Hillsboro XC teams host Highland County Invitational

The five Highland County schools came together to compete in the Highland County Invitational Cross-Country Meet on Sept. 27 at the Hillsboro course.
 
Hillsboro’s middle school girls started the meet on a beautiful, cool evening. The team was paced by Parker Wilkin and Emarey Schurman. Wilkin, who finished in fourth place, finished with an impressive time of 13:26. Schurman finished just behind Wilkin by crossing the finish line at 13:48, good for sixth place.

The team’s final runner was Abrianne Anderson. Anderson earned 13th place after running the course in 15:31.

Coach Fawn Girard was pleased with her team’s energy and performance. “The middle school girls kicked it into high gear at this meet,” she said. “All three girls hit their personal records and had amazing pushes at the end. They showed tremendous support to their teammates and other runners throughout the rest of the meet. As a coach, I am very proud of how far this team has come so far.”
 
Minutes after the girls race ended, the middle school boys heard the starting gun go off. As he has done for much of the year, Alexander Read jumped out as the leader of the pack. Read led from start to finish and finished with a first-place time of 11:10.

Just behind Read were teammates Mason Rinal and Trenton Gulley. Rinal finished in second place (11:23), and Gulley finished in fourth place (11:56).

Luke Letts crossed the finish line next for the Indians. Letts earned sixth place after registering a 12:22. Less than a minute later, Tyler Bender ran a 13:00, good for 12th place.

The final Indian to complete the course was Robert Hanson. Hanson finished in 21st place with a time of 15:25. The impressive individual performances led to the team capturing first place.

“The middle school boys ran an excellent race today despite the muddy conditions,” said Coach Ben Young. “We had a ton of kids run their PRs today, which led us to a first-place finish.”
 
A senior night ceremony was then held to recognize the efforts and accomplishments of Hillsboro High School’s seniors: Bree Bailey, Ramsey Haines, Brooklyn Lucarello and Jacob Schommer.
 
The varsity Lady Indians took to the course immediately after the ceremony. The Lady Indians’ performance was spectacular en route to the overall team win.

Once again, Jailyn Williams led the team with a time of 21:14, earning an overall first-place finish and setting a course record. Taylor Thoroman finished the course shortly after Williams. Thoroman’s performance earned her second place as she crossed the finish line at 22:00.

Ramsey Haines was the third Lady Indian to run the course, finishing with a 22:17, good for third place.

After Whiteoak’s Addy Hauke finished in fourth place, five consecutive Lady Indians crossed the finish line. Brooklyn Lucarello finished in fifth (23:25), while Olivia Covault finished just seconds behind in sixth place (23:30). Just behind Lucarello and Covault were Kennedy Sexton, Bree Bailey and Abbey Letts. Sexton earned seventh place (23:40), while Bailey grabbed eighth (23:45) and Letts finished in ninth (24:03).

Finishing in 19th place was Claire Winkle with a time of 28:03. Hillsboro’s final runner was Sofia Mezo-Mil, who crossed the finish line at 32:10, good for 27th place.

Coach Rob Snavely was pleased with his team’s overall performance.

“When your team has eight of the top nine times, you have to be pleased with your team’s depth and talent,” he said. “It’s hard to single out one runner on a day like today, but I think it’s important to note that Ramsey, Bree, Abbey, Kennedy and Olivia all ran their fastest times of the year tonight, and the ones who didn’t PR came within seconds of it.

“With just a couple of weeks left before the FAC championship and districts, we’re getting to where we need to be at this time in the year.”
 
The final race of the meet saw the Hillsboro Indians varsity team also walk away with the first-place trophy.

Pacing the Indians were Corbin Winkle and Rason Brunck. Winkle finished third overall with a stellar time of 16:57, while Brunck crossed the finish line at 17:34 to earn fourth place.

A minute later, junior Chris Sowders earned seventh place with a run of 18:48. Just seconds later, Ryan Howland tallied earned eighth place when he finished the course at 18:53.

The fifth Indian to earn points for the team was Cooper Swope. The junior came in 13th place at 19:25.

Senior Jacob Schommer completed the course in 24:16 (28th place), and Jayden Wells notched 30th place with a run of 25:54.

Coach Ed Letts felt the overall team performance was a key to his team’s victory. “I thought the boys had a solid race today,” said Letts. “Corbin and Rason got out there and took the spots we needed, and Chris, Ryan and Cooper did a great job breaking up Fairfield’s pack to seal the win for us.”
 
The Indians will travel to Fayette County on Saturday, Sept. 30 to participate in the Blue Lion Invitational at the YMCA. The first race starts at 9:30 a.m.

(Editor’s note: As of this article’s posting, results for the other four Highland County teams were not uploaded to Baum’s Page.)