Category Archives: Cross Country 2014

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 official results can be found on finishtiming.com and the results can also be found on the Granville Running Database.

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

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.

Here is the video that I took at the meet.

As always you can find the results on the Granville Aces Running Database or the official results can be found on Watkinstrack.org.

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.

Here is some video that I took of the race.

The official results can be found on the Watkins Track website was well as the Granville Aces Running Database.

Jonny and team at the Licking County League Championship

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.

Official results can be found at Baumspage.com and the Granville Aces running database.

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.

The official race results can be found at timerhub.com or on the Granville Running Database Website.

Below is some of the video I shot of Jonny at the race.

Today Jonny ran at the Galion Cross Country Festival at Amanns Park just south of Galion Ohio. The weather was cool today with temps in the upper 50’s at the 1:30pm race time for Division II Boys Varsity race. Last Year Jonny ran the race in 18:09 and finished 60th out of 136 runners.

He stayed near the front of the pack throughout the race and finished 14th out of 184 runners with a new person best time of 16:33.9. He finished 2nd on the team and earned the team 14 points. Granville was 2nd place with 100 points, 1st place Lexington had 73 points and 3rd place, Bay, had 137 points in comparison.

This year at Galion on the same course he was able to shave 1:36 off his time from last year.

I have some video of Jonny competing in the race.

Official times can be found at Delta Timing or on the Aces Running Database.

Jonny started the 2014 Cross Country season at a home meet today. They ran at Bryn Du Mansion in Granville where there is a long steep hill climb that has to be completed twice on the course. Most of the runners say it’s the hardest course they run all season. On the way to drop Jonny off, I asked him if he had any goals for this race. He said he wanted to beat 17 minutes. That would be a pretty aggressive drop as his best time last season was 17:39 at a much easier course. Last year at Granville was his slowest race of the season with a 19:18, which was also his first 5K race.

Jonny ran in the High School Boys Varsity race that started at 10:00am. By then the weather was starting to get hot and humid with the temps being 77 and the humidity at 70%. At the start he made sure he was in the top quarter, not too fast, but not to get too far back in the pack where you could get stuck behind a slower group. By the time the first 1/2 mile was completed Jonny had positioned himself around the 10th spot. He pretty much kept with that group for the rest of the race.

He ended up in 12th overall out of 144 racers. He finished with a new personal best of 16:52.6 which he beat last years time by 2:26! He didn’t leave much in the tank after this race, but he didn’t hit that wall that some runners run into either. He ran about as perfect of a race as he could for himself.  A year makes a big difference!  Also he was the first finisher for Granville.  I wonder what his goal for the next race is?

Here is some video I shot from this race:

Here is a link to the official race results found on Timerhub.com or you can also look at them on the Aces Running Site.