Week in Review: State Meet Recap

OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship

Girls Division 3 Recap

Brittany Atkinson, a freshman from Liberty Center, took the lead early on and never looked back while leading her team to the State Championship.  Atkinson captured the gold medal by finishing in 18:27.51 to Coldater's Christina Seas time of 18:27.92.  Liberty Center had a ten point lead on Coldwater at the mile marker and was able to extend that lead on the backs of their 2-3-4 runners (Kelly Haubert, Paige Chamberlain, and Chelsea Knapp), who each moved up 5 team places by the finish.  In the end, Liberty Center walked away with a total of just 65 team points to bring home the gold trophy.  Coldwater finished second with 85 team points and West Liberty-Salem was third at 111 team points.

Photos by Jim Findlay    -    Photos by Mark Stonecipher

Girls Division 2 Recap

The St. Vincent-St. Mary girls were the only team that was able to defend their title from a year ago.  Lead by three athletes (Marissa Rosetti, Tessa Weigand and Julia Mendiola) finishing in the top 15 for the team race, St. Vincent-St. Mary was able to hold off a late charge from Zane Trace, winning the team title 89-100.  Zane Trace was fourth after both the mile and two mile splits, but was able to capture the runner-up spot, sneaking by Alter by only one point.  Sarra Taylor of London slowly and steadily moved to the front of the race after crossing the mile marker in seventh place.  After the two mile split, Taylor was in fourth place and by the time she ran into the final stretch she had a solid seven or eight second plus lead on silver medalist Samantha Bockoven of Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy.

Photos by Jim Findlay    -    Photos by Mark Stonecipher

Girls Division 1 Recap

Claudia Saunders has shown that she is one of the top hurdlers in the state by capturing the 100m Hurdles during the 2010 Track and Field season, but now the Princeton High School product has shown that she is one of the most versatile athletes in the state by winning the 2011 Cross Country Championship in 18:04.50, the fastest time of the day for the girls and the de facto course record.  Saunders was able to hold of Rocky River senior Elyse Bierut (18:08.46) and a hard charging Sydney Leiher of Beavercreek (18:10.21).  In the team race, Brunswick made their move between the first and second miles, moving form third place team wise, and 40 points down on first place after the first mile to first place by the two mile split.  Brunswick capture the team championship 111 to 118 for both Beavercreek and Mason.  Beavercreek won the tie breaker on sophomore Maxine Simpson's 59th team place finish to Mason's 64th team place for their 6th runner.

Photos by Jim Findlay    -    Photos by Mark Stonecipher

Boys Division 3 Recap

McDonald was able to place all five scorers in the top 30, while no other team was able to place more than three scorers in the top 30, on their way to scoring just 74 team points.  At the two mile split, Mariemont and Independence were tied with 127 team points, but when all was said and done, Indpendence was securing up the runner up spot over Mariemont by a score of 116-138.  Versailles junior Sam Prakel hung with the lead pack before breaking away from the pack over the last quarter mile to win by 5 seconds over 2009 Division 3 Cross Country State Champ senior Ryan Polman of Independence.  Prakel's time of 15:19.34 was the fastest boy's time of the day and a de facto course record.

Photos by Jim Findlay    -    Photos by Mark Stonecipher

Boys Division 2 Recap

After crossing the two mile split in a pack of three at 10:06, Steve Weaver, a senior from Napoleon, was able to gap the field on his way to a sixteen second victory over Defiance junior Abel Flores.  Weaver finished with a 15:25.09 to Flores' time of 15:41.53.  In the team race, Springfield Shawnee crossed the mile split in 6th place, but had moved all the way up to the top team spot by the two mile split and had opened up a five point lead on defending champ St. Vincent-St. Mary.  Over the course of the last 1.1 miles, Shawnee was able to grow the lead to 13 points for a 101-114 victory over St. Vincent-St. Mary.

Photos by Jim Findlay    -    Photos by Mark Stonecipher    -    Photos by Shawneetyler

Boys Division 1 Recap

In what many would consider the upset of the day, Dublin Coffman captured the team title 101-120 over  St. Ignatius.  Coffman was able to place three athletes (Adam Davidson, John Sotos and Grant Onken) in the top 15, a feat that only one other Division 1 (Walsh Jesuit) was able to do.  Reynoldsburg senior Tseyahe Hiluf kept pushing the pace and slowly was able to drop people from the lead pack.  After the first mile, 16 atheltes were within 2 seconds of the leader, Hiluf.  At the two mile split, the pack had dwindled to just six athletes.  Hiluf was able to separate himself from the pack and from the runner up, junior Sam Wharton of Tippecanoe, over the last half mile to secure the victory with a time of 15:21.52 to 15:24.98.

Photos by Jim Findlay    -    Photos by Mark Stonecipher