By Jeremy Stafford — Daily Sports Correspondent

WINCHESTER —Cross country runners call it Greenhouse Hill.

It's located just below the James Wood High School greenhouse that extends beyond the woods and consists of nothing but dirt, rocks, and tree roots. It's easily the most harrowing plot of terrain on the James Wood cross country course, and with the rain, it was made even more punishing.

But Warren County's Adam Eakins, whose winning time of 17:39 led the Wildcats to a 25 -31 victory over the Colonels at Wednesday evening's meet at James Wood, had no trouble with the dreaded hill.

"I've raced here since I was in middle school," said Eakins, whose hill workouts include runs through the Appalachian Mountains. "It's pretty much what I'm used to."

Nor did Eakins have any trouble running in the cold rain, which turned the dirt trails to mud and made the grass treacherously slick. In fact, while most runners might prefer to run in warm, sunny conditions, Eakins excels when he runs in the conditions he faced Wednesday evening.

"The weather was perfect," Eakins said. "I love this rain, just a little moist. I find it easier to run in the cold."

Finishing behind Eakins was James Woods' Darin Longerbeam, who completed the course in 17:45 and found that the arduousness of running up Greenhouse Hill is exacerbated in the rain.

"You had to watch your stepping and all that or you could have fell," Longerbeam said with a sigh. "It's probably the roughest course in the district. A lot of people hate this course."

The Warren County and James Wood boys were evenly matched throughout the race, as the Wildcats posted an average time of 18:45.80, and the Colonels, a time of 19:08.00. Beginning with Eakins, the teams alternated finishes until the 10th spot, when Warren County's Cory Moran finished behind teammate Jon Roof.

"The times aren't fast on this course, but that's rain, and it's a tough course," Warren County coach Jeremy Burnworth said. "Besides that I think they ran well, they ran strong, they ran smart."

And just as the boys seemed to be the perfect example of cross country parity, so to were the girls, though the score, 21-35, doesn't admit to it.

With a time of 21:00, Warren County's Mara Smith was the first girl to finish, and she was soon followed by teammates Tiffany Hatcher, Bernie Sayre, and Leanna Eisenman. James Wood took the next six spots and had an average time of 22:54.80, compared to Warren County's time of 22:23.00.

"They've been running real strong the last couple weeks, the top four girls," Burnworth said. "Their times are unbelievable right now. Our top four girls — Mara leading the way, and everyone is kind of inching their way up — are looking great."

And with the Warren County girls running so close to one another, Burnworth has high hopes for the future of his team.

"[If we can] pull up number five for districts, we might surprise somebody," Burnworth said with a smile.