Nanny Goat Invite a true cross country experience
Hiland freshman Jake Troyer ran a strong race for the Hawks, finishing 38th overall at the Nanny Goat Invite on Hunter Tree Farm near Glenmont.
The Nanny Goat Invite, a unique cross country adventure for high school teams that is true to the very nature of cross country running, took place Saturday, Sept. 16, at Hunter Tree Farm, where competitors wound through a tree-lined course filled with sharp turns, roots, rocks and plenty of beautiful scenery.
According to West Holmes coach Kevin Beachy, whose Knights hosted the event, the Nanny Goat continues to garner interest from teams, and the increase in quality showed up at this year’s event.
“We had a really nice field this year, and much of the growth isn’t anything on my part,” he said. “It’s teams calling me to see if they can get in because they have heard about the race and want to participate.”
While he would love to usher more teams into the field, Beachy said they are at capacity now since parking is limited, and they simply can’t bring in more teams.
“Competing here is something you don’t get every day for these runners,” Beachy said. “It’s challenging. It’s beautiful, and most of the time, these kids run on grounds around schools where courses are more wide open.”
One of the joys of inviting various schools is that the teams come from city schools so the country atmosphere may be quite unique.
Canton McKinley came to the event, and its boys presented a terrific showing, battling among the top five teams in a tight battle for supremacy.
McKinley coach Jake Foltz said the trek to the backwoods of Holmes County was an exciting change of scenery for his team, and they enjoyed the hospitality and the challenge.
Foltz said they normally run at Meadowbrook this weekend, but construction there made that event unavailable to promote. Thus, he began searching for possible meets, and this one stuck out.
“I saw Nanny Goat, and that sounded really interesting,” Foltz said. “I told the kids this would be a different kind of course, but they would love the challenge and it wouldn’t be running around a school on concrete and roads. This is trail running, real cross country running. The entire atmosphere made it well worth the trip here.”
The field took a big jump up in competitive nature this year, and it showed in the final standings.
In the boys competition, it was a cluster to grab the title, and in the end, Cloverleaf eked by Cuyahoga Falls 76 points to 81. West Holmes (85), Garaway (87) and Canton McKinley (87) showed just how close it was near the top of the standings.
On the girls side of the ledger, it was no contest, with Cloverleaf sailing to victory with 33 points, placing runners fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth. The Lady Knights were a distant second at 84, followed by Cuyahoga Falls (97), Madison (124) and Garaway (132) rounding out the top five. Orrville was sixth, River placed seventh and Loudonville finished eighth.
Boys individual results
Garaway was led by senior Nathan Money, who placed sixth overall in 17:20. Sophomore Nick Palmer cruised home in 12th in 17:58, followed by Seth Zimmerman (17th, 18:45), Carter Travis (25th, 19:05), Jase Miller (33rd, 19:43) and Tyler Hershberger (40th, 20:17).
West Holmes was paced by senior Jacob Miller, who finished seventh in 17:31. Close behind him was Hunter Uptain, who earned an 11th-place finish in 17:43. Owen Neville (15th, 18:38), Braydyn Lemon (21st, 18:57), Reid Chaney (36th, 20:03), Lincoln Snow (43rd, 20:23) and Remy Beachy (45th, 20:26) helped lead the Knights to a strong finish.
Hiland didn’t have enough runners for a team score, but coach Jackie Kaufman was pleased with the overall effort, with Jake Troyer placing 38th in 20:10, Nathan Young finishing 41st in 20:22 and George Malicky placing 49th in 20:41 in the field of 95 runners.
Loudonville also failed to field a full team but got a superb performance from sophomore Lettie Wenell, who placed 27th in 19:12. Also running for the Redbirds were Franky Sanchez (53rd, 20:50), Dylan Hammitt (54th, 20:51) and Steven Ringler (67th, 22:05).
The race was won by Northwestern’s Kade Tegtmeier in 16:28, while Orrville’s Owen Lacy placed fifth in 17:11.
Girls individual results
Loudonville’s Tess Shultz simply ran away from the field and finished in 19:16. Nearly a full minute behind her was West Holmes’ Noelle Smith, runner-up and last year’s champion, who ran a 20:15, while Garaway’s Meghan Schwartz placed third in 20:32.
WHHS got a sixth-place finish from Alexis Wagers, who ran a 21:15, while teammate Lexy Starner rounded out the top 10 in 22:32. Other Lady Knights included Autumn Conner (15th, 22:49), Peyton Carathers (63rd, 28:56) and Alizah Sigler (67th, 30:21).
Garaway got additional help from a strong 11th-place effort from Mya Wengerd, who ran a 22:32. Other Lady Pirates included Natalia Flores-Flores (33rd, 25:17), Lydia Raber (47th, 26:28) and Emily Rider (59th, 28:13).
Nora Lance (41st, 26:08), Allison Tournoux (46th, 26:26), Grace Ringler (58th, 27:53) and Bailey Henry (65th, 29:18) rounded out Loudonville’s effort.