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Ferry, Bellaire take team titles in cross country

Rick Thorp RUNING DOWN A DREAM — Indian Creek’s Athanasius Sirilla finished fifth in 17:28 at Tuesday’s Ohio Valley Cross Country League race at Buckeye Local High School.

RAYLAND — Tuesday’s Ohio Valley Cross Country League opener had little in the way of drama — as far as the front of the high school races were concerned.

Martins Ferry’s Jacob Bishop and Bellaire’s Shaye Beckett each cruised to individual crowns on the grounds of Buckeye Local High School to lead their respective teams to victories in an early litmus test for 13 local schools.

Bishop crossed the finish line in 16:31, while Beckett did so in 20:53 under scorching sunny skies.

”It was hot,” Bishop said, sweat dropping off his brow moments after cross the finish line.

”It was nice to get a win, start the season with a victory and take it from here.”

The boys’ race began with a large group of runners in a pack. But it quickly became evident the Purple Rider senior was, again, going to be heads and shoulders above his competition.

”I kind of backed off a little bit,” he said. ”I was starting to feel a little fatigued, but you have to expect that with this heavy heat.”

Martins Ferry head coach Chrissy Lewis echoed Bishop’s sentiment that the season-opening meet was a dress rehearsal, in a sense, for Saturday’s power-laden Claymont Invitational. There, the Purple Riders will be competing against some Division I foes.

”I’m pretty happy with it,” Lewis smiled. ”We’re still a long ways from where I’d like to be, but we’re moving in the right direction.”

All of five of the Purple Riders’ runners that scored finished in the top nine. Martins Ferry finished with 24 points, with Harrison Central (68) and Bellaire (92) second and third, respectively. St. Clairsville was fourth with 96 points.

”My No. 2 guy (Kevin Simpson) ran really well and, actually, Nick Simpson has been working really hard and I expect him to move up a lot more in the next few races.”

Simpson was third (17:09), while Marcus Clark was sixth (17:55) for the Purple Riders. Nick Simpson was eighth (18:22.1), while Ozy Gil was ninth (18:22.8).

”He ran a really good race,” Lewis said of Gil, a sophomore.

Harrison Central’s Zack Henry was second in 16:56, while Linsly’s Andrew Weiss was fourth (17:14). Indian Creek’s Athanasius Sirilla took fifth (17:28), while the Huskies duo of Keishi Arnold (18:17) and Sam McClelland (18:22.9) was seventh and 10th, respectively.

Beckett’s victory was the first varsity triumph for the senior. Her time was about 20 seconds short of her personal best achieved two years ago at Meadowbrook.

”I wasn’t confident going into it,” she humbly said. ”But once I started coming around (the last turn) I felt like I was under control.”

Did she ever. Beckett bested her teammate — Taylor Stoner — by nearly 27 seconds to secure the triumph.

”That’s awesome for Shaye,” Bellaire head coach Chris Arno said. ”She has put a lot of time in to get a win like that.”

For Beckett, picking up a team victory made her victory much sweeter.

”We’ll push each other all season,” she said.

Beckett controlled most of the race and furthered her lead as it went on. By the time it ended, her, Stoner and Martins Ferry’s Olivia Walton (third, 21:42) had separated themselves quite a bit from each other.

”I wasn’t expecting to be in the 20s,” Beckett said of her time.

The Big Reds, also competing at Claymont on Saturday, finished with 27 points as all of of their runners finished in the top 11. Martins Ferry was second (51), followed by St. Clairsville (77).

Katrina Davis was fifth for Bellaire in 22:15, while teammates Sydney Purtiman (23:00) and Rylie Purtiman (23:34) were eighth and 11th, respectively.

Megan Bateman, of Union Local, was fourth (21:56), while St. C.’s Tiffany Burghy (22:40) was sixth, UL’s Hannah Kemp was seventh (22:52) and Martins Ferry’s Chloe Hill (23:05) and Madison Lyle (23:08) were ninth and 10th, respectively.

”We’d like for that pack to be a little closer, but we ran consistent throughout the race,” Arno said of his girls. ”Shaye and Taylor ran really well up front. Katrina stepped up and the Purtiman girls ere solid.

“We’re going to need that all season in order for us to be successful.”

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