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MINERAL WELLS – Tyler Consolidated's Travis Moore and Anna Bennett from St. Marys topped their respective fields here Thursday at the Wood County 4-H Campgrounds during the Little Kanawha Conference cross country championships, while the Buffalo boys and Ritchie County girls emerged as the team victors.
Ritchie County freshman Layla Devereux pushed the Blue Devil senior Bennett throughout, but the Rebel came up just short, 19:28 to 19:34.
The Rebels, who last captured an LKC title back in 2007 when Aly Carpenter led the way with a first-place showing, finished ahead of the Blue Devils, who won it last year, 51-66.
"I was definitely happy with my finish, especially because she was right beside me the whole time and I was getting nervous," admitted Bennett. "I was like 'well, it's good competition and I have to race her two more times, too,' so I was like 'welp, I guess I'm going to have to race really, really hard the next couple of times.'
"I knew she was going to be coming. She was right on me the whole time. They just kept yelling Anna and Layla and I was like 'welp, this is how the race is going to be.' Honestly, I try not to think about my races that much. Just think about it the day of so I don't get too nervous about it."
Devereux was joined on the All-LKC first unit by teammates Jayden Primm (10th, 21:42) and Cassandra Hardbarger (11th, 21:47). Also scoring for the Rebels were second team All-LKC honoree Abby Hardbarger (15th, 22:39) and Charlee Haddox, who finished 25th with a time of 23:23.
"It was good, but it was still muddy," Devereux said of the conditions. "My thought was to try and beat her honestly. Trying to stay as close to her as I can. She just got me on that last kick, so next time I'm going to learn to pass her earlier.
"On the first lap I was further behind her and I caught up to her and I tried to stay with her, and then she just got me on that kick."
The defending Class A state champion Blue Devils had second team All-LKC showings from Savana Burd (16th, 22:43), Madelyn Smith (17th, 22:45) and Anna Roush (22nd, 23:20), while Sidni Gerlach (27th, 23:32) accounted for the final team scorer.
Bennett was joined as a four-time first team All-LKC performer by Williamstown's Cassie Sites, who edged Bennett by four seconds a year ago at St. Marys, but had to settle for third after crossing in 20 minutes and 24 seconds. WHS edged Braxton County, 70-74, to place third.
Also earning first team status for the girls were Clay County's Marissa Atha (4th, 20:44), Calhoun County's Brooke Tingler (5th, 20:52), Braxton County's Leah Payne (6th, 20:56) and Reece Carpenter (8th, 21:17), Ravenswood's Gwyn Gorrell (7th, 21:03), Williamstown's Raeley Perdue (9th, 21:34) and Gilmer County's Paige Sterns (12th, 22:03).
Buffalo was led to its first LKC crown by Zack Miller's ninth-place clocking of 17 minutes and 35 seconds. The Bison, who amassed 75 points to fend off Ravenswood (98) and Williamstown (103), had five All-LKC second team efforts thanks to Brody Shockey (13th, 17:57), Terrance Wiseman (14th, 18:00), Ronnie Blackshire (17th, 18:11), Kolton Burnside (22nd, 18:27) and Brennan Grady (24th, 18:35).
Runner-up Ravenswood was paced by Jose Andrade, who ran a 17:29, which was good for seventh. The Red Devils also had a first team All-LKC effort from Mason Kerns (12th, 17:53). Kaden Gray was second team All-LKC after taking 15th with a time of 18 minutes and 5 seconds, while Johnny Heath (27th, 18:44) and Isiah Nesselroad (38th, 19:20) rounded out the team scoring.
"I feel pretty excited and I'm kind of sad that it's ending," admitted Moore, who was 10th as a freshman, eighth as a sophomore and runner-up to teammate Amos Kimble at the 2025 LKC. "Really excited about this season so far. It was really rough. I slipped a lot. The hill was pretty rough when I was coming down. It was really muddy and wet."
Moore, who finished in first for the seventh time this season, trailed Navarro for part of the race.
"I think whenever we got past the mile and a half mark I pretty much lost him," added Moore, who is still searching for a college home.
"I felt pretty confident. I have been really confident about this season. My plans are to just keep working hard and work toward the goal of keep getting first."
St. Marys, which got a 2-3 finish thanks to Koa Navarro (16:50) and Parker Barnes (17:01) while teammate Wyatt Payne made second team after placing 19th with a time of 18:21, finished fourth overall and were five points behind the 'Jackets.
"This course I've never had a lot of luck on so I was not really looking for a time, just really placing," said Navarro. "I stuck with Travis for a while, which is nice. I've never stuck with him that long.
"It was really muddy. I was really happy with the time I ran. That's a lot faster than I've run in the past years. With these conditions that's great. Showing good signs for states and regionals coming up."
Doddridge County's Cory Swentzel (4th, 17:20) and Samuel Gola (8th, 17:34) along with Ritchie County's Jenner Stewart (5th, 17:23) and Kenson Roman (11th, 17:43) were joined on the All-LKC first team by Yellowjacket Gavin Wilburn (6th, 17:26), and Silver Knight Brody Nice (10th, 17:38).
Both Barnes and Gola became three-time All-LKC first team performers.
The remaining second team All-LKC honorees for the boys went to Braxton County's Ira Ransbottom (16th, 18:09) and Hunter Rich (23rd, 18:29), Williamstown's Brody Pickens (18th, 18:14) and Chase Pickering (21st, 18:25) along with Doddridge County's Colton Key (20th, 18:23).
Braxton County's Chelsea Payne ran a 22:13 and finished 10 seconds off the pace of Sterns, who nabbed the final first team spot. The remainder of the All-LKC second team featured Williamstown's Kendall Gant (14th, 22:21), Wirt County teammates Kinsley Nicolais (18th, 22:46) and Allison Bumgarner (23rd, 23:21) along with Buffalo's Grace Taylor (19th, 22:54), Roane County's Addie Taylor (21st, 23:13) as well as Webster County teammates Sophie Skidmore (20th, 23:03) and Sydney Adkison (24th, 23:22).
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com