Local Sports

Luke Rettenberger defends home course as Warriors sweep Scenic Hills Invite

VINCENT -- A slippery track welcomed Saturday morning's participants at the Warren Scenic Hills Invitational which witnessed Warrior senior Luke Rettenberger defend his title while Ravenswood's Gwyn Gorrell topped the field for her first career varsity win.

Rettenberger, who was eighth as a freshman and runner-up as a sophomore, had a 1-2 finish with classmate Alex Bishop as the Warriors topped Morgan, 46-67, to secure their fourth consecutive team crown.

"I like this course," admitted Rettenberger, who finished in 16 minutes and 9 seconds. "I enjoyed running through the mud in the back corner. I think it's a good amount of challenge. I think we did really well with designing it this year.

"I was just aiming, obviously, to win every single time, but I was aiming to go under 16. I didn't get that today, but I think I just got out of whack with getting delayed (30 minutes) because I was prepping to race at 9:30."

Bishop made a charge late in the race to earn runner-up status with a time of 17 minutes and 16 seconds, which was 11 ticks faster than Eli Casto of Ripley.

Warren's Nick Bishop finished 10th with a time of 18:27 and the Warriors of head man Tony Zalenski also received scoring efforts from Kyler Robey (16th, 18:59) and Caden Arnold (17th, 19:15).

"I've been sick for the past week," admitted Alex Bishop. "It got to the point in my head where I was in the second mile and I was like 'man, it would be great to go one-two with Luke,' so I just kicked it up the last mile and a half and I'll get the guy.

"Actually, he (Casto) was in front of me for like the first mile, mile and a half, but I had my mentality and I wanted to go one and two with my teammate."

Bishop, who finished ahead of Doddridge County's Cory Swentzel (4th, 17:41), Samuel Gola (6th, 17:44) and Colton Key (7th, 17:54) as well as Morgan's Carson Steimer (5th, 17:43), Belpre's Drew Williams (8th, 18:18) and Ravenwood's Kaden Gray (9th, 18:24), enjoyed the challenge.

"Honestly, there are a few spots that are really, really muddy, but everything else if you pick the right spot you get by pretty dry," admitted the Warrior.

"There are some spots you can't even see and it's just watery, and you step in it and you are like 'woah.'"

Pate was aiming for a repeat like Rettenberger, but had to settle for a runner-up effort after finishing in 21:39, which was eight seconds behind the pace of Gorrell.

The Warren girls secured a repeat team title by topping Fort Frye, 22-62, as Pate was joined in the top 10 by fellow Warriors Camryn Edgell (4th, 21:53) and Adilynn Greenup (5th, 22:02).

"It was pretty muddy in spots," said Pate, who watched teammates Violet Gibson (12th, 24:10) and Suzanna Whipkey (14th, 24:57) account for the team scoring. "It was a little tough to keep your footing and stay on the course. I was just out to have fun because I knew it would be wet and muddy.

"It's my last time running here so I just wanted to have good memories about it and have a good team. I'm really excited for this year. I think there's a good chance we can make it to state and have a really good year. Just trying to make the most of every race and have fun."

Gorrell, who earned Class AA all-state honors last fall after finishing fifth at the state meet, also was under the weather.

"This is the first time," Gorrell said of running at Warren. "It was a little mushy. It was pretty good. There were a lot of good hills and the puddles were fun for the most part."

The Ravenswood senior said everything was great aside from being sick with a sinus infection.

"I was just trying to finish," she added. "We were together for like the first mile and a half."

RHS head coach Bryan Canterbury was more than pleased with the effort of Gorrell, who added of not having 2025 state champion and former teammate Riley Sotomayor around "it's a little confusing to be by myself this year. I've just been running with the boys."

Canterbury admitted "I'm really proud of her. She's been a very consistent runner her whole career, but she's just gotten better and better. She's a very strong runner. Last year about midseason we worked hard on her speed and she's gotten to where she can really be confident in her ability to pick it up at different places in the race.

"She ran track last year and that really helped her. I'm pleased. She's in a good position right now. Last year she gained a lot of confidence from the state meet. Early in the year she's finding it hard because Riley's gone and she lost her training partner."

Morgan's Elana Wilson clocked in at 21 minutes and 49 seconds to finish third.

Also posting top 10 efforts were Ripley's Lanie Knopp (6th, 22:55), Morgan's Iva Heagen (7th, 23:14), Federal Hocking's Elsie Amlin (8th, 23:17), Doddridge County's Emily Cottrill (9th, 23:27) and Belpre's Ellie Whitlatch (10th, 23:32).

The Belpre girls finished six points off the pace of Fort Frye's runner-up showing while Morgan's boys nipped third-place Doddridge County by two points.

"We were telling each other at Broughton's 'let's go one-two," Rettenberger added of getting it done this week with his senior teammate. "Didn't get that. He got third. I didn't see him at all this week. He was sick.

"He showed up and he got it done. I heard he was back a couple places so he definitely had to work his way up. We got Zane Trace next weekend. I've never ran there. I hear it's pretty challenging, but I like the challenge. I enjoy it."

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

Warren Scenic Hills Invite

BOYS TEAM SCORES: Warren 46, Morgan 67, Doddridge County 69, Ravenswood 107, Ripley 114, Belpre 143, Fort Frye 148, Waterford 195

Top 10

1. Luke Rettenberger (War) 16:09, 2. Alex Bishop (War) 17:16, 3. Eli Casto (Rip) 17:27, 4. Cory Swentzel (DC) 17:41, 5. Carson Steimer (M) 17:43, 6. Samuel Gola (DC) 17:44, 7. Colton Key (DC) 17:54, 8. Drew Williams (B) 18:18, 9. Kaden Gray (RW) 18:24, 10. Nick Bishop (War) 18:27

Other Placers

11. Rylan Tom (M) 18:32, 12. Jordan Blackburn (M) 18:39, 13. Jose Andrade (RW) 18:53, 14. Brandon Haines (M) 18:54, 15. John Cruz Clendenin (Rip) 18:57, 16. Kyler Robey (War) 18:59, 17. Caden Arnold (War) 19:15, 18. Tyson Franchino (WF) 19:22, 19. Cayleb Amos (DC) 19:23, 20. Caleb Yost (War) 19:24, 21. Wyatt Blower (FH) 19:30, 22. Kian McGoskey (RW) 19:40, 23. Ben Rettenberger (War) 19:41, 24. Hunter Barnes (War) 19:42, 25. Paxton Hudnall-Bolian (B) 19:43, 26. Maddox Crum (B) 19:56, 27. Owen Lahmers (M) 20:03, 28. Jude Kehl (FF) 20:06.51, 29. Ethan Huffman (FF) 20:06.85, 30. Isiah Nesselroad (RW) 20:19..23, 31. Tyler Wine (Rip) 20:19.75, 32. Eli Reynolds (War) 20:22, 33. Collin McCurdy (FFF) 20:34, 34. Brody Griffin (FF) 20:35

35. Grayson Rothrock-Donohew (Rip) 20:47, 36. Easton Morgan (War) 20:50, 37. Reed Modesitt (DC) 20:58, 38. Coen McCurdy (FF) 21:04, 39. Ben Neal (Rip) 21:16, 40. Cole McGoskey (RW) 21:19, 41. Declan Schaad (FF) 21:22, 42. Spencer Long (FF) 21:23, 43. Landry Turner (DC) 21:26, 44. Landon Strahler (WF) 21:32, 45. Brayden McDaniel (B) 21:53, 46. Denny Knapp (DC) 22:06, 47. Nas Bowman (M) 22:09, 48. Logan Norman (War) 22:30, 49. Ethan Lorentz (War) 22:47, 50. Austin Eagleson (DC) 23:26, 51. Braylen Blind (FF) 24:15, 52. Cashus Wilson (WF) 24:16, 53. Garin Schaad (WF) 24:42, 54. Preston Wilson (M) 24:51, 55. Noah Garbo (B) 25:43, 56. Aaron Sehaad (WF) 25:56, 57. Brady Schwendeman (War) 27:14, 58. Ronnie Riley (FH) 28:48, 59. Tyler Walker (War) 29:03

GIRLS TEAM SCORES: Warren 22, Fort Frye 62, Belpre 68, Federal Hocking 73

Top 10

1. Gwyn Gorrell (RW) 21:31, 2. Ashlee Pate (War) 21:39, 3. Elana Wilson (M) 21:49, 4. Camryn Edgell (War) 21:53, 5. Adilynn Greenup (War) 22:02, 6. Lanie Knopp (Rip) 22:55, 7. Iva Heagen (M) 23:14, 8. Elsie Amlin (FH) 23:17, 9. Emily Cottrill (DC) 23:27, 10. Ellie Whitlatch (B) 23:32

Other placers

11. Lydia Huck (FF) 24:05, 12. Violet Gibson (War) 24:10, 13. Gabby Campbell (B) 24:36, 14. Suzanna Whipkey (War) 24:57, 15. Alexis McVey (RW) 25:09, 16. Elliot Handley (FF) 25:10, 17. Heather Phelps (FF) 25:11, 18. Mackenzie Foster (FH) 25:24, 19. Katelyn McCune (Rip) 25:30, 20. Anna Miller (B) 26:00, 21. Ellie Needs (FH) 26:09, 22. Mia Fluharty (War) 26:10, 23. Olivia Letart (Rip) 26:22, 24. Caroline Rehl (War) 26:35, 25. Audrey Witten (FF) 26:38

