The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Amherst grad wins under lights
Park is first at Friday Night Lights in Mentor
Give Josh Park this much — he had his competition at the Friday Night Lights race on July 13 scouted out pretty well.
After finishing fifth in last year’s race at Mentor High School, Park knew that if he wanted a chance to win, he would have to make his move early and take the final quarter-mile inside Jerome T. Osborne Stadium out of the equation against runners who were better track runners than him. The move worked.
The 21-year-old graduate of Amherst High School, a walk-on with the Ohio University cross country team, pulled away early, then had enough to hold off the rest of the pack to win the Friday Night Lights race with a dazzling time of 14:48.
Last year’s champion — Luke Hickman (14:59) was second while last year’s runner-up Eric Rupe (15:04) was third.
“I didn’t think I had the foot speed to get away from them on the track,” Park said.
“So I tried to get away early. It seemed to work out. Those were the best odds I had.”
All runners took off from the starting line and ran one lap (a quarter-mile) inside the stadium before embarking on the trails outside the stadium. When the front pack, which included Park, Hickman and Rupe, left the stadium after the first lap, all were together.
That’s when Park made his move.
“Eric is really quick. He runs close to a 14-flat on the track,” Park said. “And Luke won it last year. I knew it’d be quick. I knew I’d get hawked down (without a strong leg outside the stadium).” When Park entered the stadium for the final 400 meters, he had a decent lead on Hickman. Park even passed the pace cart driven by Bill Dennison on the back stretch. Park said it was his first time breaking the 15-minute mark.
“It’s good to see I’m in shape,” he said with a grin.
Hickman, who moved to Willoughby Hills after graduating from Hillsdale College in 2015, credited Park for running a good race.
“When we were off the track, he pulled away,” Hickman said. “There was never a point where he surged and dropped us, it was just a strong all-around run by him. I kind of hoped he had went out too fast, but I guess he didn’t.”
In the female competition, 13-year-old Savannah Dennison — who will be an eighth-grader this fall in Mentor, ran a personal best 18:18 to take the female championship. Her previous personal record for a 5K was the 18:26 she ran at last year’s Friday Night Lights race.
Dennison was 35th overall. Bailey Roberts (18:38) was the second female to cross the finish line, placing 40th overall.
Dennison was the thirdoverall female runner at the recent Johnnycake Jog, a five-mile race. The Friday Night Lights race is a good tuneup for her junior high season, she said.
“I knew coming into the race that my arms and legs were tired,” she said. “If I didn’t put it in my head and think about that, I’d do good. Obviously that worked.”