Hendrickson, Gonzales named All-ohio Shelby boys 11th, girls 15th
Daily Globe Sports Editor
OBETZ — Shelby’s Kayla Gonzales and Mason Hendrickson earned Allohio accolades at Saturday’s state cross country meet.
Gonzales, a junior who was running at state for the third consecutive year, finished 15th with a time of 18:46.
“Kayla landed an All-ohio spot. I’m very proud of her. All the hard work and miles paid,” said girls coach Steve Clark.
Participating in his second straight state meet, Hendrickson placed 22nd with a clocking of 16:17.
“Mason continued his great season and gained All-ohio honors,” said SHS boys coach Chris Zuercher of his senior.
The Shelby boys and girls teams — who qualified to state together for the first time in school history — fell short in their bids to place in the top eight and stand on the podium.
The Whippets were 11th in the Division II boys race around the grounds at Fortress Obetz. The girls, running as a team at state for the first time since 2009, would finish 15th.
The SHS boys were sixth a mile into the race and slipped to eighth at the two-mile mark, but were only seven spots from fifth.
“We really put ourselves in a great position at the beginning of the race and were within 10 points of fifth place up till the last kilometer of the race,” said Zuercher.
Shelby’s girls were 13th at the mile mark and 15th a mile later and held onto that spot at the finish.
“A great day for a state meet. We could not ask for better conditions,” said Clark. “The first stretched showed the strength of that state DII competition as a huge pack converged on the first turn. The ladies bent, did not break and kept pressing on.”
Freshman Emma Montgomery was the second finisher for the girls in a time of 20:46 for 109th place. Following her were Channon Cundiff (118th, 20:57), Reyna Hoffman (125th, 21:06), Abby Vogt (152nd, 21:49), Aleigha Thauvette (168th, 22:29) and Kailyn Schwall (176th, 22:58). The times by Montgomery and Cundiff were career bests.
“Emma ran a very smart race. Channon was at her best today. I love Reyna’s drive and determination. Abby gave everything she had today. Aleigha continues to drop her average and had another solid performance. Kailyn is coming off injury and illness and I’m proud of her effort,” said Clark.
Representing the boys were Huck Finnegan (73rd, 16:53), Luke Dininger (89th, 17:04), Tyson Hicks (105th, 17:16), Marshall Moore (132nd, 17:31), Caleb Vogt (145th, 17:47) and Indy Mayer (157th, 18:06).
Zuercher noted six of his runners also were recognized as Academic All-ohio and included Hendrickson, Finnegan, Hicks, Moore, Caleb Vogt and Mayer. Clark’s Academic Allohioans were Cundiff, Hoffman, Abby Vogt, Thauvette and Schwall.
“I’m proud of this team and these seniors. We will miss Caleb, Tyson, Mason and the other five seniors. We accomplished a lot this season and the great thing is the cupboard isn’t bare. We expect to be back here next year and do even better,” said Zuercher.
“My 12 ladies I am so proud of them. You believed you could get to state. You ran with faith and got there. Our next logical step is now make the platform. So my plus for next year… “we ran down the dream, let’s do it again,” Clark said. He had three seniors in his program and two ran Saturday — Hoffman and Vogt.
The boys coach said with the girls team qualifying as well made for a great day.
“Very excited too for coach Clark and his girls to go to state. To have the girls as a team also brought an extra sense of excitement we haven’t had before,” said Zuercher.