Recap: You really never know what to expect in the first meet of the year, and this kickoff to the 2017 season was no exception. The Viking Cross Country program came into Defiance with the largest team in recent memory: 35 runners between high school and middle school, including an impressive 16 high school boys. This first meet is always a mixed bag, not only because it’s a challenging course but because it’s so often the first race many of these athletes have ever run. Some runners do surprisingly well, while others turn in times that don’t really reflect their current abilities. Factors behind this can vary from the type of course, to how much they’ve been running over the summer, to just simple inexperience. At the end of the day, it’s just a single race; a benchmark at the start of a long season.

The high school boys kicked off the day with a strong showing, improving on last year’s 16th place team finish out of 17 teams with a 15th place finish out of 20 teams. These results are more impressive when considering the field was much faster and more competitive this year, and the Viking men dropped their top five average from 21:00 to 19:50. The Vikings were led this year by newcomer sophomore Kyle Bowser, followed closely by returning freshman record holder Ben Schwan. Continuing the youth movement on this team were sophomores Alex Majewski and Chandler Ruetz, with new runner Kevin Crisp and veterans Augie Tipping and team captain Tom Pollard rounding out the top seven. Of the nine other runners in the boys race, five were running their first ever high school 5k and six set personal bests.

The high school girls followed up with a very impressive effort, improving from ninth out of 18 teams to eighth out of 19 teams. Junior Sarah Schwan led the Lady Vikes with an eigth place finish in 20:13, taking a remarkable 1:08 off her previous personal best and school record set at last year’s district meet. Kennedy Keller turned in a new freshman record of 21:09 with her 22nd place finish. After missing all of last season with a knee injury, senior Grace Bryson returned to the course already showing the form from late in her 2015 season. Trinity Welch, team captain Katie Fritsch, and Ashley Garlick…all seniors…worked with junior Alexis McCormick to bring the Lady Vikes to within just a few points of rival Archbold, giving a preview of some exciting competition in the coming weeks.

Here are the results for the High School:

For the middle school runners, this meet was a whole new experience. They had their first meet at the Lake Invitational just two days before on a very flat course that provided a great introduction to competitive running, but only three of the twelve (Owen, Jolie and Kayla) had run at Defiance before and experienced the hills and trails common to cross country. Kayla’s experience served her well as she moved up from tenth place at the mile to pass two runners in the final 200 meters on her way to winning the middle school girls race. Newcomers Jocelyn Schuster and Emma Majewski ran well as a duo, coming in close together. Lindy, Jolie, Izzy and Trinity combined to bring the Viking girls an impressive ninth place team finish (ahead of both the Archbold and Wauseon teams).

The middle school boys were led by seventh grader Anderson Tipping with a solid performance. Isaac Overfield and Owen Bryson again worked together to come in in close succession, followed by Carson LeRoux and Brayden Bull. Again, this was a short turnaround and a very challenging course compared to the Lake meet just two days prior. The boys ran better than their 15th place finish would seem to indicate, and we look forward to seeing them compete at Archbold.

Jolie is all smiles coming up “The Hill” at the 2017 meet

Here are the results for the Middle School:

There were a lot of great object lessons in this meet. A few important points can be seen in the finishes of Sarah and Kayla in particular. First, Kayla’s time was nearly minute slower than the Thursday race, a reminder that it’s not always about the time, especially on difficult courses. You run the same course as your competition, and the competitive outcome depends ultimately on place not time. There were actually relatively few PRs set at this meet by experienced runners because it’s not a traditionally fast course. Sarah was an exception to this though; she did focus on place over time, but in so doing actually took an incredible amount of time off her PR. Again, each runner responds differently to each race based on the type of course, where they are in their training cycle, what type of training they’ve done, and several other factors. We train to peak in October, so each race up until that point simply provides lessons and cumulative fitness in support of that plan. This was an excellent first step, and the coaches are excited to see where this season takes us.

-Coach Schwan

Full Event Results are available on Baumspage.

Up Next: The high school travels to Otsego this weekend, while the middle school has the weekend off.  It’s also Fulton County Fair weekend, so good luck to the many Viking runners participating in the fair!

Recap: As mentioned in the meet preview, the Lake Invite is a great first meet for middle school runners. It’s a flat, open course and it separates the 7th and 8th graders out instead of running everyone in one race (the only meet on our schedule that does so). Because it also lacks the intimidation of experienced high school runners and intense high school coaches roaming about the course, it’s a relatively safe environment for the new runner as well as a change for returning 8th graders to be the “big shots” at a meet. This meet is not without its challenges though: the course has changed every single year we’ve participated so we never know exactly what the route is, and the field has gotten more competitive with new schools showing up.

Our middle school team was a green bunch this year, with eight of the twelve runners competing for the very first time in a cross country meet. Three of the four veterans were on the girls team, with Kayla Gleckler matching last year’s fourth place finish with a 13:11…just seven seconds shy of her middle school record time from last year’s NWOAL Championship meet and with almost perfectly even splits. Jocelyn and Emma showed similar patience in posting near even splits for their races. Jolie took advantage of the confidence built during last season to run almost six minutes faster than her previous Lake meet. Lindy performed well in her first race with very consistent split times, and Izzy came across the line as the only returning runner to post a personal record in the first meet of the season. One effort worth calling out belongs to Trinity Clampet, who ran the entire race start to finish. For many new runners, cross country is the first time they’ve done any sustained aerobic activity and it can be a real challenge adjusting to that type of effort. Trinity showed great effort and determination in going wire-to-wire for her very first race.

For the boys, Anderson put forth a really solid run at 13:20, showing similar consistency to Kayla in running almost even splits. Inexperienced runners tend to go out much faster than they can sustain, leaving their second mile much slower, so it’s great to see middle school runners with even splits in their first meet. Isaac and Carson both put in great efforts for their first race, slowing some in the second mile but hanging on for a strong finish. Owen showed the poise of a veteran runner in overcoming an early fall in the beginning of the race and run negative splits on the way to finishing over a minute faster than last year’s time. Finishing up for the Vikings in the 7th grade race was Brayden whose enthusiasm, though it tends to make pacing a challenge early on, will in the long term likely serve to make him a relentless competitor.

Here are the results for the Middle School:

Middle school cross country is about learning basics, just like any other sport. You have to learn the fundamentals before you can move on to the advanced concepts, and our middle school runners showed us that they’re off to a great start. The foundations they are building now will carry them through the rest of their running careers at Evergreen, and we’re very proud of the work they’ve put in and the well-deserved results they saw in this first meet.

Full Event Results are available on Baumspage.

Up Next: After a short turnaround, the middle school runners competed at the Defiance Early Bird Open. Recap coming soon!