Hillsboro XC teams race in Zane Trace Invitational

Following several straight races in scorching summer weather, Hillsboro’s cross-country teams competed in the Zane Trace Invitational in cool weather Saturday, Sept. 7 and turned in several outstanding performances.
 
The middle school girls team ran the course first. Guiding the team was eighth grader Parker Wilkin. Wilkin finished the challenging course, which included many difficult hills, in 12th place with a team-leading 15:28.

Teammates Emarey Schurman and Quinn Swope followed shortly thereafter. Schurman finished in 28th place at 16:35, and Swope just behind with a 16:40 to earn 30th place.

A few places behind were teammates Aria Ruble and Claire Pierson. Ruble completed the course in 17:09 (34th place), and Pierson’s time of 17:18 garnered 39th place.
 
Abriann Anderson was the next Indian to cross the line. Finishing in 59th place, Anderson ran an 18:32. Hillsboro’s final two runners were K’Nasia Leeper and Taylor Elkins. Leeper finished in 113th place after running a 25:08, while Elkins was just behind in 116th place with a finishing time of 28:23.
 
Overall, the team’s performance was good enough to finish in fourth place out of 14 teams.
 
The middle school boys tackled the course next and came away with a seventh-place finish out of 13 teams.
 
The Indians were led by eighth graders Mason Rinal and Luke Letts. Finishing in 14:02, Rinal sprinted to the finish line in 25th place. Letts finished seconds behind Rinal at 14:10 to earn 29th place.
 
Less than a minute later the final Indian trio finished the course. In 49th place, Tyler Bender finished at 15:00. Behind Bender was seventh grader Rush Abernathy. Abernathy finished at 15:15 to earn 53rd place. Mere seconds behind was newcomer Luke Thompson, who ran a 15:18 to finish in 55th place.

By the time the high school Lady Indians took to the course, the sun was out and started to warm the things up. The ladies finished in fifth place, just six points short of league foe, Chillicothe.
 
Taylor Thoroman led the team on the course with a 15th-place finish and a time of 23:28. Senior Abbey Letts was the next Lady Indian to complete the course as she outsprinted a competitor from Eastern to finish at 24:07 and garnered a 21st-place finish.

Junior Kennedy Sexton followed just behind in 24th place with a 24:33. Fellow junior Olivia Covault sprinted across the line at 25:28 to earn 35th place.
 
“I was very happy with our first four runners,” said Coach Rob Snavely. “They seemed to attack the hills more than other runners and I love how each one of them finished their races with sprints past other runners. Their conditioning wasn’t great coming into the year. I think we’re slowly getting where we want to be so we can challenge for the league this year.”
 
Sophomore Brynne Holsted was the fifth runner to complete the course. Holsted finished with a 27:14 to merit 53rd place. Claire Winkle, also a sophomore, finished in 67th place at 29:05. Hillsboro’s final runner, Alizeh Hudson, closed out in 72nd place with a 29:53.
 
The Hillsboro men compete last on the day. After some tremendous individual performances, it walked away with an impressive third-place finish.
 
Talented senior Corbin Winkle led the Indian attack. Winkle outsprinted conference foe Jayden Beverly of Chillicothe to finish in second place with a time of 17:20.

The talented trio of Rason Brunck, Chris Sowders and Ryan Howland followed shortly thereafter. Brunck finished in ninth place at 18:53. While Sowders ran the course in 19:00 (12th place) and Howland finished in 19:24, good for 20th place.
 
Cooper Swope found himself running neck and neck with a Westerville South runner in the final sprint. Swope edged his competitor by .08 seconds to take 55th place with a time of 21:15. Jayden Wells rounded out the day for the Indians with a 22:51 run to finish in 84th place.
 
“I was very pleased with how well the kids ran today,” said Coach Ed Letts. “Corbin handled the hills extremely well and Chris had another solid race. Cooper has been battling through some discomfort, but gave his best and kept us competitive.”

The Indians were originally scheduled to compete at the beautiful Elvin R. King Cross Country Course at Cedarville University this Saturday. However, after a change in schedules Hillsboro’s next meet will be at the Fairfield Invitational on Sept. 17.

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