‘Seas-ing’ another District Championship

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

It was a perfect late October Saturday at Rio Grande University as the cross-country runners from all four Adams County school were part of the Division III district races, looking to move ahead into regional action. Every athlete from the county put forth their maximum effort in their races and a number of them will be heading north this weekend to compete in the regional races.

The county produced a pair of district champions, beginning with the girls individual champion, Peebles junior Samantha Seas, who again was hardly challenged as she claimed the Division III district title in a time of 20:12.04, nearly a minute ahead of the race’s second place finisher.

“Sam’s junior year of cross-country has been a phenomenal year for her,” said Peebles head XC coach Amanda Myers. “She has set new personal records and has won most of the meets that she has competed in. Saturday’s district meet once again proved that hard work pays off as Sam easily won to move on to the regional. She is so disciplined and she plans her running schedule and sticks to it each week. We didn’t have a girls team at Peebles this year so most of the time Sam was running by herself and while that might be tough some days, she continues to put in the work day after day. I’m very proud of her and excited to see how she does at this weekend’s regional meet.”

In the district cross-country meet, the top two overall team scores are both declared “District Champion” and one of those teams this year was the North Adams High School girls, who finished second overall with a team score of 82, falling only behind Wheelersburg’s 79, meaning they will run again as a team at the regional meet.

The Lady Devils, who have no seniors, were led by sophomore McKenna Shelton, who placed sixth overall in a field of 114 runners with a time of 22:08.92. Sophomore Katelynn Boerger finished 10th with a time of 22:36.88, with another sophomore, Anna Armstrong, coming in at #21 in a time of 23:37.56. Junior Hunter Grooms was 37th with a time of 25:19.63, while classmate Taylor Shelton was 59th with a time of 27:02.65. Rounding out the Lady Devils on the course was sophomore Taylor McIntire who placed 68th in a time of 27:59.52.

The North Adams girls will be joined at the regional race by another full county squad, the West Union Lady Dragons, who placed third overall with a team score of 115. The West Union girls were paced by sophomore Sadie Armstrong who placed 19th in the district race with a time of 23:14.66. West Union sophomore Miley Smith was 27th (24:27.84) with senior Makenna Armstrong coming in 33rd (24:49.23). Junior Allie McCarty was 47th overall with a time of 26:07.88 with junior Sara Boldman 58th (26:48.82). lady Dragons’ senior Kaitlyn Vogler was 77th overall with her finish time of 29:15.88.

“It’s always a good season when it doesn’t stop with the regular season,” said West Union head coach Donnie McCarty. “This year we’ve had several girls fighting injuries, so trying to move on to regionals was even more of a challenge. We look forward to making even more improvements when we get to the regional race.”

On the boys side, the North Adams boys squad also qualified as a team for the regional meet with a fifth place overall team finish in a race that featured 138 runners. North Adams was led by a 22nd place finish by junior Cody Hesler in a time of 18:53.68. Freshman Beau Hesler was 26th (19:03.53), senior Tyler Reed 40th (19:51.95), sophomore Jimmy Hickey 56th (20:29.13), sophomore Ryan Reed 58th (20:36.71) and junior Garrett Emerson 81st (21:36.55).

“I am extremely proud of all of my runners and their overall placing,” said North Adams XC coach Kelly Boerger. “Coach Casie (Reed) and I kept telling them to just focus on placing and not their pace because the weather definitely affected everyone’s pace…after training in temperatures in the 40’s all week to go race in the mid-70’s was a challenge. In the end, it was awesome to see so many Adams County runners on the stage and moving on to the Regional race in Pickerington next week!”

All of the schools in the county will be represented at the regional meet because the Manchester Greyhounds have two individuals who qualified. First, sophomore Emma Hurst placed 16th overall in the DIII girls race with a time of 22:55.37, while in the boys race, junior Connor Darnell was 15th with a time of 18:12.11, good enough to send both of them to the regional race.

“Emma’s improvement this year has been the story with her,” said Manchester XC coach Sean Inman. “She’s improved by over three minutes from last year with a PR of 21:23 which was good enough for All-League and All-District, both for the first time. I haven’t coached many kids with the work ethic and determination she has. She shows up to practice giving 100% every day with no complaints. I know she’ll be ready to run hr best race at the regional meet and I look forward to seeing the great things she can accomplish in the future.”

“Connor had an injury last summer and we weren’t sure if he would be able to run this year,” Inman continued. “After weeks of PT, he finally worked his way back and has had his best season yet. Every week Connor has been getting faster and had run a 17:21 in his last two races before districts. He’s been training to peak at regionals and we are hoping for a great race on Saturday. Connor has also been a great leader to our young team and has played a big part in rebuilding our cross-country program. With most of our team returning, he will help lead our boys to be even better next season.”

The Division III regional cross-country meet will be held at Pickerington North High School on Saturday, October 29.