Lions win 6th straight district championship
No runner for the Fairfield Lions placed out of the Top 30 on Saturday at the Division III SE District Meet at the University of Rio Grande. With those type of results, the Lions won their sixth consecutive district championship.
Fairfield finished with 42 points as a team, with a team time of 1:26:57.73 for their first-place finish. As a team, the Lions had an average time of 17:23.55, 20 seconds better than the second-place average time of 17:43.22 by Rock Hill.
“This year there was one Division III race instead of two, which made this race a lot more competitive, which is something I like to see,” FHS head coach Raymond Friend said. “This race saw 10-15 runners that have a legitimate shot at qualifying for state. Any one of our Top 7 runners have that chance if they can pull off a good race next week at Pickerington.”
The top finisher for the Lions was junior Noah Richmond in fourth with a time of 16:48.78. He wasn’t alone in the Top 10, as junior Matthew Mangus was sixth at 17:14.45 and junior Bennett Hodson was seventh place at 17:24.99.
Also in the Top 15 for the Lions were sophomore Austin Setty in 14th at 17:44.55 and in 15th place was senior Wyatt Evans with a time of 17:44.96. The Lions also had the 17th-place finisher in senior Trent Swisher at 17:49.19. Keeping all of the Lions in the Top 30 (out of 196 total runners) was sophomore Brandtson Duffie with a time of 18:07.92.
“Noah is peaking at the right time and looks poised to not only qualify for state, but also be in the Top 25 at state,” Friend said. “Matthew Mangus will look to qualify as an individual for the second year in a row. The biggest surprise this year is Bennett Hodson has a chance to be right up there with the best runners at the regionals.
“Wyatt Evans and Trent Swisher both have experience and know exactly what it takes at regionals, and I expect them to have great races as well. Austin Setty and Brandtson Duffie can also be in the Top 20 at regionals.”
As for the team standings, the second-place team was Rock Hill with 76 points and a total team time of 1:28:36.06. In third was Eastern Brown with a score of 81 and team time of 1:28:36.06.
Rounding out the Top 5 were Piketon in fourth place (1:34:07.16) with 176 points and Trimble in fifth at 1:34:07.16 with a score of 182.
Also from Highland County, Whiteoak was 11th with a team time of 1:55.03, and Lynchburg-Clay was 26th at 2:07:00.43. Whiteoak’s top finisher was Atlee Carr at 19:13.31. For LC, their top finisher was Caleb Strunk with a time of 23:55.15.
The Lions will race at the Division III Regional next Saturday in Pickerington.
“As for our team, the reason we were able to win districts is because we have such a good pack,” Friend said. “Our first runner came in within one minute of our fifth runner, and I look for that to continue next Saturday. As for regionals, we have a chance to be champs, but all seven will have to run well because Mt. Gilead and Columbus Academy have excellent teams this year.”