The Magnolia boys cross-country team continued its success with a solid second place finish in the OVAC AAA Championships behind Ohio powerhouse St. Clairsville.

Top Eagle finisher in that field saw Nathan Harshberger come in sixth place in 17:36. Following closely were fellow senior Joe Feeney in seventh place in 17:38 and sophomore Alec Hinerman in ninth place in 17:45, with all three setting personal records and being declared All OVAC Runners by virtue of their top 10 finishes. Completing the scoring was Bill Feeney in 15th place in 18:02, James Haught in 25th place in 19:13, and Kyle Lancaster in 43rd place in 20:42. All three of these times were also personal bests.

On the girls’ side, the incomplete team was still competitive with freshman Christa Harshberger leading the way in the overall field in 55th place in 22:37 with Rachel Hoffpauier pushing her across the line in 57th place in 22:39. Julianne McIlvain ran a 31:15 for a 172nd placement in the large field. These were also personal records.

Coach John Holliday said, “It is really hard to get a majority of your runners to set PRs (personal records) in a single race, and every single one of ours boys and every single one of our girls did so today. This is a testament to the competitive nature of these athletes.

“We are very happy with an OVAC Runner-Up award because of the outstanding effort we put out. St. Clairsville is one of the top teams in Ohio; we want to be one of the top teams in West Virginia but we are not quite there yet.”

The Blue Eagles’ next competition is Oct. 22 at Doddridge for the Region 1 A-AA Championship.