Richland County runners produce many headlines on district meet day
GALION — It was a banner day for Richland County cross country teams.
In all, five Richland County teams and six individuals not on those teams punched their tickets to the regional cross country meet next week at Tiffin.
Here are the top headlines from a full day of cross country.
Gonzales leads Shelby to first district championship in program history; Ontario's Black also moving on
With state-power Lexington, the annual winner of the Galion district meet, opting to go to Owens Community College in Findlay for districts this season, the Division II championship was up for the taking, and Shelby jumped highest, or ran fastest, to the trophy.
For the first time in program history, the Whippets can call themselves district champions after scoring just 42 team points to finish ahead of Port Clinton by 51 points.
"That is the first time in history Shelby took a girls team district championship so I know everyone is very happy," senior Kayle Gonzales said. "It was a goal going in. I was in my head the entire race just telling myself that this race is not just for me, but for the entire team. This will help us push through."
Gonzales was the star of the race, placing first with in 18:35.6. Emma Montgomery was fourth in 20:25.8 and Channon Cundiff was 10th in 21:44.6. Kaylin Mahon (13th, 22:18.1), Kailyn Schwall (14th, 22:25.2), Courtney Stiving (21st, 23:23.6) and Lily Clark (43rd, 25:33.8) also performed well for the Whippets.
Gonzales returned to Amman's Reservoir a week after breaking her own school record with a time of 18:23.60 at the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference meet. She wasn't quite on that same pace, but having run the course a week earlier meant all she had to do was run the same race and she would be just fine.
"We raced here last week for the MOAC championships, and I wanted to replicate that race," Gonzales said. "I wanted to try to speed up my last mile and PR, but it didn't work out today. I got in my head mentally. I am happy with the time, but I wanted to PR. I still have next week."
A PR means she would break her own school record again. Every time a runner steps up for a race, a PR is always the goal, but for Gonzales it means running a time no one in program history has ever run before — and that is a lot to live up to.
But, she thrives on the pressure.
"It is neat just because it is such a big thing," Gonzales said. "The goal every race is to get that record time down far enough that I can hold it as long as possible."
Ontario's Baylee Black will also compete at the regional meet after a seventh-place finish in 21:28.6.
Lady Lex puts up the same result at a different place, wins district title
It was a new place, but the same old result.
Lexington won the Division II district championship yet again, but this time it came out of the Findlay District. After the boys team moved up to Division I during the offseason, Lady Lex requested to run in the same district as the boys so they didn't have to split up.
They dominated there, too, with just 34 team points.
Senior Emma Wise led the way with a second-place finish in 18:53.58, while senior Kenley Miller was fourth in 19:07.91, freshman Brailey Slone sixth in 19:19.80 and junior Elyana Weaver ninth in 19:57.28.
Senior Maddie Haring (13th, 20:11.93), sophomore Abby Moeglin (21st, 21:22.17) and junior Micayla Delamater (30th, 21:56.58) all performed well for Lady Lex.
Brockway second, Mansfield Christian's Grantham Turmpower advances
Crestview sophomore Cooper Brockway found himself running all alone in the Division III race, much like he does nearly every day in practice. Brockway, who at one point in the season was the only member of the Cougars cross country team, placed second in 17:06.7 to grab an individual regional qualifying spot.
Brockway started near the front of the pack and just stayed consistent.
"The first mile, I tried to go out at my normal pace, and my second mile was right on," Brockway said. "Then, the third mile, it was all about going when I had to go. I saw I was in fourth or fifth and I knew I had enough in the tank to catch some kids, and it worked. I caught them."
The sophomore's runner-up performance led his team to a 10th-place finish with 287 points. Normally practicing alone, Brockway had some special company this week during the tougher workouts as former Crestview state qualifier and current Malone runner Tommy O'Neill joined him for some mid-week workouts. That extra training helped Brockway prepare for the district tournament.
"In practice, I run with the team on the easier days, but when it comes to workouts I normally do not have too many people around me," Brockway said. "Luckily for me, last Thursday Tommy O'Neill came in practiced with me and pushed me in practice."
It also helped knowing that any finish outside of the top 20 meant his season would be over, and Brockway wasn't ready to bring 2022 to a close.
