Category Archives: Cross Country 2016

Division II State Championship

Jonny and the Granville team made it to the Division II State Championship race held at National Trail Raceway in Hebron Ohio. Other than our home meet to start the season it is the closest meet distance wise from us. Only 9 miles away. It was a cool morning with the temps rising into the low 50’s by race time at 11:45.

Division II State Championship

Jonny kept himself in the first 1/3rd of the pack at the start of the race and by the first mile marker he was in 35th place with a time of 5:03.8. At the 2nd mile marker he had moved up to 17th place with a time of 10:14.8. He finished strong with a 16th place finish out of 186 runners with a time of 16:05.9.

Division II State Championship

The official results can be found here at finishingtiming.com.  The results can also be be viewed here on the Granville Running Database page.

Division II State Championship

There was a total of 1,342 boys that started the state tournament in Division II in the state of Ohio.

Division II State Championship

This concludes his high school career of cross country. What a wonderful group of kids, coaches and parents. I’m so happy he and Stephanie both picked running as their sport as I can’t think of a better group of people to be around for all those years.  We wish Granville Cross Country the best and look forward to attending a few meets to watch the younger kids mature and their continued success as a team and individuals.

Division II State Championship

Jonny raced in the Region 7 Division II Boys tournament today held at Pickerington North High School in Pickerington Ohio. The top 6 teams and any individual whose team were not in the top 6 were going to move on to next week’s State Championship held at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, just 8 miles south of Granville.  Weather was partly cloudy and 67 with winds around 13 mph.

Jonny got a OK start, but these meets typically get out fast, so he was still good.  After about 800 meters he was in the top 20.  I didn’t get to see him again until the end of the race.  He was fighting for 7th place and was beat out by 18/100ths of a second at the finish line for 7th, but held off the hard charge of the runner looking to get 8th out of 161 regional competitors.  His time was 16:39.69.  Jonny got a medal and was on the podium at the regional ceremony for his 8th place finish.

It took about 30 minutes after the race to get the results and find out that the boys team took 4th place and the entire team was going to run at the State Finals.  All the boys were grinning from ear to ear to find out they were going as a team.

The official results can be found on the TimingFirst website here or on the Granville Cross Country Database.

Here is the video I took from the race.  I only got the start and near the finish, but because I was so focused on Jonny, I failed to get him crossing the finish line.

Jonny ran at the Central District Meet today held at Watkins Memorial High School in Pataskala. The weather was 48 with winds at 15 MPH at the time of the Section I Boys Division II race. The top 12 boys and top 3 teams advanced to the Regional District next week at Pickerington North High School.

Jonny injured himself last week during warm ups and was told to take it easy for most of the race and not re-injure himself during this race.  Two runners took off and distanced themselves from the pack early and left Jonny and a group of runners to vie for 3rd place.  Jonny kept himself near the front of that pack for the first 2 miles of the race and because he felt good he opened it up in the 3rd mile and distanced himself from the pack to finish 3rd all alone.  He finished in 16:46.71, which is his slowest time all season.  He listened to his coaches and showed his experience by running smart and not taking the chance of pulling that right hamstring.  He also made sure he got the points his team needed to finish 1st as a team in the Division II Central District Section I Championship by 3 points.

The results can be found here on the Granville Cross Country Database.

Here is the video I took from the race.

Jonny ran in the Licking Country League Championship meet today held at Watkins Memorial High School in nearby Pataskala, Ohio. The League is now split into two divisions the Buckeye division for larger schools and the Cardinal division for the smaller schools. Granville is in the Buckeye division for larger schools. They run both divisions together and then split them out for scoring.

Before the race even began, during warm ups, Jonny pulled his hamstring and was holding his hamstring for a large portion of race. You could see in his face that he was in pain, even in the beginning portions of the race. Even though he was not one hundred percent, he finished 4th overall, 3rd in the Buckeye division with a time of 16:05.24, his best time ever at that course.

The team took 2nd place and they were missing their 2nd runner, but I don’t think that would have made a difference in the place they took, it would have just narrowed the gap.

Here is the video:

Jonny ran for the first time since September 25th while participating in the Les Eisenhart Invitational.   The course is located at the Thomas Worthington High School in Worthington, Ohio.  Conditions were low 60’s and breezy.

