The high school boys launch the race with great enthusiasm at the Grover Hill Park.
The sun was shining, the air was crisp and cool, and the eight schools of the Green Meadows Conference all converged in the Welcome Park in Grover Hill on Saturday, October 17th. Amongst the hoodies, blankets, hand warmers and gloves, the runners were all warming up for a good day of racing.
Sam Williamson breaks the previous GMC Cross Country Championship record (15:57) with a time of 15:27.
After the shedding of outer wear, the athletes assembled at the starting line. The racing began with Junior High girls who had four full teams running. Places could not be awarded since all the GMC schools did not have teams. Fairview finished the day with the top spot at 40 points, followed by Edgerton with 45, then Antwerp with 61 and Tinora with 72.
Top 18 finishers for the JH girls included:
1st Bour, AY, 11:57; 2nd R Willett, HO, 12:27; 3rd Limbaugh, AY, 13:19; 4th Thiel, E, 13:23; 5th Smith, F, 13:48; 6th L Okuley, HO, 13:50; 7th Hardy, F, 13:51; 8th Octaviano, A, 14:03; 9th J Okuley, HO, 14:08; 10th Engel, AY, 14:13; 11th Cox, T, 14:20; 12th Schroeder. E, 14:22; 13th Martin, AY, 14:30; 14th Cline, 14:37; 15th McMaster, T, 14:39; 16th Hart, F, 14:39; 17th Elliott, E, 14:40; 18th Steiner, A, 14:41
Next, on the agenda, the junior high boys descended on the starting line. All the GMC schools had teams for this race except Antwerp, so places were awarded for their accomplishments of the day. Fairview snagged the 1st place plaque with 46. While Edgerton also had 46 team points, they were awarded the 2nd place position, followed by 3rd place Holgate with 74, then 4th place went to Ayersville with 98. 5th place was taken by Hicksville with 126, 6th went to Tinora with 135, and 7th place was awarded to Wayne Trace with 170 team points.
Fairview Girls are the GMC champs this year. More pictures at westbendnews.net
Top 18 finishers were the following:
1st Fisher, AY, 10:36; 2nd Harvey, E, 11:20; 3rd Fadley, F, 11:22; 4th Sines, E, 11:38; 5th Wenner, HO, 12:00; 6th Partin, AN, 12:01; 7th Laney, AN, 12:02; 8th Kolb, F, 12:04; 9th Gruver, E, 12:11; 10th Geyer, AN, 12:15; 11th Ankney, F, 12:16; 12th Ferguson, T, 12:26; 13th Schwartzengraber, HO, 12:29; 14th Apt, E, 12:29; 15th Fackler, AY, 12:30; 16th Sonnenberg, HO, 12:32; 17th Nichols, F, 12:34; 18th Bennett, F, 12:36
The Varsity girls were up next and all eight teams posted team places for the GMC tournament. Fairview dominated the GMC landing 1st place with 54 points, followed by a 2nd place Holgate team with 66 points, and Edgerton trailed close behind giving them the 3rd place title with 69 points. The 4th place team was awarded to Ayersville who finished with 117, then 5th place Tinora with 130, and Hicksville earning the 6th place ranking with 141. Antwerp and Wayne Trace earned the last two spots in the GMC with Antwerp earning 7th with 160 and WT in 8th place with 188.
Top 18 finishers:
1st E Willett, HO, 19:21; 2nd Sullivan, HK, 19:42; 3rd G Willett, HO, 20:04; 4th Landel, E, 20:21; 5th Clemens, AY, 20:30; 6th Helmke, T, 20:38; 7th Breininger, F, 20:53; 8th Stein, E, 20:54; 9th Crites, F, 20:55; 10th Retcher, F, 20:57; 11th Meyer, HO, 21:15; 12th Miesle, AN, 21:29; 13th K Smith, F, 21:30; 14th Engel, AY, 21:31; 15th Schwarzbek, F, 21:32; 16th Wannemacher, WT, 21:35; 17th Schroeder, E, 21:37; 18th Wagner, F, 21:42
Varsity Boys rounded out the competition with some amazing racing! It was reported that if Sam beat 15:57, he would break the course record and it appears that he did with a time of 15:27, and incidentally, his fellow teammate, Senior Erik Buchan, came in a minute after him for the 2nd place spot at 16:31.
In the team ranking, Edgerton was the big winner for the day, snatching the top spot of 1st place with 49 points, followed by Ayersville in 2nd with 64, and then 3rd place was awarded to Fairview with 83 points. Antwerp earned the 4th place spot with 92 points, Hicksville earned 5th place with 101 points, 6th place was taken by Tinora with 107 points, and Holgate rounded out the team scores in 7th place with 151 points. Wayne Trace did not have a qualifying team.
Top 18 Individual finishers — 1st Williamson, A, 15:27; 2nd Buchan, A, 16:31; 3rd Jones, E, 16:35; 4th Freeman, E, 16:43; 5th Frost, HV, 16:45; 6th Ehlers, T, 17:00; 7th Fry, AY, 17:07; 8th Johnson, F, 17:19; 9th Miller, AY, 17:21; 10th Jones, E, 17:29; 11th Howard, AY, 17:31; 12th Myer, HV, 17:31; 13th Midgett, F, 17:44; 14th Rue, AY, 17:48; 15th Cercone, E, 17:56; 16th Kolb, F, 17:59; 17th Curry, E, 18:00; 18th Nester, F, 18:02
