Fairfield Lions win 7th straight Division III SE District championship
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
For seven years strong, the Fairfield Lions’ roar could be heard at the conclusion of the Division III Southeast District Meet as they were once again — for a seventh consecutive season — crowned the champions of the district with all seven runners placing in the Top 18.
Already having seven straight Southern Hills Athletic Conference championships on their resumé, the Lions have now added a unprecedented seventh straight SE District championship to their trophy case with a score of 35 points over the second-place Trimble Tomcats, who earned the district runner-up spot with a score of 86.
The Lions earned the victory with a total time of 1:25:41.81 for an average finish time of 17:08.37. In comparison, last year the Lions had a total team time of 1:26:57.73 and an average time of 17:23.55 at the same course.
“We are fortunate to be healthy as we have been training hard to be prepared for the intensity of the postseason,” Fairfield head coach Raymond Friend said. “We wanted to race well as a pack (Saturday), and we did that. Now we can focus on regionals at Pickerington, where the quality of competition improves drastically.
“We will see some very talented teams at regionals including Mt. Gilead, Fredricktown and Columbus Academy, as all of them are ranked highly in the state. I’m really happy with how close our Top 5 runners are, but our times have to come down some if we want to reach our ultimate goals.”
Senior Noah Richmond was the leading Fairfield runner, gaining a second-place finish for the district runner-up spot with a time of 16:40.10. Last year in the same race — as a junior — Richmond was fourth place overall with a time of 16:48.78.
Next for the Lions was senior Matthew Mangus in sixth place with a time of 17:05.02. Mangus was also sixth place last season, but this year he improved on his time at the Rio Grande course by nine seconds (17:14.45).
Also for the Lions in their run for their seventh straight district championship, junior Austin Setty was eighth place overall with a time of 17:09.44, as he also improved on his time and spot from a season ago. In 2016, Setty finished in 14th place at 17:44.55.
Giving Fairfield four runners in the Top 10 was junior Bennett Hodson, who raced to a ninth-place finish for a time of 17:21.39. One year ago, Hodson had a time of 17:24.99, also improving on his time in the same race from one season ago.
Sophomore Ethan Davis finished in 12th place overall on Saturday morning with a time of 17:25.86. Next for the Lions was freshman Cohen Frost at 17:37.29, and in 18th place was junior Brandtson Duffie at 17:51.23.
The winner of the race was Peebles senior Matt Seas at 16:31.66, as there were a total of 162 runners in the event.
As for the team standings, following the Lions and Tomcats was Minford in third place (125), followed by Belpre (139) and completing the Top 5 was Franklin Furnace Green (183).
Also in the event were the Whiteoak Wildcats with a seventh-place finish, having a score of 205. Two runners — junior Hunter Morgan and junior Atlee Carr — raced their way to the regional meet as individual qualifiers, as they finished in the Top 24.
Morgan finished in 21st place with a time of 18:07.87, and in 22nd place was Carr with a time of 18:11.57.
Others to race for the Wildcats were junior Zach DeAtley (19:18.04), Logan Cummings (20:18.39), junior Jason Campbell (20:45.89), sophomore Cody Everhart (21:22.40) and Josh Graybeal (23:40.14).
The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs placed 19th overall as a team, totaling 473 points with a total time of 1:51:15.81 and had an average time of 22:15.17.
Running for the Mustangs were: Dawson Osborn (20:39.36), Dylan Coleman (21:14.85), Ben Bales (22:00.72), Casey Barber (22:11.61), Austin Leininger (25:09.27) and Corey Mullenix (26:07.99).
In the Division II SE District race at Rio Grande, the Hillsboro Indians finished 23rd overall with a score of 520, with a team time of 1:39:19.16 and an average time of 19:51.84. McClain was 25th overall with a score of 726, having a team time of 1:48:23.97 with an average time of 21:55.98.
For Hillsboro, their times included: Justin Scott (18:32.03), Bailey Lucarello (18:54.00), Nathan Spencer (18:55.62), Jonathan Hatfield (20:07.47), Jeffrey Beery (22:50.04) and Owen Ryan (23:28.23).
For McClain, their times included: Reece Schluep (19:09.22), Cody Borsini (21:58.44), Paul Bliss (22:00.40), Nathan Ernst (22:24.73), Matthew Milnes (23:39.16) and Chance Lane (24:20.13).
