The St. Marys girls cross country team won the Class AA state title on Saturday at Cabell Midland. (Photo courtesy WVSSAC)

ONA – The St. Marys girls, who received first team all-state efforts from Anna Bennett and Savana Burd, claimed the Class A state championship here Saturday at Cabell Midland as the Blue Devils had more than enough to outdistance Trinity, 57-68.

“A complete team performance from one to six to win the state championship,” stressed SMHS boss Steven Nutter. “These amazing young women have worked hard each and every day to become champions. These six ladies are strong, kind and fierce young women that we coaches are blessed to have the opportunity to coach. We are so proud of their performances across the board.

“Anna Bennett (3rd, 20:44) had a season for the record books while topping it off with her third straight all-state performance. Anna is an incredible athlete and a fierce competitor that has had success in all her high school endeavors. I am thankful that I get to run with her at practice daily. She has made me a better coach and person along the way. Anna will continue to achieve greatness in whatever she puts her mind to.”

Charleston Catholic’s Bella Boggs (19:55) repeated as state champ and capped her career as a four-time first team honoree. She finished 30 seconds ahead of Ritchie County runner-up Bentlee Williams.

Aside from Burd, three other area runners made the top 10 in Calhoun County’s Paige Sterns (8th, 21:56) as well as Wood County Christian teammates Elliot Handley (9th, 22:01) and Amber Perkins (10th, 22;15).

“Savana Burd fought through some adversity the last few weeks to put some fantastic races together becoming the eighth all-stater in school history,” noted Nutter, whose girls also had scoring efforts from second teamer Maddie Smith (19th, 23:32) along with Brooklyn Davis (23rd, 23:56) and Mariah Whitlock (24th, 24:07), while Sidni Gerlach finished 25th (24:14). “Savana puts time and effort into being a great runner on a daily basis and was rewarded for it with her performance at the state meet.

“She is a phenomenal runner along with being a special human that has lifted the entire team by her words of guidance the last few weeks. Maddie Smith pushed to a second team all-state performance with an incredible finish on the track taking two key spots in the team race. Maddie is one tough cookie who is always running through pain to assure team success.”

While Williams helped lead the Rebels, who watched Cassandra Hardbarger finish in 22nd (23:55), to fourth place as a team, Wirt County finished right behind in fifth, 91-93, and had a pair of podium finishers in second team all-staters Allison Bumgarner (13th, 22:53) and Kinsley Nicolais (15th, 23:06).

“We fell short of some of our goals, but overall had a good day. Having both teams making it to the state meet was a blessing,” stated Tiger head coach Nathan Edwards..

“This is my first year having athletes on the podium. It has been a lot of fun coaching this group of athletes and we will miss our seniors next year.”

Senior Bryce Bills placed third for St. Marys with a time of 17:01 to help the Pleasants County gang finish third.

“He had an amazing day competing for the state title from start to finish,” added Nutter, who watched Charleston Catholic’s Peter Basdekis (16:54) and Will Barton (17:00) produce a one-two effort. “He was determined and focused from the start to run his race and put himself in position to win. What he has done coming off a major knee surgery in the spring is impressive. His abilities on race day and his leadership at practice will be missed.

“The boys stepped up their racing the last three weeks and really turned some heads. We have a ton of young guns racing for us and they have been phenomenal through the championship season. The boys have put a ton of miles in together and grew as a family from the start of the season to now. They were beaten by two tremendous teams (Charleston Catholic, 44; Trinity, 58) that have been at the top of the class all season. Excited to have many of these boys back competing at this level in the years to come.”

Also finding their way to the first team podium in single-A were Wood County Christian’s Koa Navarro (4th, 17:20), Blue Devil Parker Barnes (7th, 17:25), Magnolia’s Riley Dennis (8th, 17:35) and Wirt County’s Matthew Balis (9th, 17:38).

“Parker Barnes had an incredible race that put him in the history books at SMHS becoming the 18th all-state athlete,” continued coach Nutter.

“He put himself in a good position through the mile and kept grinding to the finish. He is the hardest worker in the program and it is amazing to see him have the success that he did.”

The Ritchie County boys, who placed fourth overall, were paced by second team efforts from Jenner Stewart (16th, 18:09) and Kenson Roman (17th, 18:12).

Rebel teammate Blake Seese (23rd, 18:38) as well as Calhoun County’s Jackson Clawson (21st, 18:36) and Blue Devil Caden Kimball (25th, 18:55) cracked the top 25.