Manchester senior Maddie Lejzerowicz placed fifth overall in the high school girls race at last week’s Dog Pack Challenge. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Lady Hounds win high school girls title
Manchester seventh grader Jackson Roberts competes last week in the Manchester Dog pack Challenge. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The annual Dog Pack Challenge came back to the challenging cross-county course at Manchester High School on Tuesday, September 10 as the Greyhounds hosted teams from southeast Ohio in elementary, junior high and high school races. It was a good day for the Lady Hounds on their home course as they captured the high school girls championship for the event.
The day began with the always popular elementary race, which showcases the cross-country runners of the future and on this day featured 65 male and female runners, all from Adams County schools. For the young male runners, the top five finishers were Ayven Lockhart (Manchester), Lucas Applegate (Manchester), Kaden Edingfield (North Adams), Henry Baker (Manchester) and Wyatt Caldwell (West Union).
The top female runners in the elementary race were Lydia Cracraft (Manchester), Trudi Kremin (Peebles), Ava Smalley (Peebles), Alayna Lee (Manchester) and Dayla Vogler (Peebles).
Twenty-four runners toed the start line for the following junior high girls race and the top county finisher was Manchester seventh grader Tillee Thatcher, who placed second overall with a time of 14:15.10. The next highest county finisher was in 11th place, Manchester seventh grader Maliry Gruber in a time of 17:50.40.
The junior high boys race featured 39 competitors with Manchester eighth grader Ryan Parker placing sixth overall with a time of 13:41.40. Seventh grader Jackson Roberts finished 22nd in his time of 15:5-.50, with teammate and eighth grader Cayden Allen finishing 24th (17:08).
The high school girls race consisted of 23 runners and was dominated by the host Lady Hounds, with four runners in the top 10. Eastern Brown’s Brandy Shular won the race, but Manchester took spots 2,3,5 and 10, good enough to earn them the team points total. Senior Emma Hurst was second overall (23:01.90) while freshman Leotie Carman was right behind in third (23:25:40). Senior Madison Lejzerowicz was fifth (23:57.20) and sophomore Gracie Barr was 10th (26:21.80).
There were 41 runners in the day’s final race, the high school boys, and Manchester junior Ryan Butcher-Raines placed Fourth with a time of 19:29.90. Fifth place went to Greyhound senior, and first-year runner, Braylan Roberts, who traversed the course in a time of 19:31.10. Junior Landon Doyle was 18th with a finish time of 21:35.90 and sophomore Allen Will was 23rd in a time of 21:57.90.
On Wednesday, September 18, Manchester will again play host to the annual Adams County Meet, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
2024 Dog Pack Challenge Team Standings
JH Girls- Georgetown 16, Eastern Brown 47
JH Boys- Georgetown 37, Eastern Brown 48, Fairfield 57. Wheelersburg 96, Manchester 113
HS Girls- Manchester 31, Eastern Brown 40, Wheelersburg 65, Fairfield 78,
HS Boys- Wheelersburg 32, Fairfield 60, Manchester 64, Ripley 74
