Jonny ran at the French Fieldhouse at The Ohio State University today. He only ran in one event today. The 4×800 boys relay. There was only one heat with 16 teams. Jonny ran the 2nd leg of the race and ran in 2:13. The team completed the race in 9:06.07 which was good enough for 3rd place overall. This was the teams 1st race in the indoor track season and most kids only raced in one event. This meet was used to get the kids used to running in the dry conditions at the fieldhouse and familiarize themselves with how the indoor meets are run again.
Next week they run at the French Fieldhouse again and will have the opportunity to run in more than one event.
Today Jonny ran in the Granville Turkey Trot which benefits the Licking County Food Bank. Jonny was one of 20053 runners participating in the run. They staged the starts into 3 starts. The competitive runners, the fun runners and the fun walkers. Jonny started with the competitive runners. At race time the temps were 31 degrees and snowing. He met several of his high school cross country racing buddies and they warmed up together before the race.
Jonny finished 8th overall out of 2053 participants with a time of 17:40.
After the race he went and had hot chocolate and donuts at one of his coaches house that is located on the race course. It was very windy and cold today and Nikki and I were numb standing and cheering the runners on.
We had our Thanksgiving diner with Ashley and Shane the day before Thanksgiving. They were going to be going to Shane’s mom’s house on Thanksgiving and asked to have diner at our house on Wednesday. Instead of Turkey, Ashley is not a fan of Turkey, Nikki cooked a delicious ham dinner with mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, mashed pumpkin and homemade cranberry sauce.
Stephanie’s best friend from high school, Ryan, was home from college and brought a friend from college, who was from Mexico and unable to make it back home for the long weekend. They were all over for dinner as well.
Ashley and Shane brought Apollo and all the dogs played together until they all ran out of energy, which was much later in the day. They stayed much later than expected and we had nice conversations and went through old pictures later into the night. It was a very nice visit and Nikki and I enjoyed the night very much.
Tomorrow, Thanksgiving morning, Jonny is running in the Granville Turkey Trot 5K race held in the streets of Granville.
For the first time in his running career Jonny participated in the Ohio High School State Cross Country Championship. The State meet is run at a neutral site. It is held at the National Trail Raceway which is 8 miles south of our house off Route 37 at the intersection of Route 40. The weather today was cold, windy and rainy, with the temps in the low 40’s, but the feels like temps in the low 30’s due to the 20 mile per hour winds.
Nearing the first mile mark
Granville Boys took 6th overall in the state. Jonny ran a 17:00 in the windy conditions, which was good enough to place him 56th overall out of 147 participants. He earned 34 points in his team’s 187 point effort. What that means is if you take out the individuals that ran the race without a team, he was 34th overall out of all the teams for Division II.
The last 150 meters
I did take some video that was limited to what we could see from the Grandstands. The video is below.
The girls team took 1st in the state edging out Lexington by one point to take the state championship trophy. Congratulations to the girls teams for an outstanding undefeated season.
When both teams arrived back in Granville, they were greeted with a police and fire engine escort with lights flashing and sirens wailing all the way to the high school.
Jonny ran in the Regional Cross Country Championship today held in Troy, Ohio, which is located just north of Dayton. Jonny had to be at the school to catch the bus at 7:15 in the morning. The race was scheduled for 11:45 , with the girls scheduled to run at 2:15.
Last year the boys team was eliminated and only a couple of the boys moved on to compete individually at the State Championship. This year none of the boys made it individually but the team took 2nd place and the entire team moves on next week to the State Championship. They were the only team to that advanced that did not have multiple runners place in the top 16. The other 3 teams that qualified had at least 2 runners in the top 16, which shows the consistency of the Granville Boys Team. They all performed extremely well and worked well with each other encouraging team members to do their best.
Regional Cross Country Championship 2014 – Beginning of the race
Jonny placed 21st out of 125 runners with a time of 16:49.4. Last year he ran at this same meet in 18:09, so he cut 1:20 off his time from last year!
Regional Cross Regional Cross Country Championship 2014 – Near the 1st mile marker
I took some video of the meet, but it was windy and with me zooming in a lot, there is a lot of shaking.
