Hillsboro cross-country teams run at Circleville Kiwanis Invitational

Hillsboro’s cross-country teams traveled to Circleville High School Saturday, Aug. 31 to participate in the challenging Circleville Kiwanis Invitational.
 
The middle school girls opened the competition under blazing heat with a strong showing and finished in second place for a second straight meet.
 
The team was led by a talented trio of eighth graders, Quinn Swope, Parker Wilkin and Emarey Schurman. Swope led the team effort with a seventh-place finish as she sprinted across the finish line at 14:14. Wilkin finished in 19th place with a time of 15:50, while Schurman completed the course in 16:21 to earn 27th place.
 
Seventh graders Aria Ruble and Claire Pierson finished just behind Schurman. Ruble was the first to finish with a time of 16:44 (30th place). Pierson was just behind at 37th place and finished the course in 17:03.
 
The final two runners were Abrianne Anderson and K’Nasia Leeper. Anderson finished in 21:12 (67th place), while Leeper achieved 80th place with a time of 23:50.
 
The girls coach, Fawn Girard, praised the total team effort.

“I thought our kids ran a great race,” Girard said. “All of the girls pushed themselves and ran their races. I look forward to seeing what this team can do the rest of the season.”
 
The middle school boys came in undermanned in their second meet of the year, competing with a team of just two runners.
 
Both of Hillsboro’s runners finished in the top 25, with Luke Letts being the first Indian finisher at 14:16. Letts’ time was good enough to earn 21st place. Just behind Letts was Tyler Bender. Bender came in with a 14:24 to take 25th place.
 
Ben Young, the boys coach, praised the effort of his two runners.

“They ran really well despite the heat today,” Young said. “Luke and Tyler really pushed themselves hard. Tyler improved his time from last year by 35 seconds. They both ran a fantastic race and couldn’t be prouder.”

As clouds started to move in, the high school athletes took their turns on the course next. The Lady Indians were missing a few runners, but still claimed sixth place out of 17 teams.

Leading the way for Hillsboro was junior Taylor Thoroman. Thoroman came in 12th place as she sprinted to the finish line at 22:45.
 
Abbey Letts followed Thoroman as the next Indian runner to finish. After a 24:20 run, Letts finished in 29th place.

Rob Snavely, the Hillsboro Lady Indians’ coach, was pleased with Letts' time. “Abbey is running really well right now,” he said. “She ran the course about 45 seconds faster this year and her times have been dropping early in the season.”
 
Kennedy Sexton and Olivia Covault finished the race shortly after Letts. Sexton finished with a time of 24:47, earning 37th place, and Covault garnered 38th place at 25:07.
 
The final two runners to cross the line were junior Alizeh Hudson and sophomore Claire Winkle. Hudson earned 77th place (30:18.0), and Winkle claimed 78th place (30:18.4).
 
“There were a lot of good runners out here today,” said Coach Snavely. “While Abbey had a nice time, it looked like some runners kind of got stuck in packs and couldn’t run their best races. It takes experience to find a place to pass people and then settle back in. Hopefully we keep learning as the season progresses. But, I am very happy with our sixth-place team finish. There were some really good Division I and II teams running.”
 
The final race of the day belonged to the high school men. Running in a highly competitive team race, the Indians finished in fifth place out of 17 teams.
 
As has been the case in the early season, Corbin Winkle led the Indian efforts. The senior finished in 16:37 for an impressive sixth place.
 
Indian coach, Ed Letts, was pleased with his senior’s race. “Corbin had a solid race and ran a lot faster today than he did here last year,” Letts said. “I think his best races are still ahead of him.”
 
A trio of runners finished shortly afterward. Sophomore Rason Brunck finished in 23rd place (18:04) after an all-out sprint to edge out a Logan runner by seven seconds.

Seconds later, Chris Sowders found himself sprinting to the finish line against another Logan runner. Sowders ended his sprint with an 18:12 and narrowly defeated his opponent by less than a second to take 28th place. Ryan Howland followed shortly behind in 32nd place by running an 18:22.
 
Minutes later, Cooper Swope crossed the line in 79th place with a time of 20:46. Trenton Gulley finished in 98th place (21:86) and Jayden Wells earned 128th place by crossing the line at 22:10.
 
“I was really proud of how all of our guys ran today,” Letts said. “Chris and Ryan ran particularly well. I am looking forward to see how Trenton and Jayden will continue to progress in our six and seven spots.”

The Indians will travel to Zane Trace High School and compete in the Zane Trace Invitational on Sept. 7.

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