Carey’s girls, Mohawk’s Daniel win N-10

Wynford’s Madison Graham (from left), Carey’s Ellen McDougle, Mohawk’s Lydia Hoepf and Riverdale’s Sarah Hunter compete during the Northern 10 Invitational on Tuesday at Riverdale. Carey’s girls captured the team championship.

MOUNT BLANCHARD — As Riverdale played host, Carey cross country stole the show at the inaugural Northern 10 Invitational on Tuesday.
The girls (31 points) took first and the boys (60) second as the Blue Devils combined to score lowest of the 10 competing teams.
The girls edged second-place Bucyrus by a margin of 17 points. Sarah Walter (third, 22:56), Jaclyn Troiano (fifth, 23:29), Alivia Stephan (sixth, 23:42), Amber Spurlock (ninth, 24:05) and Kristina Nusbaum (18th, 25:23) were Carey’s top five runners.
But while the feat was riveting to the bystander, coach Dean Kessler proved afterward that success is often just a matter of perspective.
“Coming in here we had hoped to get all five (scoring runners) in the top 10,” he said. “I’m not speaking against the fifth girl; I’m just saying we came in here with higher expectations than what we actually did.
“Obviously we’re running well for this part of the season, but we need to get a whole lot better by the end of the season.”

Mohawk’s Julia Daniel nears the finish line Tuesday at the Northern 10 Invitational on Tuesday. Daniel won the race by a large margin, posting a time of 21:17.

Brayden Leist (18:29) was tops on the boys squad with a second-place finish and Ben Kromer (18:49) came in shortly after in fifth. Michael Patton (19:26), Zach Logsdon (19:30) and Evan Hyatt (20:30) were the other Blue Devils whose places factored into Carey’s 60 points.
Individually, all performances paled in comparison to Julia Daniel’s, who nonchalantly crossed the line at 21:17, seeming to possess enough wind for another 3.1 miles. One minute and fourteen seconds later, Riverdale’s Aubreah Manns finished in second place.
“I decided that I was going to do some work and get ahead on the second mile and really push myself. I came out (during the second mile) and she (Manns) wasn’t there anymore,” said Daniel, who competed in the state meet the past two seasons.
Her only competitor down the stretch was complacency.
“I just kind of had to stay mentally motivated and keep pushing, stay up with the (John Deere) Gator. At least we had that.”
Kayla Risner (24:16) was the other bright spot for Mohawk, finishing 12th.
Haley Leeth (25:47), Lydia Hoepf (28:00) and Marissa Leeth (28:56) placed between 23rd and 42nd as the Warriors took fourth place. Mohawk actually tied with Wynford (70 points), but the Royals’ sixth finisher, Celestia Starner (27:54), placed better than Mohawk’s Kaela Kozel (30:39) to give them the third-place nod.
In the boys race, Alex Hoerig (18:42) finished fourth and Mitch Brown (19:21) 11th for the Warriors, while Jarred Shellhouse’s (25th), Mike Lasky’s (28th) and Chris Koehler’s (36th) place also counted in Mohawk’s 85 points, which earned it fifth place.
Wynford’s top five girls were Ellie Richmond (fourth), Rachel Redolf (20th), Sara Hoffman (24th), Lexi Creel (25th) and Maddy Graham (31st). MJ Quaintance (sixth) and Jordy Kiess (eighth) each finished in the top 10 for the boys, who took fourth place.

Mohawk’s Alex Hoerig (left) runs beside Carey’s Brayden Leist near the midway point of the Northern 10 Invitational on Tuesday. Leist finished second and Hoerig placed fourth.

