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New Bremen's Zach Wiedeman (184) moves to avoid Fort Recovery's Trevor Heitkamp near the finish line at the MAC Cross Country meet in Coldwater. Wiedeman won the race with Heitkamp recovering to finish second.
COLDWATER - As it has in recent years, the boys race came down to a duel between Zach Wiedeman and Fort Recovery's Trevor Heitkamp, but this time, Wiedeman came out on top.
Heitkamp led all the way before falling late with Wiedeman closing in, and Wiedeman passed rode a late surge and a little luck to claim his first individual championship.
"I think I was catching him," Wiedeman said. "It would've been really close. It sucks he collapsed, he ran a great race."
On the girls side, Minster won its 36th MAC title with six runners in the top 10, and Maggie Hemmelgarn won her third individual MAC crown.
Heitkamp, gunning for his third straight title, took a strong early advantage. From the opening stretch, he was almost three seconds ahead, and while Wiedeman stayed about five seconds back through the second mile, Heitkamp began to pull away late.
The lead was up to 10 seconds as they passed the shelter house and approached the stadium, but from there Wiedeman turned on the jets. The lead went from 10 seconds to about six at the first turn of the track, then down to three or four on the second turn.
Wiedeman was still gaining in the homestretch when Heitkamp's legs gave out and he fell to the ground. Wiedeman estimated that he was about 15 meters behind and they were 30 meters from the finish.
He had to slow to dodge Heitkamp, but crossed the line unchallenged for the title and finished with a time of 16:09.76, almost six seconds better than his PR and within a second of the school record.
"First time beating Trevor since, I think state my sophomore year," Wiedeman said. "Trevor's always beaten me, my whole entire life. So, it feels good, but he's a great runner. Look forward to racing him going into these next couple weeks."
Heitkamp staggered to his feet and finished the race less than a second ahead of Versailles' Tony Moorman to hold onto second place.
"Trevor went out a little hard for my preference, I'm sure it was fine for him," Fort Recovery coach Christy Diller said. "He had a good race. He's been struggling with some breathing things the last week or so. I don't know, but he had a good race, and he really had it until the last 50 meters or so. Hopefully nothing major to worry about, he's running well, it's just, sometimes things don't go your way."
Marion Local's Ryan Stucke (155) stays ahead of Coldwater's Josh Schoen (120) and Versailles' Drew Meyer.
But it was Moorman's team hosting the trophy at the end of the day, its third and first since 2004.
Moorman kept up behind the top two the whole race and took third by 17 1/2 seconds. But the real key was depth - the rest of the Tigers were running together behind the leaders, and all seven runners finished in the top 20.
"Heck of a run for our guys," Versailles coach Mark Pleiman said. "We're just so deep. I've got a lot of talent on this team, so a lot of kids stepped up. … Tony, first-year sophomore for us, did just what he was supposed to do. He had a nice pace, ran a solid race, and everybody filled in from there."
Minster's Ryan Halpin had Coldwater's Mason Ayers running at his hip down the homestretch, but fended him off for fourth. Wildcat teammate Jack Grieshop took sixth, New Bremen's Dominic Shroyer was seventh, and Minster's Nick Prenger, Versailles' Cameron Magoto and New Bremen's Jett Jellison rounded out the top 10.
Versailles' Jackson Spitzer and Marcus Briscoe placed 11th and 12th to snag spots on the All-MAC first team, with Briscoe beating out freshman teammate Tony Spitzer for 12th by fractions of a second.
Trey Goettemoller led Marion Local in 16th. Freshman Michael Rindler was 17th to pace St. Henry. Hank Kopack was 22nd for St. John's, Tyler Rowen took 24th for Parkway, and Kaleb Putman came in 35th for New Knoxville.
Minster's Maggie Hemmelgarn (284) is flanked by teammates Maria Niekamp (289) and Chaney Cedarleaf (278) during the MAC girls cross country race in Coldwater.
Hemmelgarn was running alongside teammates Maria Niekamp and Chaney Cedarleaf from the start, with Fort Recovery's Natalie Brunswick also in the top pack.
"This year, our team has been so amazing," Hemmelgarn said. "It's been so fun running with Chaney and Maria and the other girls, and I was so grateful to get the opportunity to run with them."
The Minster girls were able to gain a second or two on Brunswick after the first mile, and in the second, Hemmelgarn pulled away. She had about six seconds on Niekamp at the two-mile marker and maintained a comfortable lead all the way, crossing the line in 18:45.54.
Last year, Hemmelgarn won the MAC championship in her first race of the season coming off an injury, and she said that she felt more prepared coming in Saturday. She ran 35 seconds ahead of her 2022 time and posted her best time at the MAC championships by 16 1/2 seconds.
"It was very nice to run the rest of the season, and I feel like it gave me a better base," she said.
Niekamp finished six seconds behind for second, Cedarleaf was third, and Claire Bohman finished fifth. Annie Hemmelgarn came in sixth to round out the scoring, with Morgan Ketner running ninth and Ava Stammen placing 15th.
All told, the Wildcats took five of the six spots and nine of the top 18.
"As much as it is the MAC, it's just more like family, doing it together one last time," Minster girls coach Jessie Magoto said. "It's ridiculously emotional. But they ran well, they got out strong, they ran together."
Brunswick dropped off the lead pack in the second mile, but she finished 10 seconds ahead of Bohman to claim fourth with a time of 19:30.87.
Fort Recovery added two more top-20 finishers, Ellie Will (14th) and Joelle Kaup (19th). Anna Roessner came in 32nd and Jenna Hart placed 37th, giving the Indians second by three points over Versailles.
"Our girls team had a great day," Diller said. "We had several girls run lifetime bests. We were very surprised to get second, but happy about it."
The Tigers' Meredith Barga came in seventh. St. Henry's Riley Baumer ran eighth, Versailles' Ava Rismiller was 10th, Josie Bruns of Marion Local finished 11th, and Coldwater's Audrey Alig beat out Ally Heath of St. Henry by 6 1/2 seconds for 12th and the final All-MAC first team spot.
Taylor Muhlenkamp led Parkway in 20th, one spot ahead of teammate Paige Williamson. Cady Donaldson paced St. John's in 22nd, New Knoxville's Ariyah Pfenning was 23rd and New Bremen's Layla Fullenkamp came in 24th.
After the weather held for the boys race, a drizzle started midway through the girls race, but the wind stayed down and the course firm.
"Just fine," coach Magoto said. "It's nice. Course is in great shape."
Versailles also won both junior high races, taking the top five spots on the boys side. Max McKibben earned the individual title with a time of 11:03.95. Minster's Joanna Topp won the individual title with a time of 12:25.59.
