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COLUMBUS — The Spencerville girls cross country team has been chasing Minster’s all season, getting closer and closer to knocking off the perennial state power.
The Lady Bearcats had one more chance at Saturday’s Division III State Cross Country meet at windy Scioto Downs to catch their tormentors.
They came close but couldn’t quite close the gap as they finished second to the Wildcats 98-123.
However, not only did they receive a runner-up trophy but had two seniors: Lyndie Brown (4th) and Ashley Gilroy (8th); earn all-Ohio honors with podium finishes.
“The girls couldn’t have run any harder than they did today. We ran well, as did Minster; you can live with that,” head coach Brian McMichael said. “We finished fourth once in the Angela Homan era. What I was most pleased with was how we finished strong; as I was watching the last quarter mile, each of them passed at least one other runner in front of them, if not two. That’s how you want to finish. I am also pleased for the seniors in their final high school cross country race. I thought maybe top 10 for Lyndie and Ashley but to be fourth and eight tremendous.”
Sophomore Kelli Ley (39th), junior Claire McConnell (83rd), sophomore Cortney Miller (88th), sophomore Alexa Brown (105th) and senior Kari Wisher (113th) finished out the Lady Bearcats.
Her finish surprised Lyndie Brown.
“I thought top 10, too, to be fourth, I didn’t think I could go that high. I think having the team running together helped me with that; it pushed me,” she noted. “There were only there runners that weer better than me today and that’s a nice way to end high school in cross country. You want to give your best and I think I did that today; I don’t think I could have run any better.”
Next up is the spring track season and then hopefully college cross country, as is the case for Gilroy.
“Outside of winning, this is the best. We’d been chasing Minster all year and thought we could get them today but they ran a great race, too,” Gilroy acknowledged. “Our real goal today was to come down and have fun and see how well we could do; we wanted to win but we wanted to enjoy the day, too. We competed against the best in Ohio and came that close to winning it; we couldn’t go out any better but to win it.”
Ottoville’s team finished 11th, led by three-time podium finisher, Shayla Siefker; the junior finished 11th after top-10 placements the previous two years.
“The goal every year is to get to state as a team and have fun. We have such a strong support; there are a lot of fans that came down to watch us,” Siefker acknowledged. “That makes it fun to run; we know cross country is not the highest-profile sport there is but when you get the support we get, that makes things better.
“It wasn’t my best race time-wise but our goal as a team is to get to state and have fun when we get there; this is icing on the cake for all the hard work. Since we are such a close group, we can live with the results. That is even more true this year with the injuries we went through and not even being sure we could get back here; just to get back to state is a great accomplishment.”
Junior Brianna Rodriguez (50th) was the next Lady Green finisher, followed by senior Molly Maag (74th), junior Brooke Bendele (115th), senior Melissa Turnwald (126th), junior Kari Beining (140th) and junior Emilee Byrne (142nd).
Maag was not disappointed at all after being one of the Lady Green injured half of the season, along with Turnwald and Bendele.
“It’s an awesome way to end my senior year; I made it to state my last three years and got to run with one of my best friends. Melissa and I have been best friends since seventh grade and we’ve run together since,” Maag said. “Even though we’re not in the same class, the other girls on the team are our best friends, too. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of teammates through the four years oh high school.”
Maag even gave kudos to local rival Spencerville.
“They had a great year. There’s a bit of rivalry there but they really ran well all year and they deserve the credit,” Maag added. “It would have been nice for us to have been in the top eight as a team but we did the best we could with all that was going on throughout the season. I’m proud we stuck together through it all.”
Maag is hoping to continue her running career at the next level at the University of Cincinnati.
Long-time Ottoville coach Bob Kaple was simply happy his charges made it this far.
“You’re going up against the top 5-6 percent of the teams in the state; just to get here is a great accomplishment. To do well here, you have to be at the top of your game health-wise and we weren’t,” Kaple said. “Three of our top five runners missed a month of the season with injuries; that’s hard to come back from so quickly. They ran so well to get here but the competition is too strong here to not be in top form. The girls didn’t quite finish as well as I thought they might coming in but they did their best today.
“We only lose the two seniors: Molly and Melissa. They had difficult years but they hung right in there. Shayla was all-Ohio again for the third straight year; she is an outstanding talent and I’m glad she’ll be around another year. Brianna was our number 5 runner last year but because of injuries, she became a solid No. 2. That junior class has a lot of talent; I hope we get down here again next season.”
Spencerville senior Jonathan Rex finished 69th in a tough Division III boys race.
“My calves got tight around the 2-mile mark. I thought I started OK; I wasn’t too fast,” Rex commented. “From then on, you’re just trying to finish as best you can. The hills especially become very tough when you’re tight like that.
“Still, I’m happy I got here. You always hope you can run your best race but this is a tough field and you need to be at your best to compete.”