It was a cold 48 degree, Saturday morning, in the small city of Van Wert, Ohio; that even the hot coffee in my thermos could barely conquer.
The air was heavy with a thick fog, that clung to it, like a blanket with an unwavering grip.
Hundreds of people were milling about the grounds, excitedly talking about the upcoming races.
Which teams were the strongest?
Which runner was going to win?
Did they or the teams have a chance to make it to state? (yes, they were talking that far ahead) LOL.
The Ohio Health XC (cross country) Invitational was being held at the Van Wert Country Reservoirs and Hiestand Woods and Parks Preserve, right next to the hospital.
The high school girls’ race, kicked things off at 9:00 AM.
Knights runner Emily Heth would get off to a quick start (as seen above), but would fade a bit throughout the race. She would finish in 18th place with a time of 21:35.3.
Lydia Grace 30th place and Jetta Merkle 84th place, would both run new personal records of 22:20.3 and 26:47.5.
The Crestview Lady Knights would end up finishing 8th out of 12 teams that participated.
At 10:10-ish AM, the high school boys race started, and that is when Crestview history was made.
The boys team got off to a fast start, and they were able to hold serve.
Derek Young dominated from the opening shot, and never looked back, as he absolutely smoked the field (see above video, nobody behind him), with a new school record.
Newly crowned homecoming king, Kale Vining, finished 10th with a time of 17:17.
After Kale, 4 Knight runners group together to finish 20th, 22nd, 27th, and 29th, in Hudson Perrott(17:39.5), Andy Heth(17:46.2), Caleb Thomas(17:56.9), and Luke Sawmiller(18:08.8).
4 Knight boys also set new personal records as well.
Hunter Waltmire(19:28.9)
Cole Miller(19:57.4)
Evan Knueve (21:21.2)
Carter Perkins(24:03.2)
The boys team finished 2nd out of 14 participating teams.
DEREK YOUNG is the allsportsfan.com Player of the Game…..or in this case, Runner of the Meet. LOL.
Thank you to Daily Dose in Convoy for being our sponsor.
The Knights and Lady Knights next race is the Kalida XC Invitational, on October 3rd, at 9:00 AM.
– by Sean McKenzie
