As soon as the late William “Willie” Barbera took over the head coaching duties in 2014, the Woodrow Wilson cross country programs exploded to the top of the heap in Class AAA, Region 3.
Barbera did not inherit a good situation when he agreed to lead the program.
The year before he took the reins, Woodrow Wilson finished last in the regional run on the boys side and failed to field a complete team for the girls competition.
However, Barbera quickly changed those fortunes for the Flying Eagles.
In year one under Barbera’s tutelage, the boys and girls each finished fifth in the region before both teams captured the elusive regional titles each of the next two years.
Following the passing of the legendary coach in the summer of 2017, Barbera’s son George Barbera took over the coaching reigns, continuing the program’s winning ways.
Since 2015, Woodrow Wilson has won seven boys and seven girls regional titles, while finishing as runner-up during the other two postseason runs.
The continued success for the Flying Eagles and a trip to the state meet for the 10th consecutive season will be sorely tested this year, however.
“This year’s team is young. We have no seniors on either side and no juniors on the boys side. We also have a slew of freshman that have come in,” Barbera said. “We are young, but they are not inexperienced. All of the boys and girls returning have been running for me since their freshman year. We are coming off another great track season and everyone of my distance athletes improved throughout the season, running their best races at the end of the year.”
While the changes are somewhat extreme, Barbera knows his team will still have a bulls-eye on its back this year.
“When you have a good team, everybody is gunning for you. I guarantee you our name is mentioned at their practices,” Barbera said. “That is good and we like that because it helps us get better. We want to compete across town and across the river. We want teams battling to knock us off. We want to keep getting better.”
Kyle Peters and Vance Lindley are coming off of strong freshman seasons in both cross-country and track. Peters finished 6th in the 2023 regional cross-country meet and Lindley was 13th overall. Both runners also ran a sub-five minute mile at the regional track meet back in May.
“The last time I had two freshman boys break five (minutes) on the mile, their names were (Miles) Kominsky and (Chris) Barbera. The other freshman that broke five was Ryan Vaught,” Barbera said.
Chris Barbera was the 2017 AAA individual state champion as a junior, while Vaught finished third the same year as a senior. Kominsky garnered a 6th-place finish in 2016.
Woodrow Wilson will also see the return of Brady Whitehead to bolster the 2024 squad after battling a knee injury that slowed him last year as a freshman.
ZiMeng “Skyler” Ren will lead a strong incoming junior class for the Woodrow Wilson girls which includes Maya Panta and Morgan Booth.
“The improvement Skyler has had since her freshman year is amazing with her work ethic,” Barbera said. “Right with her is Maya and Morgan who have also improved throughout the year getting their 800 meter and 1600 meter times down. Then you add in a bunch of sophomores like Ava Thomas, Leah White and McKinley Kennedy. There are two other girls, Ava Saffouri and Jasmine Haddadin who have three years experience as well.”
The competition for the regional title and state tournament berths, which will be contested at the Coach Willie Barbera Memorial Cross Country Course beside Beckley-Stratton Middle School, will be stiff.
George Washington won the regional meet on the boys side last year with four underclassman and three of the runners finished in the top five.
St. Albans took the title for the girls also sporting four underclassman, while Greenbrier East was third. All five ladies from Greenbrier East were underclassmen including freshman sensation Neena McClintic. McClintic was the individual champion and set a new course record in the process.
“The region keeps getting tougher on us for sure,” Barbera said. “I love it when people don’t have a high expectation of our team, though. There is no pressure on the kids and the success can be more rewarding.”
The schedule for Woodrow Wilson will consists of runs at the Fairland Invitational, along with Shady Spring and Greenbrier East. The Flying Eagles will also compete at the Concord University XC Festival and the Ripley Covered Bridge Invitational.
Woodrow Wilson will open the season by hosting the 2024 Chick-fil-A Beckley Invitational with the regional meet slated for Oct. 24. The state meet is back at Cabell Midland High School on Nov. 2.
“We will host another Chick-fil-A Beckley Invitational this year on Aug. 24, starting at 9 a.m. Chick-fil-A has sponsored us for 10 years now and they do a great job,” Barbera said. “It is one of a handful of events where teams will start their season and the local teams support our meet really well. Last year we had 50 teams attend and we are expecting an equal turnout this year.”
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