Hillsboro cross-country teams wrap up regular season at Unioto

The Hillsboro Indians traveled to Unioto to compete in the highly competitive Unioto Invitational on a cool, fall Saturday morning.
 
As has been the case for most of the year, the middle school girls kicked off the action. Running against almost 150 other girls, Emarey Schurman led her team’s effort from the very beginning. Schurman used a strong opening dash from the starting line to get ahead of a large pack. When she crossed the finish line at 15:31, Schurman finished in 40th place.

Just seconds behind Schurman was teammate Parker Wilkin. Unlike Schurman, Wilkin got stuck in a large pack of runners and had to slowly work her up. By the end of the race, Wilkin found herself in 45th place after running a 15:36.

Abby Anderson (16:39) was the last Indian to complete the course. Anderson sprinted to the finish line, edging out several runners to earn 70th place.
 
Coach Fawn Girard likes the direction her team is moving and their improvement as the season goes on.

“These girls continue to improve their times each meet,” Girard said. “Parker was pinched in the beginning but fought to push through the crowd. Emarey ran a great race finishing in the top half, and Abby had a personal best and was very excited. I am very proud of these girls working hard and achieving their goals.”
 
The boys took on the course next. Once again, Alex Read led his team’s efforts and finished in fourth place overall. Read, who was locked in a step-for-step competition with several other runners for the entirety of the race, finished with a team-leading 11:39.

Logging a 21st-place finish, Mason Rinal outsprinted several competitors on the last straight stretch and crossed the finish line at 12:35.

Teammates Luke Letts, Trenton Gulley and Tyler Bender all finished shortly thereafter. Letts (64th place) finished with a 13:53, while Gulley (66th place) ran a 13:58 and Bender (76th place) finished with a 14:21. The team’s final runner, Robert Hanson, finished at 18:34 and earned 134th place.
 
Coach Ben Young praised his young runners after the race.

“Alex ran his best race of the season,” Young said. “He showed grit toward the end of the race by passing multiple people in the last half mile. Mason did the same thing in the back half of his race as well. Luke and Trenton helped us out a ton by finishing close to each other. They continue to push each other both in meets and in practice. Tyler and Robert rounded out the rest of the meet. They had great push at the end of their race, which helped our team tremendously.”
 
The team’s effort was good enough to earn sixth place out of 13 teams.

“Despite the cool weather, the boys ran a great race,” said Coach Young. “Hillsboro’s future in cross-country looks bright.”

Hillsboro’s Lady Indians ran next and secured a fifth-place overall finish out of 19 teams.
 
“We were missing a couple of our seniors today,” said Coach Rob Snavely. “To finish in fifth place without two key pieces of our team was a tremendous effort. Every lady on the team ran their fastest time of the year, and a few set new career PRs today.”
 
Two Hillsboro runners left with Top 30 medals, Jailyn Williams and Taylor Thoroman. Running the lowest time of her career, Jailyn Williams finished in 11th place with a time of 20:20. Thoroman held off four competitors on the final sprint to secure 30th place and crossed the line at 21:15.
 
Kennedy Sexton and Olivia Covault were the next Indians to finish, with both setting new personal records. Sexton ran a 22:41, good for 58th place, while Covault finished in 66th place with a time of 22:58.

Seconds later, two more of Hillsboro’s runners completed the course. Abbey Letts came in 73rd with a PR time of 23:17, and Bree Bailey finished one second later at 23:18, good for 74th place.
 
Hillsboro’s final two runners on the course were freshmen Brynne Holsted and Sofia Mezo-Mil. Holsted, running for the first time this season, ran a 26:21 and finished in 140th place. Holsted’s teammate, Mezo-Mil, finished two minutes later in 159th place and ran a career-best 28:22.
 
“When you have so many individuals with great performances, you want to say something positive about all of them,” said Coach Snavely. “But it’s been a long season for Brynne. Just getting to the point where she could compete today has been tough on her and her family, and to have her run and feel so well when it was all over was a great moment for a great young lady.”

The final race of the day was also the largest, as 278 runners from 28 teams lined up at the starting line to compete in the boys varsity event. Three Indians jumped into the first group of runners at the sound of the gun, juniors Corbin Winkle and Chris Sowders and freshman Rason Brunck.
 
Hillsboro’s head coach, Ed Letts, was pleased with the trio’s start and finish.

“Corbin, Rason and Chris ran excellent races,” Letts said. “It’s great to see their hard work paying off.”
 
Of the trio, Winkle was the first to cross the finish line. Winkle ran a career-best 16:09 to finish in eighth place. Winkle was especially impressive as the race neared its end, in passing several runners down the stretch.
 
“Corbin got a taste for racing and is just eating it up. I love his competitive fire,” said Letts.
 
Less than a minute later, Brunck finished the course at 17:01. Brunck outraced a competitor to the finish line to earn 23rd. Moments later, Sowders joined his teammates at the finish. In his final sprint to the finish line, Sowders outsprinted competitors from Marietta, Teays Valley and Chillicothe to lock up 49th place with a time of 17:56.
 
“Rason is having himself a great freshman season,” Letts said. “But I still think he has yet to run his best race. Hopefully it all comes together for him at districts. Chris is just starting to realize that he can hang with a lot of guys in our conference. Like Rason, I still think his best running remains to be seen.”
 
Hillsboro’s final two runners to compete were Jacob Schommer and Jayden Wells. Schommer finished in 234th place with a PR of 22:46. His teammate, Wells, also ran a career-best time of 23:13. In the process of logging his best time, Wells outraced a competitor from Marietta to place 242nd.
 
Summarizing his team’s performance, Letts was thrilled with runners’ times. “I thought it was a phenomenal day for our boys. All five ran personal best times today, and you can’t ask for more than that.”
 
Hillsboro’s teams will travel to Jackson on Oct. 14 to compete for the Frontier Athletic Conference Championship.