ONA - All season long the girls cross country team from University has been chasing No. 1 ranked Hurricane.

On Saturday afternoon, the defending state champion Hawks caught their top challenger, repeating their Class AAA state title by an 81-93 margin at Cabell Midland High School.

"[University is] a very good team and we knew they just wouldn't let us take the title away from them," Hurricane junior Alex Dent said. "We knew it would be tough today. We just came in with the idea of doing the best that we could and if that wasn't good enough, so be it."

The Redskins and University each placed two runners among the race's top-10 finishers, which earns them all-state honors. But the Hawks showed greater depth as their No. 3 finisher came in 10 places ahead of Hurricane's No. 3, while their No. 4 and 5 runners placed four and five places, respectively, ahead of the Redskins.

Dent was the top finisher Hurricane, covering the 3.1 miles in 19 minutes, 13 seconds, and crossing the finish line in fourth place. Fellow junior Josie Crouch finished ninth (19:23).

Winning the individual title was Elkins' Letitia Propst by a two-second margin over Wheeling Park's Courtney Yaeger, who covered the distance in 18 minutes and 31 seconds.

Finishing in third place in the team standings was Preston with 102 points followed by Morgantown (111), Jefferson (136), Hampshire (148), Cabell Midland (165), Buckhannon-Upshur (179), Parkersburg South (193), Capital (224) and George Washington (315).

In the AAA boys race, defending champion Wheeling Park made it two in a row as senior Kyle Gramlich had a fourth-place finish to lead the Patriots to a 67-71 margin over runner-up Jefferson.

ONA - All season long the girls cross country team from University has been chasing No. 1 ranked Hurricane.

On Saturday afternoon, the defending state champion Hawks caught their top challenger, repeating their Class AAA state title by an 81-93 margin at Cabell Midland High School.

"[University is] a very good team and we knew they just wouldn't let us take the title away from them," Hurricane junior Alex Dent said. "We knew it would be tough today. We just came in with the idea of doing the best that we could and if that wasn't good enough, so be it."

The Redskins and University each placed two runners among the race's top-10 finishers, which earns them all-state honors. But the Hawks showed greater depth as their No. 3 finisher came in 10 places ahead of Hurricane's No. 3, while their No. 4 and 5 runners placed four and five places, respectively, ahead of the Redskins.

Dent was the top finisher Hurricane, covering the 3.1 miles in 19 minutes, 13 seconds, and crossing the finish line in fourth place. Fellow junior Josie Crouch finished ninth (19:23).

Winning the individual title was Elkins' Letitia Propst by a two-second margin over Wheeling Park's Courtney Yaeger, who covered the distance in 18 minutes and 31 seconds.

Finishing in third place in the team standings was Preston with 102 points followed by Morgantown (111), Jefferson (136), Hampshire (148), Cabell Midland (165), Buckhannon-Upshur (179), Parkersburg South (193), Capital (224) and George Washington (315).

In the AAA boys race, defending champion Wheeling Park made it two in a row as senior Kyle Gramlich had a fourth-place finish to lead the Patriots to a 67-71 margin over runner-up Jefferson.

Morgantown's Cody Pelliccioni pocketed the individual crown with a winning time of 15:57, edging out Jefferson's Cory Hampshire by 13 seconds (16:10). South Charleston senior David Caldwell reached the all-state podium with a fifth-place finish (16:34).

Host Cabell Midland finished in third place with 93 points, followed by Preston (121), St. Albans (137), Fairmont Senior (140), Winfield (163), Hampshire (199), Parkersburg South (234), George Washington (240) and Musselman (252).

Getting the day off to a rousing start was the expected battle between No. 1 Berkeley Springs and eight-time champion Ravenswood in the Class AA-A boys event.

The Red Devils got an unexpected second-place effort from senior Nathan Rees, who finished in 16:48, and the Jackson Countians pushed all seven of their runners in front of the Indians' No. 5 performer to win 77-81.

"We've said all along that this is a true team sport and today proved it," Ravenswood coach Bryan Canterbury said. "Our guys have been listening to people doubt them all season and they came out today with one goal - to prove them all wrong."

Third place went to Philip Barbour with 89 points, followed by PikeView (127), Richwood (134), Grafton (136), Wheeling Central (159), Doddridge County (175), Charleston Catholic (184) and Weir (187).

Winning the AA-A girls title for the first time was Shady Spring with a 61-81 decision over runner-up Wheeling Central. Grafton finished in third with 97 points, followed by Berkeley Springs (99), Frankfort (111), Saint Marys (139), Charleston Catholic (147), Doddridge County (158) and PikeView (176).