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Four locals runners headed to regional in Division II CLAYTON — It was the sequel to the Central Buckeye Conference meet here Saturday at the Division II district meet at the Miami Valley Career Technical Center. A few new squads combined with the stellar CBC teams as there was no shortage of talent in the district race. With four top 10 state-ranked teams in the boys race and two in the girls race, the area runners had to be at the top of their game. The top four teams and those individuals in the top 16 advanced to the regional meet in Troy. While no local teams qualified, there were four area runners who earned a spot in Saturday’s regional race. Indian Lake’s Aubrey Gardner earned a return trip to the regional meet, while teammate Rachel Watt, who is only a freshman, also qualified to the regional. Also earning regional berths were Bellefontaine’s Mica Hatcher and Alyssa Elliott. Indian Lake’s girls produced the best local team finish, taking fifth with 129 points. Bellefontaine placed sixth (144) and Benjamin Logan took eighth (212). BHS led the boys’ teams with a sixth-place effort (144) and Ben Logan placed 12th (305). Gardner, who qualified to the regional last fall, was not happy with her finish Saturday. She placed 16th (20:44) to nab the final individual qualifying spot. “I’m happy to get back even though I barely made it,” said Gardner, who placed ninth last season. “I just want to go out next time and do better. I want to forget about this race and hopefully make state.” Watt was not overwhelmed racing in the big meet atmosphere. She finished 11th (20:26). “I’m happy to get to regional,” said Watt. “I was pretty confident I’d make it out. I focused on catching as many girls as I could. It was harder than I expected, though. “I was disappointed the team didn’t make it. I wanted the whole team to go with us.” Laker head coach Jesse Avila sees Saturday’s finish as a chance for improvement. “Aubrey had a disappointing race but she has the opportunity to bounce back,” said Avila. “I was confident Rachel could make it out.” For Bellefontaine’s Hatcher, his first season of cross country continues to get better. Hatcher placed eighth with a time of 17:09. “I’m happy with eighth, but I think I could have been better,” said Hatcher. “I ran ahead of some of those kids at the conference meet that beat me here. I was more concentrated on beating certain kids rather than what place I was in.” Considering his stateranked competition, BHS boys head coach Ben Davis was impressed once again. “Mica ran a tough race,” said Davis. “It’s fortunate our league and district is the best in the state to help prepare him. Hopefully, we can get him in the top 16 next week.” Chieftain Elliott is capping off her senior season with a bang as she took 15th (20:38) to qualify. “I’m happy to make it,” said Elliott. “I thought I might have a chance to do it.” BHS girls head coach Aaron Lauck was pleased to see Elliott advance. “That is great for Alyssa,” said Lauck. “She ran a smart race.” In the team race, Indian Lake’s girls finish was one spot short of their goal. “Overall, I was pleased with the performance,” said IL head coach Jesse Avila. “Some of the girls stepped up and they gave it all they had. They all come back next year. “This is two years in a row we have been fifth. It is kind of disheartening. But I’m happy to get two of the girls out.” Behind the duo of Watt and Gardner, Indian Lake finishers included Emily Gardner in 24th (21:33), Taylor Norviel in 40th (22:27.7), Sarah Bell in 41st (22:27.9), Sarah Zbacnik in 51st (23:08) and Melissa Bell in 52nd (23:13). Bellefontaine was also aided by strong races from Lauren Rutledge in 22nd (21:30), Kaileigh Bible in 33rd (21:57), Chelsea Harshfield in 34th (22:05), Michelle Goble in 44th (22:42), Jessica Haushalter in 47th (22:55) and Sam Chaney in 76th (26:42). Ben Logan’s girls improved from the CBC meet and assistant coach Mike Coder was pleased with Saturday’s race. “I was pleased because the kids did better than we did at the conference meet,” said Coder. “They ran real well. We’ve had good leadership and our seniors really helped bring our freshmen up.” The Raider girls were led by Mackenzie Roebuck in 31st (21:54), Brittney Poling in 39th (22:27), Liz Marcinko in 42nd (22:41), Morgan Cline in 45th (22:43), Cayla Orr in 61st (23:54), Larrilyn Yelton in 66th (24:24) and Teryn Forsythe in 75th (26:34). Bellefontaine’s boys also had a strong team finish, fueled by Hatcher’s performance. Racing for the Chiefs were Blake Price in 19th (17:49), Taylor Cornell in 31st (18:14), Nolan Hunt in 39th (18:28), Todd White in 49th (19:19), Justin Guenther in 56th (19:32), Christian Golden in 57th (19:33) “The district is basically a duplicate of the CBC,” said Davis. “We almost caught Springfield Shawnee. We had a good season and everyone did well.” Ben Logan’s boys saw Logan Leis earn the top finish in 44th (19:00). Others in action were Tyler Ahle in 60th (19:53), Jake Penhorwood in 68th (20:16), Steven Watson in 74th (20:47), Cody Rees in 75th (21:00), Kyle VanDyke in 77th (21:07) and Jared Campbell in 78th (21:13). |