Over the weekend, the Elkins boys’ and girls’ cross country teams ran their last meet of the season at the state tournament in Charleston. Both teams had performed well at regionals. For the girl’s team, junior Samantha Sproul placed 3rd overall. For the boys, senior Charlie Smoak placed first, senior Luke Anger placed 2nd, freshman Isaac Anger placed 4th, senior Tyler McKisic placed 8th, and senior Brandon Rossi placed 10th.

The boys’ team were declared the Regional Champions, automatically giving them a spot in the state meet. The girls’ team’s times helped to give them a spot in states, as well.

At states, Charlie Smoak led the boys’ team by placing 4th, and Samantha Sproul led the girls’ team by placing 18th.
“I feel like the teams did an awesome job. There is always work to do and to build on, but I feel like anytime you get the opportunity to get to states it’s a pretty successful season,” assistant coach Amanda Carter said.

The teams will be losing 8 seniors total, 6 on the boy’s team and 2 on the girl’s. Losing that many seniors may cause rebuilding of the team in the next season.

“We rely heavily on upcoming seniors. Seniors have a lot of responsibility with leadership. We’ll be looking for that in the upcoming season. There will have to be some rebuilding, especially with the boys since we’re losing 6 seniors,” Carter said.

Despite this, the Elkins High School team is determined to keep working towards their goal. “We always want to get to the states, that is the main goal,” Carter said, “It will take hard work, practice, and a lot of running.”