By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
Manchester High School was the host on September 14 for the county’s first home cross-country meet, the Dog Pack Challenge which featured an afternoon of six races, ranging from elementary to junior high to high school and featuring numerous schools from southeast Ohio.
It was a pretty successful day for some local runners, as both of the high school races were won by locals. Peebles’ Samantha Seas ran away with the high school girls race, winning by over two minutes over the second-place finisher. In the high school boys race made up of 35 runners, Manchester’s Connor Darnell made the home crowd happy, crossing the line first in a close race with Fairfield’s Landry Hattan.
Seas won her race in a time of 20:15, with Darnell taking the top spot at 18:08.
In the junior high girls race (18 runners), North Adams’ Addy Phelps placed fourth overall (17:20) with teammates Jaida Harrison fifth (17:25) and Alyssa McAdams sixth (17:33). Manchester’s Leotie Carman was third overall (15:29) with teammates Kelby Mitchell 10th (20:11) and Madelyn Napier 14th (20:54).
The junior high boys race featured 37 runners with the highest county finisher being North Adams’ Ian Raines in seventh with a time of 13:37. Overall, the Devils took third place in the team standings.
In the high school girls race consisting of 24 runners, the Manchester girls finished second overall on the team standings, led by Emma Hurst in fourth (23:36) and Madison Lejzerowicz fifth (24:07). Madison Dunn and Chloe Freeman also earned medals for the Lady Hounds, placing 11th and 16th respectively.
Besides the winning effort from Darnell, the Dog Pack champion Greyhounds had Eli Crabtree placing fourth (18:48), Ryan Butcher-Raines fifth (19:01), Bradyn Jones 10th (20:59), Ronnie Elam 11th (21:02), Ryan Mack 12th (21:04) and Austin Jones 16th (21:58).
“Our teams have been working hard so it was great to see them have success on our home course,” said Manchester cross-country coach Sean Inman. “Connor Darnell ran his smartest and fastest race of the year. he trailed most of the race but with about 400 meters to go, he made his move to pass and kept the lead to the finish. Freshman Eli Crabtree and Ryan Butcher-Raines both had strong performances and I thought our boys team ran extremely well overall.”
“With injuries and conflicts it’s been hard for us to get an entire girls team on the course this season. Thankfully most of the girls were able to run today and they exceeded expectations. Emma Hurst and Madison Lejzerowicz have worked well together this season and both had great races.”