FAIRBORN – The Ansonia Cross Country teams were back in action Wednesday night at the Skyhawk Invitational. The Tigers, a small Darke County school, took to the course with 17 schools from around the Miami Valley to compete at Community Park in Fairborn on a challenging course that threw everything from flat park fields to big hills in the woods at the runners. The Ansonia Tigers finished the night with outstanding individual and team performances.
Ansonia Junior High Girls:
Zoie Partin [16:46], Julia Jenkins [18:28], Layla Fullerton [19:40], and Addilynn King [19:49]
Ansonia Junior High Boys:
Jacob Lehman [13:34], Nolan Seger [14:29], and Cooper Pierce [16:54]
“Our junior high runners, overall, had some very impressive finishes today,” said Ansonia XC coach Jason Wright. “The majority of our runners are brand new to this sport. Coming off their first race of the season this past Saturday, all of our runners showed big improvements today. This course was their first race experience on big hills and trail running. Not only did our guys and girls put together a more complete race, but many of them were able to test new racing tactics and come home with a new season PR. Coach Newbauer and I were very impressed with their efforts tonight.”
Ansonia High School Girls:
Anna Yeomans [20:38, 2nd place], Olivia Creager [23:14, 10th place], Olivia Schmitmeyer [23:42, 13th place], Addison Gelhaus [24:57], Alexa Kreiner [25:06], and Kaitlyn Tollefson [33:21]
Ansonia High School Girls’ team finished in second place overall out of 11 teams.
Ansonia High School Boys:
Bennett Lehman [15:39, 1st place], Owen Marker [17:16, 2nd place], Luken Longenecker [18:21, 10th place], Wyatt Unrast [18:42, 13th place], Karr Hiestand [19:17], Gavin Stachler [21:11], Max Lentz [21:32], and Brady Wright [22:52].
Ansonia High School Boys’ team placed first overall out of 15 teams.
“Our high school teams competed exceptionally well this afternoon,” said Coach Wright. “Bennett and Anna led our teams with poise today, and the rest of our runners understood their assignments and were locked in. We’ve enjoyed two great races in the last four days, so I am sure our kids are looking forward to a reprieve from racing over this holiday weekend.”
Ansonia’s next race will be at the Coach Noff Memorial Invitational at Harter Park in Union City on Saturday, September 6th. Races will begin at 9:30 am.
