Wednesday, August 24th, 2016
Redskins earn sweep; Celina's McDonough, Hurley win individual titles
Mercer County Cross Country Meet
By Colin Foster
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Celina's Lauren McDonough won her second straight Mercer County title on Tuesday.
FORT RECOVERY - The St. Henry boys and girls were the best teams at the Mercer County Cross Country Championships held at Fort Recovery on Tuesday..
Celina's Lauren McDonough and Adrian Hurley took home "best couple" honors.
The St. Henry girls repeated as county champs by placing five runners in the top nine spots to finish with 29 points. Celina earned second with 67 and Coldwater third with 75.
The Redskin boys, who had finished runner-up to Celina last year, put five runners in the top 13 for a winning score of 36. Parkway, led by Matt Gaerke's second-place finish, was runner-up with 50 points and Celina third with 67.
"You always want to start on a good note. You always want to be tough at the beginning," St. Henry coach Dan Hemmelgarn said. "This is just a great jumping point to start the season."
A season ago, McDonough and boys' teammate Roman Mitchell swept the county meet races. On Tuesday, Celina did it again thanks to runaway victories by McDonough and Hurley.
McDonough had zero company up front for 75 percent of the race - finishing nearly two minutes ahead of runner-up Kelsey Broering, a freshman from Marion Local.
Hurley broke away from the field at the two-mile mark and finished 23 seconds better than the second-place Gaerke to earn his first county title.
"It's pretty amazing," McDonough said of the sweep. "He's a really good guy ... he's actually my boyfriend. It's awesome for Celina to have people who have that kind of drive and determination."
GIRLS
At last year's meet, McDonough edged St. Henry's Alexis Heath for the title, finishing with a 20:22.12 to Heath's 20:26.97.
It wasn't even close this time.
McDonough parted ways from the field early in the race and continued to run away. She finished in a time of 19:58.
A great first race of the season, no doubt, but she plans on running much faster times this season.
"I would like to get under 19 by the end of the year," McDonough said. "I think I'm on the right path. I'm just going to keep kicking butt in practice, and hopefully I'll get there."
After Broering crossed the finish line in 21:51, St. Henry's Erin Clune (22:06) and Makayla Hoying (22:08) followed and Coldwater's Maddie Steinke (22:14) placed fifth.
St. Henry's Alexis Heath (22:22) and Lauren Hemmelgarn (22:23) claimed the sixth and seventh spots. Fort Recovery's Chloe Will (22:28) was eighth, St. Henry's fifth runner, Ashley Bruns, placed ninth (22:34) and Fort Recovery's Hannah Heitkamp took 10th (22:35).
Rounding out the top 15 were Coldwater's Colby Homan (11th, 22:39), Celina's Sawyer Weitzel (12th, 22:43), Fort Recovery's Elise Gehle (13th, 22:46), and St. Henry's Olivia Hemmelgarn (14th, 23:03) and Brooke Speck (15th, 23:06).
The hosting Indians placed fourth with 86 points, Marion Local was fifth (112 points) and Parkway sixth (158).
BOYS
Hurley went from sixth place at the Mercer County Meet in 2015 to the winning runner a year later.
And he did it rather convincingly - handily defeating three runners - Gaerke, Fort Recovery's Travis Sutter and St. Henry's Devin Huelskamp - who had topped him at the same meet last year.
"I wasn't really expecting it going into it," said Hurley, "because last year, when it came to pacing, I wasn't really good at it. This year, I used my tactics. After the first mile, I wasn't in first. I just sat back and waited to see what other people were doing. After that, I just went for it and tried to win."
Gaerke, an individual regional qualifier in 2015, was the only other runner to finish below the 18-minute mark in 17:59.
Three St. Henry runners - Braydon Hoying (18:02), Huelskamp (18:05) and Sean Muhlenkamp (18:10) - filled the 3-5 spots in. Parkway's Kyle Roth was sixth in 18:10, Fort Recovery's Sutter took seventh (18:13), Marion's Nick Kramer eighth (18:23), Parkway's Ben Schlemmer ninth (18:44) and Coldwater's Andrew Schoen 10th (18:46).
Concluding the top 15 were St. Henry's Seth Brookhart (11th, 19:00), Celina's Nathan Robinson (12th, 19:11), St. Henry's Brandon Dues (13th, 19:16), Parkway's Reid Etzcorn 14th, 19:24 and Fort Recovery's Drew Muhlenkamp (15th, 19:30).
"Through three (runners), I think Parkway was really close to us," Hemmelgarn said. "I think the 4-5 runners made a big difference today."
Coldwater was the fourth-place team with a score of 117. Marion took fifth (126 points) and Fort Recovery sixth (130).
JUNIOR HIGH
Celina's Kennedy Newell and Nicole Fennig went 1-2 in the junior high girls race. Newell finished in a time of 13:04 and Fennig 13:16. St. Henry's Katie Kunkler earned a bronze with a time of 13:24.
Coldwater edged Celina, 50-53, for the team title. Marion Local placed third with 65.
Coldwater's Isaac Schoen won the JH boys race in landslide fashion, finishing with a time of 12:18. Fort Recovery's Connor Gower (13:11) and Jake Diller (13:12) placed second and third, respectively.
The boys team title belonged to the Marion Local Flyers, who totaled 37 points. Coldwater placed second with 52 and Celina third with 59.
Many of the local teams will be at the Lake Campus on Saturday for the Celina Rotary Invitational.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
St. Henry runners, from left, Brooke Speck, 83, Vannessa Goewert, Breanna Schulze, 82, and Riley Post compete during Tuesday's Mercer County meet in Fort Recovery.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery's Travis Sutter tries to hold off St. Henry's Sean Muhlenkamp at the finish. Muhlenkamp finished fifth and Sutter took seventh.
Photo by Nick Wenning/The Daily Standard
Celina's Adrian Hurley won his first Mercer County title after having finished sixth at the meet last season.
