Alleghany High School has their share of Blue Ridge District, Three Rivers District and even regional athletic championships.
But a team state title?
That Mountaineer trophy case is empty.
Jeremy Bartley and his cross country program will attempt to change that Thursday in Salem.
Both the Alleghany boys and girls cross country teams figure to be in the mix at the Class 2 state championships at Green Hill Park.
“The guys have a really high percentage of winning (the state title),” Bartley said Saturday. “There’s going to be better competition at the state meet than at the regional meet. That’s going to help us.
“The girls, on paper we win by a point,” Bartley said comparing numbers of the competing teams. “But we have to go race in real life.”
The Mountaineer boys team won their second straight regional last week — winning a tiebreaker after tying with Radford — at the Jackson River Sport Complex, and can look back to the fall of 2019 for some experience.
But in that state race one season ago, they finished just sixth after coming in as the third ranked team.
“Last year, I think they knew how good they were, but I think they went into the state meet and totally changed their game,” Bartley said. “I don’t know why they did that. It wasn’t the plan. A couple of them went out too slow and a couple others always keyed off of those guys, so they ran slower and it was too late to catch up at the end. When they all finished, they all said ‘We could have ran faster’.”
“We’re not going to do that this year,” he continued. “We are definitely going to send people out at the correct pace.”
Erik Honaker was fifth individually in that race and finished as the runner up at last week’s regional. Levi Counts was also all-state in 2019 with a 15th place time.
“I believe Erik has a game plan to win the state meet,” Bartley said. “He’s not going over there to get second or third. If he could pull that off, it would be game over.”
Bartley has a veteran group on the boys side.
“Erik, Mason (Honaker) and Jeffrey (Harris) have been with me for seven years now (counting middle school),” he said. “Drew (Andrew Peck) and Levi Counts have been with me six years. That matters. That time adds up.
“These boys came up through the middle school program and had to listen to how good the girls were all the time — the girls were younger,” he continued. “When they got to the high school, they just kept showing up. That’s what I always say, part of success is just, you keep showing up. They kept showing up and got really good.”
And those young girls the boys were hearing about a few years back, now they are at the high school wanting their share of the spotlight.
“We’re getting that really good middle school girls team folding into the high school program,” Bartley said. “They’ve already been successful before.
It’s hard to come in as freshmen because you’re running against women. Now they are maturing, getting strong and finding success also.”
The girls earned a team spot in Salem with a runner-up finish to Radford last week at the regional, despite losing one of their top runners — Gracie Barron — during the race.
Barron will be back Thursday joining her talented teammates for a shot at their own piece of history.
“We have addressed the issues and she is ready mentally and physically to do her best,” Bartley said. “The girls are a very talented group.”
Alivia Hoover has experience on the state meet stage from 2019, while Macyn Cash and Abby Martin are both coming off top 10’s last week in the regional meet.
Bartley has left no stone unturned in preparation.
He took a group on Saturday to Green Hill Park for a walk through on the state championship course.
“We talked about where to surge and where to hang back,” he said. “We’ve got a good game plan.”