The scene had been played out once before at Cabell Midland High School during the 2013 season.
Senior Abe Merinar bided his time before moving decisively to a convincing victory. With teammate Matt Dearth not far behind, Bridgeport also claimed the top team prize.
That was during the Class AA-A boys’ race on August 31 in the GEICO Classic. Fast forward nine weeks to the West Virginia state championship meet on the same 5,000-meter layout and not much changes as Merinar crossed the line first and the Indians were the class of the field … again.
“Is that what we scored?” coach Jon Griffith responded when told of his team’s winning score of 45 points. “Oh my. Wow. I really don’t know even what to say. Our goal was to try to get all seven kids under 18 minutes, which we accomplished. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
In August, the Indians had three runners in the top 14 overall and scored 73 points, finishing 28 points ahead of the runner-up. They were much better the second time around, putting four in the top 14 of the state’s AA-A runners and outdistancing the No. 2 team (Philip Barbour) by 59 points.
“This is by far the best group of kids, boys and girls, from No. 1 to No. 18,” Griffith said. “They’re bright – we’ve had three National Merit semifinalists this year. Every academic honor you can get, this team has and as well as being great athletes, and they are. They worked extremely hard. I am beyond words of how proud I am of them.”
As he did in August, Merinar started cautiously, being counted in about 30th place as the field headed out of the dip behind the baseball field and back to the spectators who viewed the start. At the end of 3.1 miles, the senior was state champion with a time of 16 minutes, 20.05 seconds, and classmate Dearth was fourth in 16:30.39.
“They were taking it out hard,” the winner said. “I knew that as long as I run the first mile relaxed, there’s no one even close the last mile with me … that I know of.
“Up the hill everyone runs hard, I was kind of waiting for the top of the hill to be the place where I would make my move on first. Then Johnny Hogue responded with an incredibly strong kick for that second mile and pulled about 40 meters ahead of me.”
Merinar, who is still considering his opportunities for a place to continue his academic and running careers, said the experience gained from running and winning the invitational back in August on the same piece of property cannot be overlooked.
“GEICO was important, not only you get to see the course and help engrave it more into my memory,” said Merinar, who won in August in 16:24.65. “I’m a smarter runner now than I used to be. And GEICO gave me an opportunity to look at the course and to look at where it would be best for me to make my move against the other runners who I’d be chasing for the state championship.”
Johnny Hogue of Ritchie County made a push just before the mile marker to take the lead from Jason Weitzel of Pikeview and lead a pack of five, including Merinar, through the opening 5,280 feet in 5:18. In the next half mile, Hogue broke up the pack and opened up a slight lead over Merinar.
Still in second as the field headed toward their final up and back on the upper section of the course, Merinar powered into the lead and began to pull away as the field headed downhill to the finish.
“He has been very comfortable, very confident in his ability to go out mid-pack and work from there,” Griffith said of Merinar.
Brettley Harris of Webster County closed the best to claim the No. 2 spot in 16:27.72, while sophomore Hayden Harrison of Buffalo was third in 16:28.60 and Hogue was fifth in 16:44.67.