Whiteoak sophomore Landen Eyre finishes 5th at OHSAA Div. III State Cross-Country Meet
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This has been quite the year for Whiteoak sophomore Landen Eyre. He came into the season from a phenomenal summer of intense and focused workouts and never looked back, leading to a fifth-place finish on the highest stage of them all Saturday at the OHSAA State Cross-Country Championships at Fortress Obetz.
In his sophomore cross-country season, Eyre jetted out and won the Pickerington Invitational with nearly 400 runners, won the Southeastern Invitational and Washington CH Invitational, won two home meets, was county champion, league champion, district champion and then regional runner-up. However, Saturday topped them all. Racing against 180 of the absolute best Division III runners in the entire state of Ohio, Eyre earned an incredible Top 5 finish.
Coach Doug Hughes was on cloud nine.
“He did it … he did it all year, every single practice and every single race,” Hughes said. “He worked his absolute tail off every day, every day. They say hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. Well, he’s got elite talent and an even better work ethic, so that’s the path to the top of the state.
“We at Whiteoak could not be any prouder of him. Great teammate, humble, great kid. I love when hard work and sacrifice pays off for kids. It sure paid off for Landen.”
At the state meet, Eyre kept things in control the entire 3.16 mile race. He was in 13th at the first split at 450m. His first mile was at 4:52 (eighth place), which was faster than planned, but the race forced the matter, and Eyre handled it and was in the lead cluster pack where he wanted to be.
On mile two, Eyre gained ground and worked his way up to fifth place (10:07.8). He pushed third and fourth but knew it was best to stay behind them going into the wind and up the big hill, and that enabled him to be able to hold off the pack of runners right behind him.
Eyre managed to hold on to the fifth-place spot, finishing with a time of 16:04.1.
“He finished strong and ran a perfect race,” Hughes said. “He was hoping for top 8 to make the podium (and standing on it). Fifth place was icing on the cake.”
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In his sophomore cross-country season, Eyre jetted out and won the Pickerington Invitational with nearly 400 runners, won the Southeastern Invitational and Washington CH Invitational, won two home meets, was county champion, league champion, district champion and then regional runner-up. However, Saturday topped them all. Racing against 180 of the absolute best Division III runners in the entire state of Ohio, Eyre earned an incredible Top 5 finish.
Coach Doug Hughes was on cloud nine.
“He did it … he did it all year, every single practice and every single race,” Hughes said. “He worked his absolute tail off every day, every day. They say hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. Well, he’s got elite talent and an even better work ethic, so that’s the path to the top of the state.
“We at Whiteoak could not be any prouder of him. Great teammate, humble, great kid. I love when hard work and sacrifice pays off for kids. It sure paid off for Landen.”
At the state meet, Eyre kept things in control the entire 3.16 mile race. He was in 13th at the first split at 450m. His first mile was at 4:52 (eighth place), which was faster than planned, but the race forced the matter, and Eyre handled it and was in the lead cluster pack where he wanted to be.
On mile two, Eyre gained ground and worked his way up to fifth place (10:07.8). He pushed third and fourth but knew it was best to stay behind them going into the wind and up the big hill, and that enabled him to be able to hold off the pack of runners right behind him.
Eyre managed to hold on to the fifth-place spot, finishing with a time of 16:04.1.
“He finished strong and ran a perfect race,” Hughes said. “He was hoping for top 8 to make the podium (and standing on it). Fifth place was icing on the cake.”
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