White's win leads Generals' effort at W-H Invite
101512 Wayne-HolmesCCPromo: Wooster High cross country teams finish in top three in Wayne-Holmes Invitational
White's win leads Generals' effort at W-H Invite
By Brian Questel
Kevin White made this win memorable.
White led the Generals to a second-place finish in the Wayne-Holmes Invitational with a strong win, running a career-best 16:17 on the Wayne College course. The Generals finished seven points behind West Holmes, 48-55, with Smithville finishing third with 72 points.
The Smithville girls won the girl's portion of the W-H Invite for the first time, finishing with 55 points to top West Holmes (79) and Wooster (94). Lauren Miller paced Wooster as she led the Generals' top pack with a 14th-place effort. The junior turned in a time of 21:27 to edge teammate Hannah Rice by three seconds as well as Kaitlyn Aukerman, who was 17th with a 21:47.
"We had 10 personal bests and six season bests," said Wooster coach Nikki Reynolds, whose team was running on the Wayne College course for the first time. "We didn't know the course, so we got there early and walked the course. (Smithville's) Erin Moomaw is friends with (Wooster's) Erin Johnson, and she called Erin (Moomaw) who gave her some pointers on the course since that's her home course. Our girls said that helped.
"The first two miles are pretty flat. The third mile is hilly, and we've been training on hills, so that helped us."
Miller had her season-best in leading Wooster, as did Aukerman and No. 5 runner Hannah Doan, who was 28th overall with a 22:56 clocking. Becca Kreuzman placed 22nd with a 22:29, while Vicki Anderson (31st, 23:11) and Cassie Shaffer (36th, 23:29) rounded out the Generals' top seven placers.
The meet continued to grow, with 10 of the 11 schools fielding full squads. That made for better competition noted Reynolds.
"We're getting to where we need to be," said Reynolds. "We have two more weeks before going into districts. We are going to … start cutting down our mileage and at that point our times will drop more."
Other Generals running their best times of the year were Shaffer, Margi Haiss (23:44), Helena Gastier (24:34), Grace Chang (24:49), Megan Buss (24:51), Samantha Brunn (25:12), Jillian Perry (25:42), Annissa Fee (26:11), Younghyeon Ryu (26:58) and Claire Lanham (27:24).
White picked up his second win of the season in dramatic fashion, rallying past Northwestern's Shane Berger to record the win. White led much of the race, fell behind Berger near the end, but then outkicked him to the finish.
That push allowed White to record his best time of the year and helped pull teammate Zach Humrichouser to his career best as well with a third-place, 16:29 showing.
"I thought all the kids ran really well," said coach Doug Bennett. "It was a good Saturday for them. It was very challenging due to the rain the night before. In my mind it was a challenging course and a positive runner-up finish to a good West Holmes team. They have a good, solid team and are solid 1-5. We have a gap and we have to find a way to close that with our 4-5-6-7 people.
"Kevin ran a courageous race. He ran out front much of the race. He lost the lead – I'm not exactly sure where -- but I would guess the last half-mile. When I could see him, he was a couple steps back, but in true Kevin fashion, he did not count himself out, got back in the race and outkicked (Berger) and at the same time had a PR.
"The Berger kid challenged Humrichouser at the Wooster Invitational, so we knew he could race," added Bennett. "Zach had a 16:29 and finished third. Kalten (Walter) ran 16:52 and finished eighth, which was a PR for him as well. He finished behind Cully Gordon (of West Holmes), who won the meet last year. To finish in the top-10 and be first-team all-county is a big deal."
Wooster got huge time drops out of its fourth and fifth runners, with Zach Buchholz (41 seconds, 17:59) and Zac Carmel (34 seconds, 17:58) turning in their best performances. Paul Wood (18:15) and Drew Wigham (18:44) rounded out the Generals' top seven.
"We only lost by seven points, so we're going to try and re-group and come together for the OCC (Ohio Cardinal Conference)," said Bennett. "There were 17 kids who PR'd on the team, so we're hitting our stride at the right time. We had 13 kids under 20 minutes. Now we just want to keep the momentum going.
"We have a good shot at trying to win the league. It will be close between Lexington, Ashland, Wooster and West Holmes. It's probably the closest meet we've had in the OCC. There have been some outstanding teams or outstanding individuals, but not with four such solid teams in the league duking it out. That's good for the sport."