Many district races were run this weekend. 71 to be exact. Many standout performances happened, with teams and individuals officially securing their spot at the regional championship meet this Saturday. Here are five of the top storylines from this past weekend.
New OH #1 Marks Have Entered the Chat
Bring Gwen Huddle and Cole Zang into the Findlay Owens Division III District, and you get an absolute two-race spectacle. Huddle ran 17:05.50, smashing her old personal best by over 20 seconds. Oh yeah, and the previous OH #1 mark that she already had. Zang put on a show himself and cracked the 15-minute mark for the first time, running 14:52.90 for the new OH #1. The more impressive part is they both ran without any competition up front, each winning their respective race by almost two minutes.
The rest of the top 10 leaderboard was shaken up on the girls' side in other district races across the state, with Natalie Nixon, Audrey Miller, Julia Bocik, Elle Miesse, Kaitlyn Van Zandt and Peyton Hughey all acquiring new season-bests to slide up in the rankings.
Get the Brooms, Mount Gilead is Sweeping
It’s perfect. The most dominant team performance this weekend was the Mount Gilead boys from the Hilliard Darby 1 Division IV race. No settling was seen for the heavy state team title favorites. They scored 15 points. Henry Bartlett, Brycen Gabriel, Aiden McLain, Ethan Turner and Liam Stalnaker scored in the top five for the Indians. They averaged 16:13 with a 48-second spread. What makes this team even more exciting is their interchangeability, as Andrew Gannon and Grayson Smith finished right up with the scorers.
Anderson Seredick vs. Ian Res
In a moment of deja vu, Anderson Seredick won the Madison Division II district race by two seconds, finishing in 15:21.60 to outlast Ian Res. How many seconds separated them at districts last year? Two. This was the closest race on the individual side this past weekend, and these two may carry on that same theme moving forward. Both athletes will be exciting to watch as they head into regionals and eventually the state meet.
Too close between Kirtland, Maplewood and McDonald
A close matchup between another team can be intense. Now throw in another, and it’s anyone’s game. That was exactly the case with the girls' teams from Kirtland, Maplewood and McDonald in the Madison Division IV district. They were all separated by a total of seven points.
Each team has its unique strengths. Kirtland has low-stick Kylie Sayle. They also placed five in the top 20 to win with 57 points. Maplewood relied on depth, claiming the lowest spread to take second with 63 points. McDonald has the best front-runner of the three teams, as Naomi Sheesley won the race by over 40 seconds, running 18:05.30. They totaled 64 points for third. Seeing how these unique strengths shake up in the regional and state fields will be one to watch for all of these teams.
Liberty Center Girls Rising
Could Liberty Center be the most underrated Division IV girls team? Yes, the Leaders Farm course is fast. But having all seven of your runners setting major season-bests on the same day is quite impressive. Oh yes, and scoring 19 points. Colbie Strayer turned heads up front, winning in 18:09.14. Mya Stark and Castyn Miller rounded out the top three race spots overall. Ryley Miller and Brynn Gyurasics each dropped their personal-bests by over 40 seconds to score as the team’s fourth and fifth runners. This momentum only adds to their strength heading into the regional meet.