The 9th Annual Centerville Stampede is set to take off on Saturday, September 22nd. The event changed dates this year and will permanently keep this corresponding date in the future. The event is held at Watts Middle School, Grant Park, and Liberty Retirement Community . The schedule also changed slightly this year with the high schools starting the day off at 9:30 AM followed by the Middle Schools in the afternoon. A complete flyer of information can be found at www.centervillegirlsxc.com.
The meet has some great aspects that focus on athletes and allow coaches to coach. First, the meet provides custom medals each year to athletes 75 deep in some races. Second, high school team champions are rewarded with cool swag from meet sponsors. Lastly, splits are automatically taken at the mile and 2 mile for coaches. The results are not only printed with the athletes' splits but with what place the runner was in at that point. It's a great way to watch and see how a race changes between the mile marks.
Taking a look at the races on Saturday, the GIRLS GOLD DIVISION race should be the highlight of the day. First, Grosse Pointe South invades the buckeye state as the #6 team in the nation according to Milesplit. Last week in Michigan they won the Spartan Invitational by going 17:50, 18:11, 18:17, 18:40, and 19:24 for their top 5. Ohio will have a strong contingent of teams trying to break up the Grosse Pointe South runners with DI #4 - Beavercreek, DI #2 Centerville, and DI #7 Springboro battling it out. Beavercreek is expected to be without their #1 runner as Sydney Leiher takes a college visit . Springboro boasts two sub 19:00 runners in Rachel Mahle and Lycia Hollon who went 18:31 and 18:50 last week in Louisville, KY. DII #9 Oakwood will move up to the Gold Division as they are led by # 1 OH and #14 nationally ranked runner Mary Kate Vaughn (PR 17:37) and strong #2 Mackie Keller, 19:15. Individually, Lebanon's Jacquelyn Crow is coming off of her season best 18:29 last week and should be in the mix as well.
The BOYS GOLD DIVISION race should be a strong race as well. Likely to be 3 teams fighting it out for the team championship: Centerville, Elder, and Turpin. First, Centerville is lead by Josh Steible, 15:25 and Jimmy Barton, 15:51. Elder and Turpin's top runners will try to break up that front duo with Adam Lipps, 16:21 and Alaeldin Tirba, 15:59. Elder and Turpin both have their top 5 pack within a minute of each other so it will be a great team battle between these three.
The GIRLS BLACK DIVISION will have 11 teams. The title contenders should come from Bexley, Indian Hill, or Summit Country Day. Each team has a lead runner that should contend for a Top 5 finish. The individual title may come from one of the following: Elena Horton - Indian Hill, Katie Wittig - Bexley, Emily Gill - Waynesville, or Samantha Combs - Valley View.
In the BOYS BLACK DIVISION the battle should be between state hopeful teams from D2 and D3. Bexley and Summit Country Day. Bexley is the team with a front runner and a spread out pack while Summit Country Day is a pack team. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It seems that one of four runner will walk away with the individual title. Bexley's Ian Kellogg comes into the meet with the season's fastest time thus far of 16:22. Not too far behind are Finnytown's Alex Hughes and Valley View's sensational sophomore twins Zach and Kyle Brussard
The course is flat and fast with gradual turns through fields, trails, and shaded paths. It looks to be great weather for what should be an even better meet. If you are interested in attending in 2013 please contact David Dobson at dobsonda@sbcglobal.net.