By CHARLIE HUST
Webster County cross country teams certainly have ‘saved their best for last’ as evident during Saturday’s Region 1, Class 2A Championship held at Marshall County High School.
The Trojans dominated the race, winning the Regional crown with ease. The WCHS girls’s squad, missed out on a regional title by a stride as Fort Campbell claimed the title by three points.
Webster head coach Todd Whitsell had nothing but praise for his Trojan squad, emphasizing their hard work and determination throughout the season.
“These guys came here focused and determined to win. It certainly showed out there today with some personal-best times. I couldn’t be more proud of them,” he stated.
Webster claimed four of the top 10 spots in the race and their first six runners finished in the top 20. The Trojans won the title with 22 points with second place Calloway County well back with 65 points.
Leading the way was senior Iszack Whitsell and his first-place performance in dominating fashion. Whitsell took the early lead and never looked back, blazing the 5K trail in 16:55.7, one of his best clockings of the season. It was the talented senior’s first-ever individual regional crown after running in the shadows of Jon Ashby, now running for Evansville University, the previous four years.
“It’s very gratifying to win this title. I ran with one of the best in Jon and he taught me a lot. How to run hard everyday and train harder than everyone else. I didn’t really understand until it was my time to be the leader,” Whitsell explained. “I realized it was my time to lead this year and we have a very young and talented group of runners. It was our goal to win the Region and I’m very proud of all of these guys. They came in here and put up personal-best times, you can’t ask for any more than that.”
WCHS sophomore Mitchael Shelton was close behind Whitsell turning-in a ‘career’ race, shaving 14 seconds off his personal-best time to finish third overall with a 18:03.8 clocking. Freshman Ronin Periard also set a personal-best time of 18:13 to place fourth overall.
Trojan sophomore Trevor Cole, who has been hampered most of the season with a foot injury, also posted a personal-best time (18:23.40) to finish seventh in the race. Preston Glazebrook, another sophomore, was 11th (18:45.70) while Robert Daugherty finished 20th (19:23.10). WC senior Nolan Pettit was 24th with a 19:43.70 clocking.
“Those guys were awesome today. Coming here and running the best times of their career, that just shows a lot of heart and love for their teammates. We came here to win and we weren’t going to be denied,” Whitsell added. “This was total team effort, even for the guys that didn’t run today. We pushed each other in practice everyday and that made us all better.”
The Trojans head to Lexington this Saturday to compete in the KHSAA State Championships held at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Region 1, Class 2A
Boys Regional Scores
1. Webster County 22
2. Calloway County 65
3. Paducah Tilghman 75
4. Fort Campbell 87
5. Trigg County 103
In the girls’ Regional race, a surprising Fort Campbell squad edged the Lady Trojans 41-44 to claim first place. Webster’s second-place finish earns the entire squad a trip to the KHSAA State Championships this Saturday as well.
WCHS did place three runners in the top 10 and all six point scorers were in the top 20.
Ali Cherry led the way with a strong performance as the talented junior was fourth overall in 21:43.10. Paducah Tilghman junior Aleja Grant won fifth straight individual title in grand fashion, setting a new course record of 18:17.70, more than 14 seconds better than the previous mark.
Webster received a big boost from first-year runner Hadley Mitchell. The eighth grader was fifth overall in 21:51.20. Kaile Branson, a freshman, was right on her heels in eighth place (22:03.70) while fellow freshman Chanler Cole was 14th (22:42.10). Paige Tapp was 16th overall (22:57.80) and fellow junior Hannah Pritchett was 19th (23:15.50). Webster seventh grader Colleen Glazebrook completed the scoring in 22nd position and a time of 23:49.80.
Webster ran without the services of one of its top runners, Kendra Griffin, out with a foot injury.
Region 1, Class 2A
Girls Regional Scores
1. Fort Campbell 41
2. Webster County 44
3. Calloway County 51
4. Trigg County 122
5. Paducah Tilghman 143
6. Caldwell County 161
7. Hopkins Central 175