdin Snider (Bell), 19:32.55; 4. Kayla Edgar (Bell), 20:45.30; 5. Lyla Blazek (Bell), 21:52.80; 6. Madelyn Jackson (Colum), 22:07.37; 7. Kaitlin Benner (Colum), 22:20.96; 8. Liz Mayer (Bell), 22:34.89; 9. Ireland Jennette (Ferry), 22:40.80; 10. Addy Reed (Barnes), 23:01.69

Class 1A/2A

1. Chloe Meholovitch (Shady), 19:41.49; 2. Gabby Kosky (Shady), 21:05.79; 3. Claire Flannery (SCC), 21:32.51; 4. Emma Hayes (Cald), 21:42.89; 5. Jaylynne Johnson (Shady), 21:55.99; 6. Mara Miller (Southern), 22:06.34; 7. Brianna Blake (TChr), 22:06.64; 8. Amber Perkins (WCC), 22:18.96; 9. Lauren Williams (TChr), 22:24.80; 10. Mary Rohde (SCC0, 22:56.59