“It’s a hot day and it’s a Tuesday meet so we kind of practiced hard (Monday). I wasn’t expecting PRs or anything,” Wynford coach Billy Banta said. “I think as far as placing and things like that, we’re pretty pleased with how we are.”
Contrary to his coach’s anticipation, Wynford’s Jacob Hord, with a time of 20:52:6, broke his personal record Tuesday.
As for Riverdale, Tyler Miller was the first Falcon to cross at 21:39 in 51st place. Caleb Hicks, Cody Radabaugh, Mitchel Matheny and Jay Mason finished between 62nd and 82nd as the boys took eighth place.
The girls’ team, bearing only four runners, did not have the manpower for team placement, but all finished better than 23rd. After Manns (22:31), Anna Penwell (23:50) was seventh and Tiffany Jeffrey (25:37) and Sarah Hunter (25:37) practically finished hip-to-hip in 21st and 22nd, respectively.
It was the first race of Manns’ high school career, as the freshman splits time between cross country and soccer.
“She’s an extremely talented runner,” said coach Kim Rall, who wielded the Gator that led competitors through the course. “She’s naturally talented. I was hoping she’d be out front, but I was really surprised to see her right behind me until we got around the field.”
Rall said while it can be a little hectic, she tries to make Riverdale’s home meets fun for all the runners and thinks everything ran pretty smoothly Tuesday. Her Falcons are not fond of the course and its daunting hill, so she panders to their sweet teeth for motivation.
“We try to have cookies at the finish so they kind of block out the course and think about the sugar rush they get at the end,” Rall said.
Fifty-eight girls and 89 boys competed in the invite, which prefaced the coming of the Northern 10 Athletic League fall of 2014. Hobie Cotsamire (18:20) was champion of the boys run and spearheaded the Redmen’s first-place finish.
Carey, Riverdale and Mohawk will compete in the Columbus Grove Invitational this Saturday and Wynford will head to Bucyrus for the Elks Invitational.

High School
Boys
Team results
1. Bucyrus, 50; 2. Carey, 60; 3. Colonel Crawford, 69; 4. Wynford, 85; 5. Mohawk, 98; 6. Seneca East, 98; 7. Crestline, 204; 8. Buckeye Central, 238; 9. Riverdale, 252.
Individual results
Carey: 2. Leist, 18:29; 5. Kromer 18:49; 13. Patton 19:26; 14. Logsdon, 19:30; 27. E. Hyatt 20:30; 34. O’Flaherty, 20:58;35. A. Hyatt 21:18; 26. Fahl, 21:26; 52. Arredondo, 21:44; 57. Hagley, 22:08; 71. Fruth, 23:37; 74. Griffin, 24:06; 79. Garcia, 25:29; 81. Gerbers, 26:47.
Wynford: 6. Quaintance, 18:51; 8. Kiess, 19:10; 20. Pfiefer, 19:52; 22. Shupp, 19:55; 31. Hord, 20:52; 54. Hall, 21:57; 60. Blank, 22:20.
Mohawk: 4. Hoerig, 18:42; 11. Brown, 19:21; 25. Shellhouse, 20:04; 28. Lasky, 20:32; 36. Koehler, 21:21; 43. Kozel, 21:27; 64. Dundore, 22:44; 72. Emhoff, 23:38; 77. Allomong, 24:28.
Riverdale: 51. Miller, 21:39; 62. Hicks, 22:22; 65. Radabaugh, 23:13; 73. Matheny, 23:52; 82. Mason, 27:28.
Girls
Team results
1. Carey, 31; 2. Bucyrus, 48; 3. Wynford, 70; 4. Mohawk, 70
 Individual results
Carey: 3. Walter, 22:56; 5. Troiano, 23:29; 6. Stephan, 23:42; 9. Spurlock, 24:05; 18. Nusbaum, 25:23; 26. A. Keller, 26:05; 29. Gibson, 26:44; 33. McDougle, 27:22; 39. Yeater, 28:32; 52. K. Keller, 31:42; 54. Cunningham, 33:06; 56. Day, 34:11.
Wynford: 3. Richmond, 23:29; 20. Redolf, 25:35; 24. Hoffman, 25:59; 25. Creel, 26:04; 31. Graham, 27:02; 37. C. Starner, 27:54; 44. Blank, 29:41; 47. May, 29:56; 51. T. Starner, 31:04; 55. Bush, 33:16; 57. Mosley, 34:29.
Mohawk: 1. Daniel, 21:17; 12. Risner, 24:16; 23. H. Leeth, 25:47; 38. Hoepf, 28:00; 42. M. Leeth, 28:56.
Riverdale: 2. Manns, 22:31; 7. Penwell, 23:50; 21. Jeffrey, 25:37; 22. Hunter, 25:37.

By NICK MARLOW
Staff writer

Posted by Daily Chief on August 29, 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry