South’s McCrady cruises to women’s two-mile title
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PARKERSBURG - The best expectations are the ones never made.
Parkersburg South sophomore Alyssa McCrady is proof positive.
Competing in the two-mile portion of Saturday's Parkersburg News and Sentinel Half Marathon and Two-Mile road race, McCrady won the women's division by a substantial margin after finishing in a time of 12:34.
The 15-year-old admitted she used the event as a training run for the upcoming high school cross country season.
"Probably just more training - life weightlifting and working hard," McCrady explained as the difference from past two-mile races - something she participated in since elementary."Honestly I was a bit excited about running today, but I wasn't too worried about it. Our season starts next week, so it was more about training for that."
South cross country teammate Haley Raper placed third in a time of 12:50 and sandwiched in between those girls was runner-up Zady Hasse representing the eight-member team called "Running Society of Wakefield Drive." Otherwise known as her grandmother's address in Parkersburg.
Hasse, who resides in Philadephia and is a sophomore who attends Kenyon College where she plays field hockey. Her two-mile time on Saturday topped out at 12:48.
"This is my first time in a couple years doing the two-mile," said Hasse, who visits family during the summer and makes the Parkersburg News and Sentinel Half Marathon an annual event. "I play field hockey in school, so I have preseason coming up. I didn't want to be tired for that.
"I ran track in high school, too, but I kind of let that go. I've been training this summer to stay in shape.Today, I just wanted to run as fast as I could. I really didn't know what I was going to go time-wise."
The "Wakefield Drive" society representatives keep the race light. Competitivenes is out the window.
"Coming to Parkersburg is such a fun race to run. Everyone is cheering you along the way. We usually stick around for the parades and sometimes do breakfast at the Blennerhassett."
As for the race itself and how the female contingent jockeyed for position, McCrady didn't pay particular attention to where her peers were situated once she established a lead.
"I am really proud of the win, definitely,"McCrady said. "I was not expecting that. I took a break after track season then did a good amount of running over the summer. I did a running cam in Canaan Valley. The weather was nice up there. Today was definitely humid."