West Union girls and boys also advance to regional cross-country meet –
By Mark Carpenter –
Rio Grande University was the site on Saturday, Oct. 20 of the 2018 Division III Southeast District Cross-Country Meet and it was also the site of the latest triumph for the Peebles Lady Indians cross-country squad as they boldly went where no Peebles girls squad had gone before-to the podium as the district champions. Led by the fleet feet of senior Jenny Seas, the Lady Indians came home from Rio with a new piece of hardware for the school trophy case.
Jenny Seas was stellar as always, winning the Division III district race in runaway fashion. Her time of 19:38.28 was more than a minute faster that the second-place finisher, Hanna Kerr of Zane Trace who came in at 20:57.29. The Seas family had another representative in the district’s top five runners, as freshman Katy was fifth with a time of 21:13.81. In a field of 159 runners, Peebles junior Kierra Stone was 23rd with a time of 23:13.49, junior Alisan Behr 32nd at 24:05.49, and sophomore Lilly Gray 35th with a time of 24:16.08. Put all five of your runners in the top 35 and you will likely bring home a district title.
“Our girls ran with pure heart today,” said Peebles head coach Alex Gold. “Katy had her best race so far and she is really figuring out the 5K and showing maturity as a freshman. I was so impressed with Kierra, Alisan, and Lilly because the three of them had to push through a really tough spot in the third mile but they refused to go backwards and even managed to move up from where they were.”
“Jenny was just Jenny today. She will see more competition in the coming weeks and I am excited to see it play out. She has paved the way for the other girls, showing them what is possible, and we have five girls now who have realized that they can run at the state level if they put in the work. There’s no magic secret-just hard work.”
The Lady Indians will not be the only girls team from Adams County competing in this Saturday’s regional race as the West Union Lady Dragons snuck into the seventh and final regional spot., paced by freshman Adelyn Shupert. Shupert placed 10th overall in the district race (21:52.16) as the Lady Dragons earned their trip to Pickerington. Along with Shupert, the other Lady Dragons on the course were freshman Alexa Rowe in 45th place (24:44.27), freshman Christian Shivener 56th (25:!5.76), junior Katrina Boldman 57th (25:18.29), freshman Madison Taylor 69th (26:18.77), sophomore Katie Fulton 76th (26:37.71), sophomore Kendra Grooms 83rd (27:20.46).
Not to be outdone by their female counterparts, the West Union boys squad will also be moving to the Pickerington regional, taking the sixth and final team spot. West Union’s top district runner in a race of 137 runners was junior Steven Runyan, who finished 18th in a time of 18:36.64. Freshman Jonathon McDowell placed 45th with a time of 20:25.16 with teammate Ethan Prather right behind in 46th at 20:30.63. Sophomore Jai-Michael Knox was 50th with a time of 20:37.73 and classmate Braxton Blanton 52nd at 20:40.19. Junior Grant McCarty was 87th in a time of 22:20.47, with senior Conner Campbell placing 92nd at 22:31.62.
It was a good day all around for teams from the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. Besides the regional qualifying teams from Adams County, the Fairfield boys squad captured their eighth consecutive district title, with the Whiteoak boys also making it to regionals with a fifth place overall finish. On the girls side, Eastern Brown will be at the regionals after finishing fifth and the Fairfield girls will be in Pickerington on Saturday after placing sixth overall.
“It was so cool to see so much representation from the SHAC teams on the podium,” said Coach Gold. “We are looking forward to Saturday, 100% focused on making it to state. That’s what our girls set out to prove and their hard work has put us in a position to make that goal happen.”
The Division III regional meet, with berths in the state meet on the line, will take place this Saturday, Oct. 27 at Pickerington North High School. The boys race is set for 11 a.m. with the girls going to the start line at 1:30 p.m.