Jonny got off to a good start and put himself in a position within the top 10 after about 800 meters.  He pretty much kept that position thoughout the race and ended up 9th place overall out of 215 runners with a time of 15:51.4 which is his new personal best.  The team finished 8th place overall out of 24 teams mostly from Division I schools.

Jonny at the Les Eisenhart Invitational

Before this weeks race Granville was ranked 14th in the state for Division II school with Jonny coming in ranked at #12 for Division II and #54 overall in the state.

Jonny at the Les Eisenhart Invitational

Congratulations go out to the girls team this week for taking 1st place in the field of 24 teams!

Jonny approaches the finish line

I did some video of the race.

So, what do you do after running a 5K race?  You hook up with your buddy who graduated last year and run multiple 800’s with your buddy at the high school track where you just finished your 5K Varsity race.  Just for fun!

Jonny ran at the Centerville Saturday Night Lights for the 2nd year in a row. This was one of his favorite races last year and didn’t disappoint again this year. The team makes the 2 hour trip to Centerville, Ohio which is between Dayton and Cincinnati and they run in the championship races for varsity runner with all the big competitive schools including schools from Kentucky. After the races the team spends the night near Centerville in a hotel and then they have their Sunday practice running in a park over there. The entire event is fun and different and the atmosphere is very much like a carnival and I think that is the main reason they enjoy it so much.

Jonny in the final stretch of the Saturday Night Lights race in Centerville, OH.

Jonny ran in the Championship race and got off to a good start. At the 1 mile mark he was 4:59.6 and in 11th place. At the 2 mile mark he was 10:19.7 and in 10th place. He passed a person in the last 300 meters to secure 8th place overall out of 198 runners with a new personal record of 16:01.9. He officially has the fastest Granville time at that meet now.

I took some video of that race and here it is:

The teams were split this week with the Varsity boys and girls running up at Tiffin in the Tiffin Cross Country Carnival, which is about 2 hours north and west of us and the rest of the team competing at Watkins Memorial High School about 8 miles away.

Jonny runs up the hill just after the first mile at the Tiffin Cross Country Carnival

The team ran in the Division II Varsity Jonny placed 6 out of 359 in the Boys Varsity Division II race.   Overall with all the high school boys races lumped together Jonny would have finished 45th of 2586 high school boys athletes.

Jonny approaches the finish line at the Tiffin Cross Country Carnival

Here is the video I took at the race:

Jonny opened the 2016 Cross Country season today with a home meet.  He ran in the varsity race at the Granville Cross Country Invitational held at the Bryn Du Mansion in Granville, Ohio.  The weather today at race time was very nice.  It was in the mid 70s and sunny with humidity around 40%.

Jonny nearing the first mile at the Granville Cross Country Invitational

Jonny followed his coaches advice and ran the first two miles easy keeping the leaders in sight.  He kept himself in the top 10 after about 400 meters and settled into 5th for the first two miles.  Somewhere behind the Mansion when they climb the big hill, he started to make an advance and put himself in 4th while gaining ground on the other runners.  He finished the last 600 meters very strong and within the last 100 meters made a race for 3rd place.  Unfortunately his attack was matched and he lost out 3rd place by a mere two tenths of a second.

Jonny runs at the Granville Cross Country Invitational

He took 4th place overall out of 151 runners with a new Granville record for the event with a new personal best time of 16:07.3.  The official results can be found here on timerhub.com.  You can also find it on the Granville Running Database here.

Jonny approaches the finish at the Granville Cross Country Invitational

Jonny at the Granville Cross Country Invitational

Jonny sprints to the finish at the Granville Cross Country Invitational

Here is the video I took of the race.

Today is the annual partner relay for cross country.  It’s a fun event that helps kick off the cross country season.  The kids are teamed up with a partner and they run a 1 mile course through infirmary mound park in Granville.  They tag their partner’s hand and their partner runs the 1 mile course.  They each do this three times, so each person runs 3 miles in the 6 mile race.

After the race the coaches talk about the upcoming season and then there is a cookout with burgers and hotdogs provided by the VanNess family from their farm and the rest of the parents brings side dishes and deserts.  It’s also an opportunity for the parents to meet each other.