Minster, Fort Loramie compete at cross country states
Another great year of cross country came to a close for the Minster and Fort Loramie programs as they traveled to Fortress Obetz on Nov. 7 for the D. III state finals.
Minster
Boys: The Wildcats (269) finished 11th in the state behind Fisher Catholic (251), Fredericktown (241), South Range (221), Cedarville (216), Columbus Grove (208), Canton CC (200), Holgate (200), Mount Gilead (173), Summit Country Day (131) and East Canton (126).
Scoring for the boys were Alex Albers (13th, 16:16.5), Jack Grieshop (71st, 17:04.3), Josh Niekamp (93rd, 17:19.3), Jim Trzaska (116th, 17:36) and Joseph Slonkosky (132nd, 17:44.6)
Coming into the year, the boys were looking to replace two of their top three runners while returning six of their top eight.
Young talent paired with veteran leadership led to that 11th place finish on Nov. 7 while showing the future is bright for the Wildcats.
Of their seven runners that made states; Albers, Matthew Droesch , Grieshop , Ryan Halpin, Niekamp, Slonkosky and Trzaska, Albers (junior), Grieshop (freshman), Trzaska (sophomore), Slonkosky (junior), Halpin (freshman) will all be returning next year.
Girls: The girls (83) team finished second at the state meet as they finished behind West Liberty Salem (55).
The incredible streak of four consecutive state championships, the first time the illustrious program has ever won for straight, came to an end but also set the table for continued competitiveness in the near future.
Ella Boate (6th, 18:47.5), Maggie Hemmelgarn (11th, 18:56.4 ), Taylor Roth (23rd, 19:26.8) Chaney Cedarleaf (30th, 19:37) and Mason Pohl (47th, 20:06.8) scored for the Lady Wildcats on Saturday.
Making the state team this year were Boate, Cameo Cedarleaf, Cedarleaf , Hemmelgarn, Morgan Ketner, Emma Meyer, Pohl and Roth. Of those seven; Hemmelgarn (freshman), Roth (sophomore), Chaney Cedarleaf (freshman), Cameo Cedarleaf (sophomore) and Meyer (junior) return next year.
“They just handled adversity so well,” said head coach Jessie Magoto on the unique season. “I think teenagers handle adversity the best. Whatever we asked the girls to do when things changed, ‘we have to do this or that because it’s the new protocol,’ they never questioned it or balked. They did everything. ‘Training today will change because of this, schedule will change because of that,’ they just embraced every bit.”
“At the end, they raced well, they were fearless,” said Magoto. “Embraced the competition and they can walk away from Saturday knowing they left it all out there. What I’ll remem
ber about them, I feel like they loved every step of the way. They loved every bit that came their way no matter what, whether it was expected or not, they embraced it. They just really had the hunger to run hard, push themselves hard and be a team. I hope in the future we can hang on to that.”
Fort Loramie
Boys: The boys team had two individual runners compete at states in brothers Colten and Colin Gasson on Nov. 7
The junior duo entered the race with it being the third straight appearance for Colton and the second with Colin running with him. Colten finished 29th overall with a time of 16:27.8 while Colin finished 90th overall with a time of 17:17.8.
Girls: The girls (126) finished fourth at the state meet behind Liberty Center (115), Minster (83) and West Liberty Salem (55).
The girls program, led by this year’s senior class, has had an impressive four year run of sustained with four consecutive top five finishes in the state (4th, 2nd, 3rd, 4th). Qualifying for states were Liv Borchers, Anna Derrick, Dani Eilerman, Caitlyn Gasson, Corynn Heitkamp, Claire Rethman and Ava Turner.
Scoring for the Lady Redskins were; Borchers (7th, 18:48.8), Rethman (9th, 18:56), Eilerman (43rd, 19:58.4), Detrick (56th, 20:14.3) and Turner (81st, 20.41.4).
Borchers and Rethman also etched their name into program history by becoming two of the three runners in program history to run a sub 19:00 race, joining Janel Olberding.