Four area runners earn all-state honors

Nov. 4—ONA — He's talented and accomplished, but Aidan Kneeland admits a learning curve still exists as he hopes to keep seeing steady improvement for himself as a distance runner in the coming years.

Kneeland, a Woodrow Wilson High sophomore, placed fourth in the Class AAA portion of Saturday's WVSSAC State Cross Country Championships at Cabell Midland High School, earning all-state honors for the second consecutive season.

He covered the 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) state meet course in a personal best time of 15 minutes, 48.42 seconds on a crisp fall morning as the Class AAA girls and boys got the day-long extravaganza started. Kneeland finished behind winner Ty Steorts (15:27.14) of Hurricane, Aaron Kidd (15:41.21) of Hurricane, and Drew Zundell (15:45.21) of University.

"I went out a little faster than I would have liked," said Kneeland. "I took control the first mile, then I lost some of my momentum going up the hill. It was kind of downhill from there. I tried to pick it back up and have the best race I could."

He said the faster-than-expected initial portion of the race left him struggling a little in the race's latter stages. "The last mile was rough; I paid for it," Kneeland said. "I tried to put everything I had into the last mile and do the best I could.

"I would have liked to win, but I just wanted to have the best race I could have."

As a freshman a year ago, Kneeland placed ninth with a clocking of 17:01.31. Saturday's marked step up from that effort — as well as steady improvement throughout the just-concluded season — should stand him in good stead as his high school career progresses, Kneeland realizes. "It gives me a lot of experience," adding that his future racing should be impacted positively by what has transpired so far.

Brandon Canaday (17:00.82) placed 21st for the Flying Eagles.

In the Class AAA boys team race, University logged a low team score of 39 points to outdistance runner-up Hurricane (56) and the other teams. Woodrow Wilson was seventh with 174 points. "My team did good," said Kneeland. "We all did the best we could."

The individual girls champion was Morgantown's Irene Riggs, whose time of 16:32.32 obliterated the former course record of 17:17.89 set by St. Marys' Maggie Drazba in 2012. Riggs finished more than two minutes ahead of runner-up Audrey Hall (18:34.57) of Hurricane.

With 32 points, the Morgantown girls earned the team spoils. Runner-up University scored 77. Cabell Midland also scored 77, but University's sixth runner was five spots ahead of Cabell Midland's sixth.

The Woodrow Wilson girls (219) were eighth, and the Greenbrier East girls (249) placed ninth. The leading finisher for the Flying Eagle girls was Kyndall Ince, who crossed the line in 21:19.77 to place 33rd. For the Spartans, Abigail Londeree (21:47.82) was 43rd.

Among the local individual finishers in Class AAA were Riverside's Skylar Hudnall (35th in 17:34.44) and Oak Hill's Austin Bias (58th in 18:27.35) in the boys classification, and Oak Hill's Chrissa Mayfield (59th in 22:54.76) in the girls.

Southern West Virginia was represented by three runners who turned in solid all-state podium finishes in Class AA.

In the girls individual race, the Nicholas County tandem of Natalie Barr (20:33.61) and Haley Johnson (20:40.98) went 5-7. On the boys side, Shady Spring's Jaedan Holstein (17:13.12) raced to an eighth place showing. Another high finisher was PikeView's Braden Ward (15th in 17:29.93).

Double-A team champions were the Winfield girls and the Frankfort boys.

Winfield had both individual winners — Ava Ethridge (19:26.17) in the girls race and Brayden Marshall (15:50.11) in the boys.

Leading the local Class A delegation was Summers County's Dakota Pettry (51st) for the boys and James Monroe's Katie Collins (31st) for the girls.

Williamstown won both team titles. Williamstown's Alyssa Sauro (19:01.65) and Wheeling Central's Aidan Scott (16:23.60) grabbed individual wins.

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