St. Marys' Mariah Whitlock (999) and Brooklyn Davis (905) finished ninth and 11th, respectively, during Saturday's Class A, Region I championship as the Blue Devils won the team title. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

ST. MARYS – Wood County Christian’s Koa Navarro topped the field here Saturday at the Class A, Region I championship while host St. Marys grabbed both of the team titles with Anna Bennett taking the crown.

Navarro finished in 16:05, which was nine seconds faster than runner-up Blue Devil Bryce Bills and a baker’s dozen ticks quicker than Magnolia third-place finisher Riley Dennis.

The Blue Devil girls (22) as well as runner-up Ritchie County (47) and Wheeling Central (64) now advance to the state meet at Cabell Midland.

Bennett, who clocked in at 18:38, was followed in scoring by fellow Blue Devils Savana Burd (3rd, 20:27), Maddie Smith (8th, 22:09), Mariah Whitlock (9th, 22:30) and Sidni Gerlach (22:37).

The Wood County Christian girls had state qualifiers thanks to Amber Perkins (4th, 20:48) and Elliot Handley (6th, 21:29).

Wood County Christian's Koa Navarro won Saturday's Class A, Region I championship at St. Marys with a time of 16 minutes and 5 seconds. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Also finishing in the top 10 were Ritchie County runner-up Bentlee Williams (19:01), Madonna’s Sophia Soly (5th, 21:10) and Wheeling Central’s Ila Hutnic (7th, 21:37).

Aside from Williams, the Rebels had scoring efforts thanks to Cassandra Hardbarger (12th, 22:41), Charlee Haddox (14th, 23:27), Taylor Krolick (15th, 24:30) and Payton Bartlett (16th, 25:02).

Bills had fellow scoring teammates in Parker Barnes (5th, 16:53), Desmond Parks (9th, 17:17), Wyatt Payne (10th, 17:38) and Carter Sole (11th, 17:39) as SMHS topped Ritchie County (44) and the Wildcats (74).

“The goal was just to get a big PR,” admitted Navarro. “I just wanted to stick with Bryce because I knew he was going to go out to the front immediately.

“I just wanted to stick right behind him and then about a mile and a half in I just knew I had it, and I just took it. It’s really nice for us to have a full team to go. It’s the first time ever.”

St. Marys' Anna Bennett won Saturday's Class A, Region I championship on her home course with a time of 18 minutes and 38 seconds. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

While Navarro led the way, Wildcats Holden Misel (14th, 18:04), Dane Stewart (16th, 18:13), Garrett Boardman (23rd, 19:49) and Isaac Sheppard (24th, 19:50) also factored in the team scoring.

The five fastest times not on a winning team punched their ticket to the final weekend of the season. Dennis, Wheeling Central’s Michael Hutnick (4th, 16:41) and fellow Blue Eagles Parker Werkau (19th, 19:04), Alex Yeager (20th, 19:09) and Nicholas Matheney (22nd, 19:30) made the cut.

Ritchie County landed three in the top 10 – Kenson Roman (6th, 16:56), Jenner Stewart (7th, 17:04), Blake Seese (8th, 17:11) – to earn first team All-Region honors while the Rebels also had scoring runs via Seth Cronin (13th, 17:58) and Remi Jones (15th, 18:09).

“Those top three guys battled the entire race. Koa, Riley Dennis, Bryce from start to finish. Koa pulled ahead with about 1,000 meters and brought it home strong,” admitted SMHS head coach Steven Nutter. “Phenomenal day across the board for the Blue Devils. Anna Bennett running 18:38 out here with a little hamstring issue is unbelievable.

“Our middle pack of girls and boys were the tale of the tape today. They got it done. Both sides ran phenomenal and closed the gaps. It was a great effort across the board. Ritchie County has a phenomenal boys team and we were lucky enough to hold them off today, and Wheeling Central and Ritchie on the girls side also have been coming on. Great day to be a Blue Devil. Very proud of each kid.”

Wood County Christian's Amber Perkins finished fourth during Saturday's Class A, Region I championship at St. Marys. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

St. Marys' Bryce Bills and Magnolia's Riley Dennis finished runner-up and third place, respectively, during Saturday's Class A, Region I championship. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

The St. Marys boys topped runner-up Ritchie County, 33-44, to win Saturday's Class A, Region I championship. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)