By Allen Hamrick
The 2025 season for the cross-country teams has ended, but at the same time, their season continues in other races. Their latest race was to qualify for the USATF National Junior Olympics at Holly Gray Park in Braxton.
Four of the five runners from Clay qualified for the Junior Olympics, to be held Dec. 12 in Shelbyville, Indiana, where some of the best runners in the nation will be competing. The runners qualifying were Kaden Fitzwater who placed 12th in the 15-18 age division, McKinley Mahan who placed 3rd in the 15-18 age range, Danae Stricker who placed 3rd in the 11-12 age bracket and running phenom Marissa Atha who placed 1st in the 13-14 age bracket.
These Clay County athletes are some of the best and will be a force to reckon with wherever they run. Fitzwater is the only senior from Clay running, and this will be his last hooray as a Panther. He will definitely be missed. The girls are young and are already beating the legs off other schools; they will only get better with time. I have no doubt that any of the three girls competing will be among the up-and-coming state champions in the world of Cross Country. These four will represent Clay County well at the USATF National Junior Olympics and possibly come back with some gold. They will be holding fund raisers for new uniforms for the trip and are accepting donations; all support will be much appreciated.
