Mason CC Teams finish 1-2 at Saturday's Invitational
Comet Boys Place First!
Girls Second at Annual Cross Country Showcase Event
On a wet and muddy home course, the Mason Boys CC Team beat Lawrence North from Indiana to claim a first place finish at the prestigious Mason Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 89th. While the Lawrence North squad boasted some fast early season times, Mason's depth earned them the victory over 25+ other teams and 1123 boys competing in the annual event.
Mason runners Tom Clark and Dylan McElhenny (19th and 20th, respectfully) both finished ahead of Lawrence North's 4th and 5th runners. This, in addition to Alex Notton, Joey Stimler and Zac Thompson all finishing in front of their 3rd runner, giving Mason the 73-79 win.
Boy's Finishes:
6 Alex Notton 12 17:08
13 Joey Stimler 12 17:20
15 Zac Thompson 11 17:25
19 Nick Grismer 10 17:29
20 Tom Clark 11 17:31
23 Dylan McElhenny 11 17:37
32 Jesse Zhan 11 17:57
34 Connor Van Blaricom 12 17:59
50 Lucas Sagraves 11 18:20
51 Ethan Valentine 11 18:22
The course featured straw-bale jumps, a creek crossing and the famous “mulch hill." Times were particularly slow in all races due to consistent rain on the course in days preceeding the race. The top boy's runner at the event was Vandalia Butler's Jake Brumfield who finished with a time of 16:43.
Top Five Boys Teams
1. Mason 73
2. Lawrence North 76
3. Beavercreek 90
4. Spr Shawnee 144
5. Centerville 180
Complete results on Finishtiming.com. Next Saturday, the boy's participate in the Cedarville Invitational.
Saturday's girls meet was truly special. Torrential downpours the night before soaked the course, but parent teams worked tirelessly during the evening, and again starting at 5:30am to get the course ready. With 80 bags of pea gravel, hundreds of pounds of mulch, 1000s of feet of caution tape, the course was ready for the nearly 3086 runners participating at the event.
The race was loaded with talent including arch rival Beavercreek and solid teams from Sycamore, Dublin Scioto and Dublin Coffman. However, someone had the good idea to invite Carmel to town. The Mason girls ran well, but were defeated soundly by the Greyhounds from Indiana and finished 2nd overall. The Mason girl's battled from the gun, and did quite well beating the next closest team by over 30 points (BEAVERCREEK). The Lady Comets placed 3 girls in the top 15, and 4 and 5 were in the top 25 of this huge race.
The girls ran to slower than usual times, but the course was very challenging on this rainy, muddy day. Lauren Wood led the way with a solid time (19:40-9th place). After she crossed the line, the duo of Emily Schlimm and Maegan Murphy cross almost together (13th and 14th) with Tori Martin (22nd) a touch back, followed by Bethany Angstadt (24th). The girls also got good production out of Nicole Steinbicker, Tori Blakelman and Kinsey McBeath. Sydney Leiher of Beavercreek was the top ladies runner with a time of 19:02.
Top Five Teams:
1. Carmel 22
2. Mason 82
3. Beavercreek 117
4. Dublin Coffman 140
5. Sycamore 142
Overall it was a solid effort for the girls, and they look to continue the roll next week at the Cedarville Invitational.