26. Arabella Beasley (FF) 26:44, 27. Olivia Stark (War) 26:49, 28. Aven Tacy (Frontier) 26:53, 29. Addy Stewart (B) 27:05.96, 30. Spencer Thieman (FF) 27:05.98, 31. Payton Lahmers (M) 27:46, 32. Marley Sias (DC) 28:33, 33. Eve INgles (FH) 30:13, 34. Kyrie Osterland (FH) 30:40, 35. Harper Rogers (B) 31:11, 36. Emma Griesmyer (M) 31;34, 37. Adelyn Groves (Rip) 31:43, 38. Peyton Amlin (FH) 32:03, 39. Adalyn Eichmiller (WF) 32:22, 40. Navaeh Collins (FF) 40:56, 41. Julia Osborne (DC) 43:19

MIDDLE SCHOOL

BOYS

TEAM SCORES: Morgan 42, Warren 47, Doddridge County 50, Ravenswood 77

1. Ayden Sachetta (DC) 11:50, 2. Ezra Heagan (M) 11:58, 3. Bentley Sachetta (DC) 12:11, 4. Isaiah Lupardus (FF) 12:20, 5. Austin Baldwin (M) 12:51, 6. Sam Frazier (FH) 13:18, 7. Owen Ramey (War) 13:29, 8. Owen Duff (M) 13:30, 9. Tucker Powers (War) 13:31, 10. Jonah Stump (RW) 13:35, 11. Lewis Miller (B) 13:58, 12. Samuel Griesmyer (M) 14:08, 13. London Spung (War) 14:16, 14. Jacob Swiger (War) 14:23, 15. Wyatt Shockey (RW) 14:332, 16. Maverick Jones (DC) 14:41, 17. Isaac Goff (War) 14:49, 18. Jase Adams (DC) 14:50, 19. Haiden Milligan (FF) 14:59, 20. Tyler Taylor (RW) 15:09, 21. Ayden Price (RW) 15:18, 22. Zayne Russell (WF) 15:29, 23. Rowan Lowe (DC) 15:40, 24. Isaac Ingles (FH) 15:42, 25. Colbie Amos (DC) 15:47, 26. Blair Sulfridge (War) 16:00, 27. Ace Hall (M) 16:06, 28. Lucas Jackson (War) 16:22, 29. Bryce Herndon (DC) 16:25, 30. Logan Williams (FF) 16:52, 31. Alexander Puhlman (DC) 18:08, 32. Liam Mahoney (War) 18:23, 33. Sylar Doty (DC) 18:39, 34. Gunnar Charleston (War) 19:15, 35. Peyton Price (RW) 19:36, 36. Calvin Cox (DC) 21:03, 37. Jack McMillan (DC) 22:11, 38. Jamal Casto (RW) 22:59

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES: Warren 32, Morgan 48, Fort Frye 74, Doddridge County 77

1. Isabelle Jones (M) 11:47, 2. Harper Jones (M) 11:58, 3. Catore Waller (FF) 12:56, 4. Allie Reeder (War) 13:36, 5. Kiyra Daniels (RW) 13:47, 6. Naomi Clever (FH) 14:15, 7. Rylann Thatcher (War) 14:32, 8. Kennedy Staats (War) 14:36, 9. Monroe Holland (M) 14:52, 10. Emma Stump (RW) 14:57, 11. Molly Greenup (War) 14:59, 12. Peyton Phillips (FH) 15:09, 13. Brenna Cole (War) 15:17, 14. Layken Starkey (DC) 15:37, 15. Kayleigh Huck (FF) 15:39, 16. Brynn Rel (War) 16:13, 17. Paisley Skinner (War) 16:17, 18. Honor Farr (DC) 16:44, 19. Rowen Fluharty (War) 16:48, 20. Vivian Reich (FF) 16:53, 21. Alexis Goff (DC) 17:44, 22. Avery Scott (M) 17:54, 23. Alayna Strano (DC) 18:01, 24. Piper Allen (War) 18:30, 25. Tegwin McMillan (DC) 18:56, 26. Ella Powers (War) 19:18, 27. Kada Wise (RW) 19:19, 28. Lyla Cork (DC) 19:56, 29. Grace Gifford (M) 20:39, 30. Monroe Maine (RW) 22:13, 31. Aisley Hutchins (FF) 22:33, 32. Kyndyl Bauerbach (FF) 22:39, 33. Aria Billman (War) 23:38, 34. Payton Insley (War) 29:50