For the complete results, click here.
Already having seven straight Southern Hills Athletic Conference championships on their resumé, the Lions have now added a unprecedented seventh straight SE District championship to their trophy case with a score of 35 points over the second-place Trimble Tomcats, who earned the district runner-up spot with a score of 86.
The Lions earned the victory with a total time of 1:25:41.81 for an average finish time of 17:08.37. In comparison, last year the Lions had a total team time of 1:26:57.73 and an average time of 17:23.55 at the same course.
“We are fortunate to be healthy as we have been training hard to be prepared for the intensity of the postseason,” Fairfield head coach Raymond Friend said. “We wanted to race well as a pack (Saturday), and we did that. Now we can focus on regionals at Pickerington, where the quality of competition improves drastically.
“We will see some very talented teams at regionals including Mt. Gilead, Fredricktown and Columbus Academy, as all of them are ranked highly in the state. I’m really happy with how close our Top 5 runners are, but our times have to come down some if we want to reach our ultimate goals.”
Senior Noah Richmond was the leading Fairfield runner, gaining a second-place finish for the district runner-up spot with a time of 16:40.10. Last year in the same race — as a junior — Richmond was fourth place overall with a time of 16:48.78.
Next for the Lions was senior Matthew Mangus in sixth place with a time of 17:05.02. Mangus was also sixth place last season, but this year he improved on his time at the Rio Grande course by nine seconds (17:14.45).
Also for the Lions in their run for their seventh straight district championship, junior Austin Setty was eighth place overall with a time of 17:09.44, as he also improved on his time and spot from a season ago. In 2016, Setty finished in 14th place at 17:44.55.
Giving Fairfield four runners in the Top 10 was junior Bennett Hodson, who raced to a ninth-place finish for a time of 17:21.39. One year ago, Hodson had a time of 17:24.99, also improving on his time in the same race from one season ago.
Sophomore Ethan Davis finished in 12th place overall on Saturday morning with a time of 17:25.86. Next for the Lions was freshman Cohen Frost at 17:37.29, and in 18th place was junior Brandtson Duffie at 17:51.23.
The winner of the race was Peebles senior Matt Seas at 16:31.66, as there were a total of 162 runners in the event.
As for the team standings, following the Lions and Tomcats was Minford in third place (125), followed by Belpre (139) and completing the Top 5 was Franklin Furnace Green (183).
Also in the event were the Whiteoak Wildcats with a seventh-place finish, having a score of 205. Two runners — junior Hunter Morgan and junior Atlee Carr — raced their way to the regional meet as individual qualifiers, as they finished in the Top 24.
Morgan finished in 21st place with a time of 18:07.87, and in 22nd place was Carr with a time of 18:11.57.
Others to race for the Wildcats were junior Zach DeAtley (19:18.04), Logan Cummings (20:18.39), junior Jason Campbell (20:45.89), sophomore Cody Everhart (21:22.40) and Josh Graybeal (23:40.14).
The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs placed 19th overall as a team, totaling 473 points with a total time of 1:51:15.81 and had an average time of 22:15.17.
Running for the Mustangs were: Dawson Osborn (20:39.36), Dylan Coleman (21:14.85), Ben Bales (22:00.72), Casey Barber (22:11.61), Austin Leininger (25:09.27) and Corey Mullenix (26:07.99).
In the Division II SE District race at Rio Grande, the Hillsboro Indians finished 23rd overall with a score of 520, with a team time of 1:39:19.16 and an average time of 19:51.84. McClain was 25th overall with a score of 726, having a team time of 1:48:23.97 with an average time of 21:55.98.
For Hillsboro, their times included: Justin Scott (18:32.03), Bailey Lucarello (18:54.00), Nathan Spencer (18:55.62), Jonathan Hatfield (20:07.47), Jeffrey Beery (22:50.04) and Owen Ryan (23:28.23).
For McClain, their times included: Reece Schluep (19:09.22), Cody Borsini (21:58.44), Paul Bliss (22:00.40), Nathan Ernst (22:24.73), Matthew Milnes (23:39.16) and Chance Lane (24:20.13).
For the complete results, click here.