Wildcats, Redskins claim titles

COLDWATER - There were no surprises in the girls' MAC cross country championship, as the Minster girls captured their fourth consecutive title in dominating fashion.

The boys' race, however, was a real nail biter, with St. Henry edging out Parkway for the crown.
   The Minster girls jumped out to a fast start, placing nine runners in the top 13 at the one-mile mark. By the end of the race, the Wildcats still had seven runners in the top 13 places, all coming in with times under 20 minutes. Their final score of 20 points easily outdistanced second-place St. Henry's score of 69.
   Minster was led by freshman Emma Watcke, who finished with a time of 18:56. Only nine seconds behind was senior Morgan Pohl, who achieved All-MAC honors for the fourth time and was part of the championship team all four years. Pohl seemed happy immediately after the run and then broke into tears as she realized her career was almost over.
   "I am just so happy to be running with these girls," said Pohl with a sweep of her arm towards her teammate as she wiped away the tears.
   The boys' team race was expected to be a fight between St. Henry and Parkway, with Minster and Versailles having an outside shot. It did not disappoint, as St. Henry, Parkway and Versailles each had two runners in the top eight throughout the race. In the end, the difference was St. Henry's third and fourth runners, Blake Ontrop and Braydon Hoying, who finished ninth and 10th to seal St. Henry's five-point victory over Parkway.
   Versailles' Joe Spitzer blew away the rest of the field, finishing 48 seconds ahead of all others with a time of 16:00. After that, St. Henry's Devin Huelskamp finished in second place ahead of Parkway's Ben Schlemmer. After another Versailles runner finished fourth, it was Parkway's Matt Gaerke edging out St. Henry's Sean Muhlenkamp for fifth. After Ontrop and Hoying took ninth and 10th, Parkway came in strong with Kyle Roth in 12th, Aaron Bruns in 14th and Reid Etzcorn in 16th. But the fifth Redskin runner, Seth Brookhart, crossed 10 seconds later in 18th place for the 45-50 St. Henry win.
   While finishing fifth, Redskin senior Sean Muhlenkamp set a personal record of 17:10 by knocking 20 seconds off his previous fastest time.

"It was definitely a goal to win the MAC," said Muhlenkamp, "but also to beat Parkway, because we've been battling them all season."
   The Parkway fans and runners were disappointed in their close loss, as it would have been the first MAC cross country championship for the Panther boys. However, it was still a great result, as Parkway had not finished higher than fifth place in at least the last 11 years.
   Minster was a not too distant third place with 67 points, followed by Versailles with a score of 86.
   In the junior high races, the girls' title again went to Minster, who took the top four places to easily win over second-place Coldwater. The top individual was Ella Boate, whose time of 12:10 was less than a second better than her teammate Kate Larger.
   The boys' team title went to Versailles, who won decisively over the runners-up from Minster. Coldwater's Isaac Schoen took top individual honors with a time of 11:31. 
   All the local teams (except for Versailles) will be in district competition next Saturday at Ottawa.