Harrison County Cross Country Championship
From the Oct. 17 edition of The Bridgeport News

by Jeff Toquinto
Editor of The Bridgeport News

Bridgeport’s boys and girls cross country teams both
placed second at the Harrison County Cross Country
championship held Monday at the Veteran’s Park in
Clarksburg.
The boys posted 42 points to finish behind Liberty,
which won the event with a 31. On the girls side,
Bridgeport’s 31 was off the pace of 24 by Robert C.
Byrd.
For the girls, Kate Merinar was the individual winner.
She posted a time of 22 minutes and 23 seconds to win
by more than half a minute. Robert C. Byrd’s Cassie
Werner was runner-up with a time of 22 minutes and 57
seconds.
Other girls finishing in the top 10 were Megan
Shepherd (25 minutes and 51 seconds) in fifth, Kelly
Folio (25 minutes and 57 seconds) in sixth, Rebecca
Rakestraw (29 minutes and 12 seconds) in ninth and
Lara Carraher (30 minutes and 50 seconds) in 10th.
The boys had a pair of runners do well in the event.
Brant Edgell and Ben Booth finished second and third
in the race.
Edgell posted a time of 18 minutes and 1 second, which
was off the winning pace of 17 minutes and 22 seconds
set by Liberty’s Josh Wagner. Booth just missed
topping Edgell for runner-up as he posted a time of 18
minutes and 2 seconds.
Brink Murray came in eighth with a time of 18 minutes
and 57 seconds, while Nick Green was 10th. Green
posted a time of 19 minutes and 35 seconds.
On Saturday, the Indians participated in the Fairmont
Times Invitational in Marion County. The boys finished
18th out of 19 teams with a combined time of 1 hour,
43 minutes and 5.49 seconds.
Edgell was the top runner with a 55th place finish out
of 137 runners. He posted a time of 19 minutes and
2.74 seconds.
The girls team was not listed among the teams
competing. However, the Indians did have individual
runners in the meet.
Merinar was the top finisher for BHS with a 62nd place
finish out of 105 runner. She posted a time of 24
minutes and 37.31 seconds.