Runner

Tessa Wiles of Washington County was third runner-up in the Miss Maryland Agriculture contest on Aug. 26, the opening night of the Maryland State Fair. Casey Miller of Clinton, Md., won the title. The competition was sponsored by the Maryland Farm Bureau and Maryland State Fair. Hannah Hood of Frederick, Md., also competed in the event.

WOODSBORO, Md. -- The Piedmont Conference girls race almost could have been mistaken for a North Hagerstown time trial Friday morning at the MVAL Cross Country Championships. The Hubs ran all by themselves, sweeping the top five spots to post a perfect 15-point score. Middletown was second with 47. "I am ecstatic. It was just amazing," North coach Lindsay Zerance said. "Everyone was into it, and they just fed off each other's energy. "They looked great out there. I saw tiredness, but I saw toughness.

For a legally blind athlete, Susan Graham-Gray sees things better than most. She spots the obstacles. She focuses on the finish line. And she charts a path through the hurdles to achieve her dreams. Graham-Gray, 42, of Greencastle, Pa., was the keynote speaker at Tuesday's True Grit Awards banquet at Fountain Head Country Club north of Hagerstown. The banquet honored 13 high school seniors and a Hagerstown Community College sophomore who have demonstrated the ability to overcome hardship to become or remain a member of an athletic team.

A romantic thing happened on the way to the finish chute. Running in his first JFK 50-mile ultramarathon, Richard Keplinger, 24, of Gettysburg, Pa., stopped before the last straightaway. There was nothing unusual about that; his girlfriend, Katye Balls, 24, of Washington, D.C., had met him at at least a half-dozen different break points. "He came up running," she said. "He stopped to give me a hug. " But this time, "he ended up on one knee," she said. Balls wondered what was happening - then she figured it out. Keplinger proposed.

The Humane Society of Washington County has been selected as a runner-up in the Super Shelter Story Contest, sponsored by The Humane Society of the United States. The Humane Society of the United States holds the contest each year to bring attention to ways that animal shelters help people and animals. More than 400 entries were submitted this year. Washington County's entry featured the work of its pet food bank, which distributes more than nine tons of pet food and supplies each week to individuals and other animal welfare organizations.

Chambersburg woman named runner-up in Southern Living cooking contest By MEG H. PARTINGTON / Staff Writer When Carol Gillespie sees a notice in a magazine or newspaper about a cooking contest, her adrenaline starts pumping. That energy usually gets channeled into her recipe-formulating mind rather than a mixing bowl. continued "I do them in my head most often," said Gillespie, of Chambersburg. "It has become a gift from God. " Her latest concoction, Fudgy Chocolate Malt-Peppermint Pie, won her $500 and the title of runner-up in the Perfect Pies category of Southern Living's Holiday Recipe Contest.

Editor's note: This is the first story in a six-part series about some of the people who will compete in the JFK 50 Mile ultramarathon Saturday in Washington County. TRI-STATE - There will be no last-minute training for Mackenzie Riford. If she's worried, she doesn't show it. Her cross-country season at Mercersburg Academy in Franklin County, Pa., ended Nov. 7, giving her about 10 days to prepare for her first JFK 50 Mile ultramarathon. Her plan was to take it easy instead.

andrewm@herald-mail.com Second place was never an option for South Hagerstown's Chelsea Githens-Brewer. At least not in her mind. Not even after Hedgesville's Jackie Hadley took the lead from her for the first time with just under a half-mile remaining in Wednesday's 2.91-mile, six-team cross country race at South. "I really didn't want to come in second," said Githens-Brewer, who shot out to the early lead with a 6:38 opening mile. "Third's OK, but if it's second, I know I could have pushed harder.

View more photos here! Taylor Morgan has learned at an early age that you don't have to have a trophy to be a champion. Morgan sat confidently and satisfied after finishing one second behind Camryn Harper on Saturday in the fourth-grade girls race of the 28th annual Elementary School Cross Country Run at Emma K. Doub Elementary School. Even though Harper clutched the champion's prize while Morgan wore a runner-up medal, the Emma K. Doub student felt like a champion.

From Staff and AP reports CLARKSBURG, W.Va. - Miss Berkeley County, Traci Staley, was again a runner-up Saturday night in the Miss West Virginia Scholarship Pageant. Miss North Central Eisa Krushansky of Morgantown was crowned Miss West Virginia in competition with 16 other young women. Krushansky won preliminary swimsuit and talent competitions earlier in the week. Pageant winners won about $20,000 in cash scholarships, pageant executive director Jan Hinkle said. Krushansky will compete in the Miss America Scholarship Pageant in Atlantic City in September.

About 13 minutes after Judy Emmert crossed the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street on Monday afternoon, she heard the two explosions that killed three people and wounded more than 170 others. As exhausted as the Hagerstown resident was after completing the 26.2-mile race, Emmert said she thought she better get off the street and started running toward where her group from the Cumberland Valley Athletic Club was congregated a few blocks away. “First, I heard what sounded like two cannons going off really loud, like Civil War cannons, one right after the other,” said Emmert, 51, a dentist with Eric Smith's practice.

The Williamsport Running Company meant business Saturday morning in downtown Hagerstown. Its men, sporting new green racing singlets for the occasion, took the top two places and six of the top 11 spots overall at the second annual St. Patrick's Day Run for Your Luck 5K. There were more than 600 finishers. “We wanted to look nice,” champion Tony Clement said. Clement, 26, needed to kick to win the race for the second straight year, edging his buddy Wade Miller by one-tenth of a second for the victory in 15:26.2.

Dr. Mark Cucuzzella conducts monthly Running Clinics at The Wellness Center at City Hospital. Cucuzzella, distance runner, local physician and founder and organizer of Freedom's Run and the new Two Rivers Heritage Half Marathon, promotes proper form, injury prevention and improve performance. The clinics are geared to runners of all levels. The clinics are held on the first Friday of each month. The next clinic is Friday, March 1, 2013. Two clinics will be offered. At 4 p.m., the clinic will cover training tips, stability, mobility and strength.

Runners-up in the adult division: “Sitting With My Daddy” Sitting with my daddy Beside the fishing hole, Sometimes talking, sometimes listening, Side by side, pole to pole. Sitting with my daddy Riding in the car, Sometimes talking, sometimes listening, Side by side, near and far. Sitting with my daddy Watching flowers grow, Sometimes talking, sometimes listening, Side by side, how to hoe. Sitting with my daddy Watching birds take flight, Sometimes talking, sometimes listening, Side by side, morn and night.

BayRunner Shuttle has a new location at the Washington County Transit Transfer Center, 123 W. Franklin St. in downtown Hagerstown.  BayRunner serves Washington County, as well as points west with scheduled service to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Amtrak and the Baltimore Greyhound bus terminal. No parking is available at the Franklin Street location, but there is free parking at the 1341 Hughes Ford Road site in Frederick, Md. BayRunner also offers transportation in Western Maryland to Hancock, Cumberland, Frostburg and Grantsville, and east to Frederick.