Regional Cross Country Championship 2014 – Near the 2nd mile marker
The official results can be found on the Timer Hub website and Baumspage or you can view the results on the Granville Running Database website. Also, the girls team continued to show their dominance and remain undefeated this season with 5 of their 7 runners qualifying individually by placing in the top 16 out of the field of 123 runners.
Regional Cross Country Championship 2014 – Awards Presentation
Granville boys and girls ran at the Ohio Central District Cross Country Championship held at Watkins Memorial High School in Pataskala. This is the 2nd week in a row and 3rd time overall the team is running at this course. Unlike last week where it was a smaller group of kids running, 66 kids running in the Varsity race, this was another large group that had 166 kids running in the Division II race representing 23 teams.
Last year Granville was edged out by Highland-Sparta who beat Granville by 6 points and kept the Aces Boys team from winning the Central District Championship 5 years in a row. The Girls streak of 5 years in a row was still intact and on the line today.
Jonny either needed to be one of the top 16 runners in this race to move on as an individual, or the team had to place in the top 4 to advance to the Regionals that are held in Troy, just north of Dayton, next week. Jonny was guaranteed to move on by coming in 9th place overall, with a time of 16:46, and team won the District Championship, so the entire team gets to move on as well The course today was a little wet and therefore slower this week compared to last week on the same course. The Girls won the District Championship as well, upping their win streak to 6 consecutive years as district champions.
Jonny competed in the Licking County League Cross Country Championship meet today. The meet was held at Watkins Memorial High Schoolm which is the 2nd time this season the team has raced there. This was a much smaller than meet than what they have participated in since the start of the cross country season. In the Varsity race there were only 66 runners participating.
Jonny at the Licking County League Championship
Jonny took 5th place with a 16:28.96 finish time which qualified him for the First Team all Licking County League. The team took first place in the meet as well with their runners taking 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 11th and 12th overall. giving them a score of 25 with Watkins Memorial taking second with 47 points and third place Lakewood 115 points.
Jonny and Ryan in the woods at the Licking County League Championship
The course was dry and fast, which in previous years has been very muddy and the kids have come out of the woods very muddy, some from head to toe as they trip over some of the exposed roots in the woods and fall into the mud. In the past there have even been instances of kids loosing their shoes in some of the bigger mud holes.
Jonny competed in the Les Eisenhart Cross Country Invitational today. This invitational has Granville as the only Division II school in a field of 25 schools. The competition is slated to be as competitive as the State Tournament and a precursor to what the team should see at the regional level.
The weather was cool today in the mid to upper 40’s with the winds gusting in the mid 20’s. Historically this has been a meet that witnesses fast times as most of the course is easily accessible by cheering spectators and is run with some of the best runners in the state that keep the tempo up throughout the entire race.
Jonny at the Les Eisenhart Invitational – 2014
Jonny got caught in the middle of the large group at the start of the race and had to work his way to the outside where there was more room. He and a couple of teammates made it to the outside and encouraged each other to start making moves almost immediately. By the half way mark, he and several team members where in positions to score well.
Jonny ended up 19th out of 208 runners and finished with a time of 16:23, which is his new personal best. He ended up 3rd on the team and the team finished 3rd overall.
I left the house without my video camera today, but I still was able to get a little footage with my cell phone.
Jonny asked a friend, Destiny, to the Homecoming Dance which was held on September 27th. Nikki took him shopping last week to get some nice clothes for the growing boy to wear to the dance.
Nikki took them to the dance, which they stayed for about an hour and then she drove them into town where they meet some other friends for dinner at Brews Cafe. After Brews they went to the bowling alley and had a good time with a group of about 6 people.
Today Jonny ran in the Bob Reall Lancaster Invitational located at the Lancaster High School and neighboring Ohio University Lancaster Campus. It’s one of the courses that has a number of rolling hills and the athletes cross a few bridges. Jonny ran in the Division II Boys Varsity race which started at 2:00. The temps were in the upper 70’s, humid and partly cloudy.
Jonny finished 2nd again overall on the team and 15th out of 174 runners in the Division II Varsity Race with a time of 17:12.9 which is 1:52 seconds faster than last years time of 19:04. He said he felt uncomfortable through most of the race, but held in there very well and competed to the finish.
