Published: October 31, 2009 11:44 pm      

Running news: Weitzel, East in top 10 at states; Pumpkin Run draws crowd

Weitzel fifth, East 10th at state cross country meet

ONA — Jordan Weitzel got his top-five finish, in his final high school cross-country meet.

The PikeView High School senior was fifth among the boys in the state cross-country meet on Saturday morning at Cabell Midland High School. His time was 17:45.94.

A participant in the last four state meets, he had finished second in the Region III meet on Oct. 22 and was the only boy from PikeView to qualify for the Ona run.

The girls team from PikeView came in ninth, one spot better than predicted on a state running website, runwv.com. Junior Chelsea East was the 10th fastest girl, with a time of 21:35.94. The site incuded a comment that she “has been very solid and steady all year.”

The other finishers for the Panthers were Trish Galligher (33rd, 22:54.75), Cassie Kelly (67th, 25:39.21), Kayla Blake (68th, 25:42.07) and Raelynn Smith (76th, 29:34.27).

Grafton won the West Virginia Class AA-A boys title, denying Ravenswood a 10th consecutive championship. Berkeley Springs finished second, and Scott placed third. Ravenswood was eighth. Cabell Midland won the AAA boys title on their home course.

St. Mary’s took the girls Class AA-A title, followed by Berkeley Springs and Shady Spring. Jefferson was the AAA girls champion.

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32nd Pumpkin Run draws 'huge' crowd

PIPESTEM — Area runners closed out the fall season with more than 100 like-minded nature lovers on Saturday morning at the 32nd annual Pumpkin Run at Pipestem Resort State Park.

“It was a huge crowd,” said Tom Davis, who helped administer the race. “It was a humongous turnout, probably the highest in 15 or 20 years.”

The count of adults in the 5- and 10-kilometer runs and walk was 138, Davis said, and including the fun run there were 156 participants on the road.

The overall 5K winner, with a time of 21:33, was Erik Stephan of Bluefield, followed by Byron Guy (21:55) and Patrick Pell (22:10).

Top three finishers in the women’s 5K race were Vonda Wilson of Bluefield (23:58), Andrea Carter (24:58) and Crystal Pell (25:26).

The top walkers were Mark Rooper (33:55) and Natalie Hager (41:56).

In the 10K race, Steve Crowder from Fincastle, Va. (36:08) finished first, followed by Todd Donovan (40:17) and Bill Warner (41:20). The female winner was Kristi Beatty of Lewisburg (52:54). The next two across were Jennifer Alvarez (54:54) and Sally Campbell (57:28).

Park officials gave an award for the first time for best costume at the race on Halloween morning. Hank Burnley won, dressed as Santa Claus. His prize was free lodging for two at the Pipestem lodge.