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Pickerington Regional cross country meet Saturday

Photo provided The Marietta High boys cross country team placed fourth as a team at the district meet in Rio Grande to advance to this weekend’s regional meet in Pickerington.

Fort Frye’s Justin Anderson and Mary Kate McElroy each was a blur on the Cambridge district 5K race course.

If the twosome can duplicate or better those performances at the Pickerington D3 regional meet Saturday at 11 a.m., they’ll be competing at the OHSAA Cross Country State Championships Nov. 5 at National Trail Raceway in Hebron.

“I look for both of them to qualify for state,” said Cadets’ coach Jason Lipot. “And with the Pickerington region allowing the top 20 runners to advance, this only increases their chances.”

Anderson, a sophomore, finished first in the district boys’ run with a winning time of 16 minutes, 35.34 seconds, while McElroy, a senior, was third in the girls’ race in 19:29.18.

“I’m confident that if they run their race they should make it,” Lipot said. “Our goals for MK and Justin from the start of the year was to make it to state and receive All-Ohio honors. So far they have both shown that they are capable of doing it based on times, but in this part of the year we throw the times out the door and focus on place.

“Times can sometimes be misleading since they all run on different courses. How well you finished among the best is a true indicator of how good of a runner your are. I like who we have and I like our chances.”

At the regional, McElroy will be seeking to become the first four-time state qualifier in school history. She has yet to stand on the podium at state, though. Maybe, this will be the year.

As for Anderson, he was 26th in the regional last year as a frosh and didn’t qualify for state. He’s hoping to change that this weekend.

At Pickerington, Anderson and McElroy will be competing against the boys’ and girls’ teams, respectively, of Caldwell High. The Redskin boys were district champions at Cambridge. Levi Pemberton, Sean Whetstone, Jacob Niswonger, Benton Parmiter, Marshal Niswonger, and Mason Ackley all placed in the top 20 in a field of 80 runners.

Pemberton finished runner-up to Anderson in 16:46.34.

Robby Allen rounded out Caldwell’s designated seven.

“The boys have a very good shot at finishing in the top 5 and advancing on to the state meet,” said Caldwell boss Dugan Hill. “They will have to run well but are very capable.

“Hopefully we can have up to three boys finish in the top 20. If that happens, we will be in good shape, and I am very pleased with the improvement our fouth, fifth, and sixth runners. The fact that we can run well with our top four and that our fifth and sixth runner are able to beat most teams fifth, we hopefully will have a good day.”

The Redskin girls qualified for regional with a fifth-place district finish. Lindsey Furr, Lauren Fry, Chloe McAuley, Julieghanna Feldner, Johnna Border, Caileigh Moore, and Morgan Parsons made up the team.

“We ran pretty well but both teams can run better which is good leading into the regional,” Hill said. “Our third girl was sick and finished as our sixth girl and another of our top seven didn’t run.

“The girls will have to race well. We could finish anywhere from fourth to 10th. This field is very deep. Northmore should be the class of the day but there are teams like Tusky Valley, Fredericktown, Fairland Eastern, Garaway, Bellaire, Shadyside, Mt. Gilead, Columbus Academy and us. All believe if things go right they can compete another week. All we can do is go and run as well as we can and see what happens.”

Hill believes that Furr’s performance at regional is pivotal for the Caldwell girls.

“For us to do well, Lindsey has to be in the top 20, and Lauren has to be close behind her,” the Redskins’ coach said. “Then, we need a pack of 3-5 runners very close together and ahead of the packs of the other teams.”

In D2 district competition at the University of Rio Grande, both of the Marietta High and Warren boys’ teams advanced to Pickerington with fourth- and sixth-place finishes, respectively. Interestingly, the old Southeastern Ohio Athletic League (SEOAL) had four of the top eight teams (Athens and Gallia Academy also placed in the top 8.)

Warren girls’ running standout Casey Brague came oh-so close to qualifying for regional at district. She finished 29th in 21:36.19 at Rio. Unfortunately, only the top 28 advance.

At regional, like district, Collin Doughty, Nathan Matthews, Tyler Beckett, Max Garrison, Caleb Young, Wyatt Miracle, and Jack Wesel are expected to be Marietta’s seven runners.

Doughty, a junior, was 10th overall in a district field of 167 in 17:09.51.

“Our scoring (at district) five had a 79-second pack spread,” said MHS coach Dale Leeper. “So, although we had the slowest average scoring time of the top seven teams, we finished fourth. Since this was a combined district, Marietta was district runner-up.”

On Saturday’s regional meet….

“every time you advance a level, the competition intensifies,” Leeper said. “Our plan for this week will be to get some quality runs in, but lighten the workload somewhat, and then aim to have all seven of our competitors run their best race of the year, and keep our pack intact — and then see what happens.”

Warren, the 2016 SEOAL champion, will be paced by Trent Sayre, Jake Herriott, Preston Rowland-Demster, Jed McGirr, Brady Nicewarner, Kyle Burns, and Colton Barnes.

At district, Sayre was 11th in 17:10.89, while Herriott was 15th in 17:18.83. Both are sophomores.

“Yes, the boys ran well for the most part,” said Warren coach Neil Brague. “However, they’re all going to have to find another gear this Saturday in order to make it out of the regional. I do feel that our times and everyone else’s are a bit deceiving in that the course at Rio is a true cross country course. It has little of everything.

“The course at Pick North is flat, fast, and tight. You have to get out fast and settle. The first mile times should be fast. Race strategies will need to be adjusted this week. I’m not a fan of going out hard and hanging on.”

Also competing at the Pickerington regional will be the state-ranked Morgan girls’ team of Jordan Penrod, Jozi Brown, Jasmine Penrod, Brandi Ross, Taylor Gorrell, Micah Cosgrave, Caleigh Gillespie, and Brittany Scholtz.

At the Cambridge district, the Lady Raiders finished fifth overall in D2 in a field of 17 schools. All-MVL honorees’ Jordan Penrod, Brown, and Jasmine Penrod each placed in the top 15.

Jordan Penrod was fourth overall in 19:22.82.

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