Eagle girls win Region 2 AA cross country championship

By Shirley Shuman
With three Braxton girls finishing in the top 10 and all six in the top 20, they easily outpaced their closest opponent to become Region 2 AA cross country champions in the regional meet at Elkins Thursday. They will run in the AA state championship meet Saturday, Oct. 30. The Braxton girls finished with 39 points, Second place Liberty of Harrison had 44, and with 48 points, Elkins was third.
As she has most of the season, Laura Cain paced the Braxton girls’ team. Cain finished fourth at 23:38.94. The other two top 10 Braxton runners were Bethany Payne and Nicole Bramble. At 24:16.49, Payne placed sixth and Bramble was eighth at 24:20.15. Heidi Payne came in twelfth, Lindsay Tetrick seventeenth, and Teagan Huff eighteenth.
Coach Jennifer Berry was ecstatic over the girls’ win. “These girls have worked so hard all season, and this championship shows that their hard work paid off. I am so proud of all of my runners, but especially proud of the girls today.”
The Braxton boys’ team was missing Russell Bramble but still had a full team. A.J. Godwin was the first of the Eagles boys to cross the finish line. Godwin placed twentieth, and Devin Bush was right behind him at twenty-first. Drew Wyne came in twenty-sixth, and Lucas Copen thirty-third. Jadyn Squires placed thirty-fourth.