Minster girls win again

COLDWATER - In sports, the saying is that records are meant to be broken. At Thursday's MAC cross country meet, Coldwater senior Sarah Kanney set a record that can never be topped. Kanney easily won the girls' race by over a minute over her nearest competition, capping off a six-year streak of winning the individual conference championship, and is thought to be the first MAC runner to do so.

"That's great," exclaimed Kanney when her feat was noted. "I just knew that I had never lost a regular season meet and I wanted to finish that streak off today."

It was not always so easy for Sarah. In 2011, she was able to edge Versailles' Tammy Berger by only four seconds. In 2013, her challenge came from within her own team, as she finished only one second ahead of Christina Seas.

"My freshman and junior years were definitely my toughest fights," Kanney said.

Despite the great individual accomplishment, Sarah remains focused on the team aspect of her racing.

"Seeing the times that some of our teammates ran tonight, we have potential to make some noise at state. If we keep working hard, I believe our team can do that. It's obviously going to take everything we have, but it's exciting to see the times we are running."

However, in the girls' team competition, it was a return to the good old days for the Minster Wildcats, as they easily defeated Coldwater 25-55. Minster placed five runners in the top nine overall and 10 runners in the top 24.

Morgan Pohl led the way for the Wildcats, finishing second behind Kanney. She was followed by Coldwater's Lauren Seas and New Knoxville's Lauren Privette, followed by the type of pack Minster is known for. The next six runners included five Wildcats: Kaci Bornhorst, Cassie Francis, Gabrielle Barga, Maggie Meiring and Lisa Barlage.

"We wanted to get PRs and work together as a team one more time," senior Gabrielle Barga said. "That was our main goal, to work together. Winning was just a plus."

The boys' individual race also saw a repeat champion from Coldwater, as Jon Wenning finished 11 seconds ahead of St. Henry's Spencer Schulze. Wenning finished with a time of 16:07, seven seconds slower than his winning time last year, but four seconds quicker than his effort last week.

Despite being in the lead, Wenning was pushing hard down the final stretch.

"I wanted to repeat as MAC champion to help the team, but I also wanted to break 16 minutes," explained Wenning. "I knew I had to kick it to hit it, just like I had to at the Lions meet last week."

The boys' team race was expected to be a three way contest between St. Henry, New Bremen and Coldwater. At the halfway mark, New Bremen and St. Henry were almost dead even, with Coldwater slightly in the lead. However, the Cavaliers faded a bit in the second half of the race, and the Redskins outraced the Cardinals for a tight 47-53 victory.

After the top four of Wenning, Schulze, Versailles' Richie Ware and Coldwater's Dan Seas, seven of the next eight runners were from St. Henry or New Bremen. With four runners for each team in, St. Henry was ahead by two points and the winner would likely be the team whose fifth runner finished first. Fortunately for the Redskins, Alex Hemmelgarn was less than 10 seconds behind that group, securing the championship for St. Henry.

One of the top performers for the Redskins was senior Scott Knapke. His time of 17:13 was a season best, 12 seconds better than his run at the Lions meet and 20 seconds faster than his run at the 2013 MAC meet.

"It is so exciting winning the second MAC cross country title in school history (the last was in 2010)," proclaimed a jubilant Knapke after the race. "After our first school win in the Lions meet, our hopes were really high. The MAC is so competitive, but that's what makes winning so much fun."

In the junior high races, the girls' title again went to Minster with a convincing win over the runners-up from Versailles. The top individual was Coldwater's Jenny Seas for the second year in a row with a time of 11:38.

The boys' team title went to Versailles, who edged the two-time defending champions from St. Henry. Parkway's Matt Gaerke took top individual honors with a time of 11:15.

All the local teams, except for Versailles, will be in district competition next Saturday at Ottawa.