Members of the Parkersburg High School boys cross country team will compete in the WVSSAC High School State Cross Country Tournament on Saturday at Cabell Midland High School in Ona. (Photo provided)
PARKERSBURG — Entering his second and fourth year as Parkersburg High School’s head cross country coach, Big Reds coach George Angelos is looking forward to Saturday’s final Mountain State race. I’m so excited.
The red-and-white men and women are not expected to take home team hardware from the state tournament, which will be held at Cabell Midland in Ona, although the competition begins at noon for the girls and 12:45 p.m. for the boys. , suffice it to say. PHS is moving in the right direction.
“Since I’ve been the coach, our middle school program has been in the bottom half of the county, but we really buy into what it takes to have a good program and what it takes to be good at this sport. I got it.” Coach Angelos said the top projections by runwv.com are junior Connor George (8th) and sophomore Morgan Metz (15th).
“We had a lot of kids that bought in and improved themselves, and they’re now one of the top teams in the state.”
And I really appreciate them. ”
The PHS boys defeated runner-up Cabell Midland 47-49 in the Region IV championship, with Parkersburg South’s Josh Gill finishing sixth to qualify for Ona.
The Knights previously defeated the Big Reds 41-43 in the Mountain State Athletic Conference Championship, with George leading the men’s team to a fourth-place finish and the Mets finishing third, helping the women’s team advance to the MSAC runner-up. did.
“We have a really strong group of players, very tight, very dedicated, very focused towards high goals.” Coach Angelos acknowledged that he expects senior Walker Jones and junior Ricardo Salazar to also finish in the top 25.
The boys team will also run seniors Christian Rutherford and Lucas Jenkins, junior Anthony Herrera and freshman Logan Minks.
“Their coaching this year has been really great.” Angelos added. “Their goal is to finish in the top three in every meet during the season and they have achieved that in every meet we have run our top players.
“They met that goal, they met their academic goals. I think the team GPA was 3.9, but right now all we’ve won is a regional championship for the first time in over 20 years and the last 40. It’s only the second time.”
The tight schedule definitely helped.
“We wanted to create a schedule that balanced fun, creativity, and challenge, but we didn’t have a single game other than the one with fewer than 20 teams that was mandatory.” Angelos said. “We wanted to be race-tested at this time of year. We raced in Chicago, which was a monster big race. We had two really big races in Ohio. Les Eisenhart seemed to be one of the top races in Ohio.
“In fact, as a team we compete in North Carolina (Nike Southeast Regional on Nov. 23), the four states on this year’s schedule and our players are battle-tested. They’ve been kind of ignored for most of the year and are ranked number 4, which is their highest ranking all year, but I really feel like they have a chance to continue to shine all year long. As you know, the state tournament is unpredictable and we’re excited that we might be a sleeper.”
The Big Red girls are expected to finish fifth, with seniors Katie Rutherford, Ellie Hines, and Olivia Carpenter, sophomore Audrey Wagoner, and freshmen Kali Angelos and Bree Winans also running. Become.
“Carpenter is scheduled to run this weekend, and (senior) Thea (Bourdeaux) will be her backup.” The coach said he was unable to use Carpenter in the regional tournament.
The PHS girls’ climb continues.
“Our group was the same as the boys.” Coach Angelos continued. “Very focused, very dedicated, very consistent. We obviously have great senior leadership in Katie Rutherford, Ellie Hines, Olivia Carpenter, and freshmen Kari and Bree Winans. Bree was a big surprise and really helped us. Audrey Wagoner is a former county champion. Our girls have been solid all year and just came in and had a great season.
“The Triple-A field is at the top, but it’s very loaded. If you look at University, Morgantown, Cabell, finishing in the top three hasn’t happened in a long time. It’s going to be a big challenge, but we’re chasing. We’re in the top five group, but just as things get weird on Saturday at the state tournament, we’re still struggling with the stability of our team. I’m hoping the sex will go in there and maybe shock some people.”
Although the Big Reds will lose some talented seniors to graduation, Angelos strongly believes the PHS program needs to continue.
“We have to continue to develop runners who love this sport, are talented and want to put in the time.” the coach emphasized.
“We’ve proven with a lot of kids like Bree Winans and Ricardo Salazar and a lot of them that we can develop runners, and we have to continue to do that.”
