White, Humrichouser deliver for Wooster harriers

  • brian questel
  • October 17, 2012
  • 329
                        
102212 OCC CC Promo: General cross teams finish fourth in OCC Cross Country Championships White, Humrichouser deliver for Wooster harriers By Brian Questel The Ohio Cardinal Conference Cross country Championships had the identical finish for the Wooster Generals. Both teams finished fourth in the OCC as host Ashland got to celebrate a win on the boy’s side as the Arrows squeaked by a competitive field, scoring 49 points to slip by Lexington (50), West Holmes (61) and Wooster (64). Lexington had a dominating performance on the girl’s side to finish with only 20 points. Ashland was second with 52, West Holmes was third with 83 and the Generals were fourth with 113 points. That didn’t mean there weren’t highlights for Wooster on the day as Kevin White and Zach Humrichouser had strong performances for the boys as the duo placed second and third. “I was really pleased with how our front runners did,” said Wooster coach Doug Bennett. “Humrichouser was third and White was second – the only way they could have done better was if they were first and second – there’s not much room for improvement there. They raced within themselves and didn’t let themselves carried away in the first mile and finished strong. Humrichouser shook off Cully Gordon (of West Holmes) in the later stages of the race, and Kevin duked it out with Lexington’s Nick Molnar until the last couple of steps. They were neck and neck. “We had some good performances from Zach Buchholz, who earned honorable mention as a sophomore and finished with an 18:25. Kalten Walter had a journeyman’s job and was second team and he placed 12th and ran a 17:34.” In one of the most competitive OCC races for the boys, “we needed a little stronger performance from our 4-5 guys,” he added. “This was the closest OCC league championship race in the history of the league, which has been around since 2003. The top four teams were separated by 15 points – it was that tight a race. We possibly could have won … but I’m not displeased with the kids. They did their best and now we have to move on and try to get out of districts.” Buchholz finished fourth for Wooster and 22nd overall with an 18:43, while Zac Carmel was three spots behind him with an 18:45. Paul Wood was 27th at 18:45 and Drew Wigham rounded out the top seven with a 19:33, good for 30th. Freshman Hannah Rice led Wooster’s girls with a strong performance as she placed 15th with a 21:11, missing her personal best by six seconds. That showing earned her second-team All-OCC honors. Becca Kreuzman (21st, 22:10) and Lauren Miller (22nd, 22:22) both earned honorable mention league honors with their 5,000-meter runs, while Kaitlyn Aukerman was 25th overall with her time of 22:48. Rounding out the scoring for the Generals was Hannah Doan, who was 31st with a time of 23:35; Vicki Anderson’s 23:40 was good for 32nd, and Cassie Shaffer was 35th with her time of 23:53. “It helped to have gone over on Thursday to practice so the girls were more comfortable with the course,” said girl’s coach Nikki Reynolds. “They wanted to do well. Fourth place was not our goal, but we went out and raced and that was what we were able to get. They finished with everything they had that day. “Hannah (Rice) had her second-best time. Her best time is a 21:06 at Malone, so she was just a few seconds off her personal best. The girls are excited to go back to Malone (for districts). They are looking forward to that course. We train on hills all the time and one of our strengths is hill running. They are anxious to get back. When you get the familiarity with a course, you can do a little more strategy, where you can speed up, where the turns are or where passing is easier.” Districts will be at Malone College on Oct. 20. The boys run at 12:15 p.m. and the girls at 1:55, with the top five teams and any top 20 individuals in the 19-team races advancing to the Youngstown Boardman Regional Oct. 27.


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