By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
A young Calhoun cross country teams makes its 2006 season-opener Saturday
when it travels to St. Marys for the Autumn Classic.
The meet, which is at General Electric (Witco) Park north of St. Marys on
Route 2, will feature some of the top teams from the tough LKC including
Ritchie, Doddridge, St. Marys and Williamstown along with a few Class AAA
teams such as Wheeling Park and John Marshall.
Last year Calhoun finished next to last behind a trio of freshmen runners
including Anna Sampson, Maria Kisner and Elizabeth Duskey.
In a pre-season ranking by www.RunWV.com Sampson was ranked as the 67th
runner in the state while Duskey and senior Grace Keaffaber were tied for
79th.
This year Sampson, Duskey and Kisner figure to anchor the Red Devils in the
early going and will be joined in the starting lineup by sophomore Carrie
Graffius and freshman Emily Brady.
Keaffaber, who was kept from pre-season
camp by a summer job commitment, will not be available for the first race.
Last year the Red Devils scored one of its two wins in the Autumn Classic as
it beat Clarksburg Lincoln. The other win came against Gilmer County.
On the boys side senior David Lee and freshman Zack Stump will compete.
Calhoun will also have two middle school boys competing including eighth
grader Steven Keaffaber and sixth grader Luke Moore.
Although the Red Devils do look for improved performances this year the team
is still plagued by a paucity of numbers.
Red Devils coach Melinda Fitzwater said students could still come out for
the cross country team. She added that cross country would be a good tool
for non-athletes and athletes in other sports who wanted to get in shape to
do so.
Her sentiment was echoed by wrestling coach Mike Stump who said it would be
nice if some of his wrestlers (not on the football team) would participate,
adding that it would be a good way for them to be in shape when wrestling
season got under way.
Boys basketball coach Tim Moore pointed to a couple of basketball players
who ran cross country two years ago saying they were in great condition when
the season started, adding those same two players had to play themselves
into shape last year (when they did not participate in cross country).
He said that running cross country would be a great thing if you were
thinking about playing basketball.
Following Saturday's meet the Red Devils will travel to Ellenboro on Sept. 9
to participate in the tough Insurance Classic.
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