Cross Country Fans and all Sports Nuts,
The 2010 running of the Mid East Cross Country Championships was held at Indian Riffle Park, Kettering, Ohio, on Saturday, November 20.
Combined State team scores (girls and boys):
Indiana 73
Ohio 83
Illinois 165
Michigan 179
Girls :
Ohio 30
Indiana 53
Illinois 56
Michigan 84
Boys;
Indiana 20
Ohio 55
Michigan 95
Illinois 109
Indiana boys set a new meet low score with 20 points, breaking a previous low team score set in 1991 by the boys team from Indiana!
In the girls race Michele Thomas, from Glen Este HS in Ohio, was in a pack of young ladies through the first mile and a half. As she crested the hill, she surged about 10 meters ahead of Waverly Neer, from Culver Academies in Indiana. With Neer hot on her heels, Thomas maintained a lead and went on to win with a time of 17:47. Waverly Neer finished second with a time of 17:51. Nineteen out of 48 girls broke 18:30 today, with three under 18 minutes for the 5 K course.
After an exciting girls race, the boys stepped it up. Through the first mile, the whole group of 48 runners was separated by a mere 20 seconds! The lead pack was the whole group! By the time they reached the second mile, about 15 boys had separated to a front group, with the rest not that far behind. With the lead group still running four across, they started to spread out. The boys from Indiana looked awesome as they had seven in the top 10! At the final stream cross, Indiana had still seven in the front group of eight! Jace Lowey had the lead, but slipped coming out of the stream. Without breaking stride, a team mate grabbed the back of his shirt and lifted him up before he could go completely down! Jace still managed to finish 5th overall. Going into the final 300 meters, it was an all out sprint for the title! Austin Whitelaw, from Monroe Michigan, claimed the individual championship by finding an extra gear that just blew them away. Austin had a winning in a time of 15:22. Twenty four of the 48 runners ran 16:00 minutes or faster in the closest pack finish I can remember in 24 years of the race!
Indiana boys ended up claiming second through eight place, with their top seven runniers finishing within six seconds of each other! The boys from Ohio also had a great pack, six runners within 12 seconds of each other, just right behind the group from Indiana.
What a group of races and what a great group of young men and women to see race head to head. former competitors in their on states, joining together to represent their State in head to head competition against other regional states!
In the open race, former Mid East competitors, Levi Fox and Paul Krebs pushed each other to the max, with Levi out kicking Paul by a few seconds, 15:33 to 15:37
Michael Baumer
Assistant Meet Coordinator