OBETZ — Cecelia Chase, still perspiring from the 75-degree heat, said her hard work paid off after placing eighth in the Cross Country State Championship Saturday at Fortress Obetz.
“Last year was such a rough year for me,” said the Colonel Crawford junior. “My times were nowhere near where I wanted them to be. So, this season I trained so hard this summer just to get back to where I was. Our team started doing really well this season, so we just started setting more goals for each other.”
Chase ran the 5000 meters in a time of 18:38.50 and Colonel Crawford (164) finished third as a team behind Minster (63) and Fort Loramie (119).
Teammates sophomores Gabby Roston and Olivia Hardy, junior Izzy Roston, freshmen Rylinn Edgington and Brynn Bruner, senior Maria Smith worked to get the team to the podium.
“Getting all-Ohio means so much to me. Everyone packing the walls up there and my dad was like you need to get top 20. I was like, ‘I don’t know. That seems so unreal.'”
Chase said her times “were all over the place for a while” coming into the championship.
“So, coming here, I was just going to give it my all. Instead of backing down when it starts hurting, just lean into it and go for it,” she said. “I’ve worked so hard for this the last two years.”
Last week at regionals, Chase said she was “very dehydrated and felt like I was going to pass out.”
As a remedy, she said she “pumped myself with electrolytes and tons of water.” Chase said the warmer weather wasn’t an issue.
Eagles coach Jordan Studer echoed the sentiment of commitment.
“The girls have worked so hard to be able to get here. She (Chase) did awesome. Her hunger and her drive is what makes her special.”
Gabby Roston was 47th, Hardy 73rd, Edgington 75th, Izzy Roston 78th, Bruner 107th and Smith 125th.
Studer said last year’s state meet was cold and the team has adjusted to temperature changes.
Freshman Shawn Auck finished 44th in the boys meet, with a time of 16:57.6.
“He did great. We are so proud of him also,” Studer said. “He’s excited for next year and he wants to get the boys team here, and we are obviously wanting that too.”
Studer has plenty of runners returning for next year.
“We’re excited. We already have them talking about next season. That means we’re ready to put in more work.”
The top 20 runners get on the podium with the top 30 earning All-Ohio honors.
Campbell places 33rd
Galion junior Raygann Campbell turned in a time of 19:53.8 in Division III. But she wasn’t happy with that effort.
“My goal coming in was top 3. Last week was perfect. The wind and heat was a little tough today,” she said. “It’s a tough course; the hill at the end is what gets me.”
Campbell looks forward to breaking her own mark as a senior, which is 18:57.
Lady Tigers coach Cindy Conner agreed.
“She had goals for today and wasn’t quite where she wanted to be. It’s just a different meet. I think not being here last year really impacted her, but she remembered running it as a freshman. Next year she’ll remember how tough it is.”
Campbell finished fourth as a freshman before an injury sidelined her last season.
“We’re going to move our hill workouts to the end of practice instead of the beginning just so they can get a feel for what it’s like to run those hills,” Conner said.
“It’s tough throughout the season and you have to do a lot of ankle strength,” she added. “Ankles seem to be the biggest thing for cross country runners. Keeping them strong is good because if you do roll and you’re strong enough, you can pop right back up.”
Lady Tiger shows heart
Seneca East junior Lilly Schiefer had the entire stadium rooting for her as she collapsed less than 50 yards from the finish line. She crawled to it for a 155th place in 22:49.8.
Schiefer finished ahead of 27 other runners despite falling victim to the heat, with other runners, officials and fans cheering her on.
Cleveland places 71st
Mohawk sophomore Brayden Cleveland was 71st in 17:18.2.
“It’s something I think he can learn from here and I hope that he does,” said his father and coach Brock Cleveland.
“You go out here and there is so many quality runners. It’s really, really difficult to move and he’s never been a part of a race like that. To have that many guys running under 17 minutes coming in, it’s crazy. Hopefully, he doesn’t beat himself up too much over this race.
“He’s already talking about the work he’s going to do this summer and he’s got to be accountable for that. Hopefully, he gets his butt out there this summer and does the work.”
Brayden said he wanted to do better in his initial appearance.
“It obviously wasn’t what I came here and expected to run. But obviously I’m happy with the experience and overall, it was just amazing.”
Brayden said he’s looking forward to returning the next two years. “It was a great learning experience for me. At the beginning of the season, I didn’t even think I’d make it this far.”
He shaved considerable time off his PR (now at 16:36) over the course of the season.
“It was 18:10 at the end of last season. At the beginning of the year his first time was about 18:04. The last month and a half, it didn’t matter what course we were running it was a PR every weekend,” the elder Cleveland said.
Like many runners, Brayden said he enjoys the turf part of the course.
“I liked running on it. It was comfortable on my legs, and I thought it was a pretty fast course.”
D-III state champions
Mount Gilead boys are the top dogs in Division III.
Coach Jake Hayes was emotional following the win.
“We’ve had a lot of drama-filled state days with people dropping out (of races) or the live results not working or people being out (for state),” he said of previous state trips.
Mount Gilead scored 82 points to beat Ottawa (69 points).
“I was like we need one year where everything goes smooth. With the exception of how slowly the results came up at the end (today), it was about as drama-free as we could ask for. It was a good day.”
The Indians were led by Will Baker, Reed Supplee, Parker Bartlett, Aaron Gannon, and freshman Owen Hershner.
The Morrow County contingent had three podium All-Ohioans as Baker was 10th in 16:16, Bartlett 13th in 16:20 and Supplee 14th in 16:24.
Junior Nathan Smith was 174th in 19:16 and freshman Gage Baker was 182nd in 19:49 to round out the squad.
“For Owen to be a freshman and it’s Aaron’s first time at the state cross country meet, for them to keep their crap together and do what they needed to do was a testament to who they are as people and how hard they worked this season. We wouldn’t have been here without them, that’s for sure,” Hayes said.
Other individuals included Ryan Lehman of Northmor finished 30th in D-II in 16:39 for the boys. On the girls’ side, Kimberly Staley of Mount Gilead finished 90th.