Whiteoak boys XC team advances to state meet
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Extreme muddy conditions looked to be the story Saturday morning at Pickerington North High School, but the Whiteoak Wildcats stole the script and raced past a traditional state power to earn their first-ever team berth to the state cross-country meet with a fifth-place finish.
Whiteoak entered the meet as Southeast District champions. While the dominant district win looked promising for the regional meet, the Wildcats were firmly in the sixth spot when looking at all the other teams in the meet, and only the top five teams advance to the state.
Coach Doug Hughes explained the task at hand.
“I spent a long time breaking down every team and every runner, and every way I mapped it out we were in either sixth or seventh place and Garaway was in fifth,” he said. “Earlier in the season, we lost a close place to a talented Westfall team, and the next invitational our only strategy was to go after them. The kids bought in and were very focused, and we beat Westfall by one point to win the Southeastern Invitational.
“Fast-forward six weeks, and the task is quite lofty. We were going to go after Garaway, but Garaway was the East District champs but also a known state power in the last decade. Their last 11 years they have been seventh or better at the regionals every single year, four-time regional champions, six-time state qualifiers and twice finished top 3 in the state meet. To make it even more unlikely to knock them off, their top five runners were all seniors, and earlier this season at Pickerington they handily defeated us by 86 points and an average of 33 seconds per runner. So tall task, to say the least.
“But we were ready, and the three-plus inches of mud worked in our favor,” Hughes continued. “It made the course very slow and a huge mental and physical challenge. We got over the extreme muddy conditions as soon as we got there. The mud wasn’t going to be a negative factor for us.”
In the regional race, Whiteoak was led by Weston Blair, who took 15th overall out of 126 runners with a time of 17:59. The good news was the top 20 finish earned Blair a trip to the state meet individually, but the bad news was it was six spots behind Garaway’s No. 1 runner.
Landen Eyre was next at 21st (18:17), but Garaway still had a three-spot lead after the top two runners. Robbie Raines was the team’s 3 man, and he was 57th (19:20), putting Whiteoak down 10 spots.
In fourth for the Wildcats, Christian Price was right behind Raines and took 59th (19:22) to pull the teams exactly even after four runners.
Whiteoak’s depth came up big again, as both Bryce Van Hoy in 76th (19:54) and Connor Butler in 77th (19:54) beat Garaway’s No. 5 man, and Whiteoak pulled off the sneak attack for the surprise of the day to beat Garaway, 164-171.
“I knew from late last season that we’d have a shot to make it this year,” Hughes said. “So many things did not go as planned, but we persevered and left no stone unturned and just kept working and working. Then when it was needed, they followed the plan each and every meet.
“We made a 93-point and 36-second per runner turnaround on one of the better programs in the state. I couldn’t ask for any more out of these guys. A couple runners run three seconds slower, and we don’t make it. These kids left nothing to chance and will forever be linked together and remembered.”
As mentioned, this is the first Whiteoak team in school history to qualify for the OHSAA state meet, according to Hughes.
“What an incredible achievement,” Hughes said. “In the long history of Whiteoak team sports, there have been over 400 teams. Before this, only the 2002 boys basketball team and the 2018 baseball team had made it to the state level.
“Today we joined an exclusive club, and next week we’ll get to go compete in that state championship meet. What an absolute thrill.”
Whiteoak entered the meet as Southeast District champions. While the dominant district win looked promising for the regional meet, the Wildcats were firmly in the sixth spot when looking at all the other teams in the meet, and only the top five teams advance to the state.
Coach Doug Hughes explained the task at hand.
“I spent a long time breaking down every team and every runner, and every way I mapped it out we were in either sixth or seventh place and Garaway was in fifth,” he said. “Earlier in the season, we lost a close place to a talented Westfall team, and the next invitational our only strategy was to go after them. The kids bought in and were very focused, and we beat Westfall by one point to win the Southeastern Invitational.
“Fast-forward six weeks, and the task is quite lofty. We were going to go after Garaway, but Garaway was the East District champs but also a known state power in the last decade. Their last 11 years they have been seventh or better at the regionals every single year, four-time regional champions, six-time state qualifiers and twice finished top 3 in the state meet. To make it even more unlikely to knock them off, their top five runners were all seniors, and earlier this season at Pickerington they handily defeated us by 86 points and an average of 33 seconds per runner. So tall task, to say the least.
“But we were ready, and the three-plus inches of mud worked in our favor,” Hughes continued. “It made the course very slow and a huge mental and physical challenge. We got over the extreme muddy conditions as soon as we got there. The mud wasn’t going to be a negative factor for us.”
In the regional race, Whiteoak was led by Weston Blair, who took 15th overall out of 126 runners with a time of 17:59. The good news was the top 20 finish earned Blair a trip to the state meet individually, but the bad news was it was six spots behind Garaway’s No. 1 runner.
Landen Eyre was next at 21st (18:17), but Garaway still had a three-spot lead after the top two runners. Robbie Raines was the team’s 3 man, and he was 57th (19:20), putting Whiteoak down 10 spots.
In fourth for the Wildcats, Christian Price was right behind Raines and took 59th (19:22) to pull the teams exactly even after four runners.
Whiteoak’s depth came up big again, as both Bryce Van Hoy in 76th (19:54) and Connor Butler in 77th (19:54) beat Garaway’s No. 5 man, and Whiteoak pulled off the sneak attack for the surprise of the day to beat Garaway, 164-171.
“I knew from late last season that we’d have a shot to make it this year,” Hughes said. “So many things did not go as planned, but we persevered and left no stone unturned and just kept working and working. Then when it was needed, they followed the plan each and every meet.
“We made a 93-point and 36-second per runner turnaround on one of the better programs in the state. I couldn’t ask for any more out of these guys. A couple runners run three seconds slower, and we don’t make it. These kids left nothing to chance and will forever be linked together and remembered.”
As mentioned, this is the first Whiteoak team in school history to qualify for the OHSAA state meet, according to Hughes.
“What an incredible achievement,” Hughes said. “In the long history of Whiteoak team sports, there have been over 400 teams. Before this, only the 2002 boys basketball team and the 2018 baseball team had made it to the state level.
“Today we joined an exclusive club, and next week we’ll get to go compete in that state championship meet. What an absolute thrill.”