"It adds a lot because I am only a sophomore, but I know there are two more races after this that I would like to run in," Brockway said. "I want to run in as many races as I can in my high school career, so making it to regionals is great but I want to get to state."
Mansfield Christian's Grantham Trumpower also grabbed an individual qualifying spot with an 11th-place finish in 17:45.9. The top 20 runners advanced to next week's district meet in Tiffin.
Crestview advances as a team, Lucas' Sturts as an individual
Needing a top-five team spot at the Division III district meet, Crestview outdid itself yet again. After winning the Firelands Conference championship last week, the Cougars posted a second-place finish with 83 points to finish behind only Colonel Crawford (49).
Leyna Gerich was seventh in 20:08.9 to lead the way, and Alina Durbin 11th in 20:22.0. Georgia McFarland (19th, 21:10.5), Audrey Wolford (20th, 21:16.0), Emmie Kemp (26th, 21:43.2), Makenzie Spoerr (50th, 22:57.7) and Mia Humrichouser (55th, 23:15.0) also competed well for the Cougars.
"It is fantastic," Durbin said. "We have had some injuries in the past few weeks and it is fantastic to see all of us just bounce back and run our best race of the year. My goal was to beat my PR of 20:16 because it is the district race, but I am going to try harder next week at Tiffin to reach that. It is going to be hard, but a fun course to run."
What exactly does Durbin like so much about the regional cross country course at Tiffin?
"Hills," Durbin said. "I feel I am best on the hills. Give me a hilly course and I will run my best, fastest and hardest."
The Cougars were one of the youngest teams in the district so finishing second was a major accomplishment.
"We are all freshmen and sophomores and all running in the 20:05-20:19 range, and it was great to see everyone step up today," Durbin said.
Lucas' Chloe Sturts, who was 18th in 21:03.2, also advanced to next week's regional meet as an individual.
Finnegan wins individual district title, leads Shelby to team crown; Ontario's Meisse, Trent also moving on
Shelby senior Huck Finnegan admitted his legs were tired before toeing the line at the Division II district meet at Galion's Amman's Reservoir Saturday morning.
But no one but him could tell.
Finnegan won the individual district championship for the first time in his career with a blazing time of 16:15.0, finishing 24 seconds ahead of second place as he put on an absolute show.
"When we were warming up, I knew my legs were tired, but coming in I knew there wasn't too much hype surrounding this race, but we wanted to go out and get it done," Finnegan said. "And that's what I did. We weren't caring too much about times as much as we were looking at placement. I beat my PR from last year, so that is what I will take away."
He finally reached the top of the leaderboard after coming so close the last two years as Saturday was the perfect way to kick off the final postseason run of his career. He will try to replicate things next week at Tiffin.
"I got second by one second two years ago and third last year," Finnegan said. "I wanted to win it the last two years, but it feels good to have done the work and knowing I was a favorite to win it this year. I knew I could win it this year, and I took that mentality into the race."
The Whippets won the team title with a low 27 points behind Luke Dininger, who was fourth in 16:48.0. Indy Mayer was fifth in 17:02.9 and Marshall Moore eighth in 17:13.4 to give the Whippets four runners in the top eight. Carson Perkins (11th, 17:24.1), Ian Finnegan (16th, 17:48.1) and Like Lesseuer (27th, 18:44.6) rounded out the Shelby runners.
Ontario's Miles Meisse and Xavier Trent will both make their way to Tiffin next week for the regional meet. Meisse ran a 16:45.1 to place third while Trent ran a 17:04.1 for sixth. The top 12 individuals earned a spot at regionals.
Lexington runner-up at Division Findlay District
Lexington competed in its first postseason action as a Division I program, and it did not disappoint. The young Minutemen came away with a second-place finish at the Findlay District with just 65 team points, behind only Toledo St. Francis (35).
Freshman Latrell Hughes was fourth in 16:33.09 and sophomore Chance Basilone eighth in 16:42.12. Sophomore Joey Aquino (12th, 16:57.44), freshman Lincoln Rice (18th, 17:23.42), freshman Gage Devaney (23rd, 17:46.74), senior Alexander Heichel (24th, 17:49.63) and junior Ethan Slone (31st, 18:07.99) also competed well for Lex.
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Richland County runners punch tickets to regional meet next week
