Cross country: Sandwich, Seneca shine at Class 1A Regional

SENECA – The warm weather that settled around the Seneca High School ag farm’s cross country course Saturday was welcomed by some participants in the Class 1A regional held there and reviled by others.

However, it did not diminish the performances of the runners from Sandwich and Seneca. They spent the morning basking in that warmth and sunshine.

Led by Sandwich freshman Sunny Weber’s overwhelming individual victory, the Indians raced past the host Fighting Irish and runner-up Evelyn O’Connor for the regional title, while the Sandwich boys used Wyatt Miller’s third-place finish to take second to champion Pontiac. The two teams were followed by third-place Bureau Valley and fourth-place Seneca.

Local teams advancing to the Oregon Sectional with top-seven finishes in the girls competition were Henry-Senachwine in sixth and Marquette in seventh. For the boys, moving on to Saturday’s event are Henry and St. Bede.

“This was a really great day for us,” Sandwich coach Bolaji Adeoti said. “Sunny’s put in a lot of work, and she’s a real competitor – young but very mature, mature enough to stay with her plan when challenged. … Wyatt is a competitor, too. He’s hard on himself, but he ran a great race. I’m proud of all our runners today.”

Sandwich had a field day, but no performance was more impressive that Weber’s. The Indians’ ace turned in a time of 18 minutes, 40.5 seconds to beat the reigning Times Girls Runner of the Year, Seneca’s O’Connor, by a whopping 1:10.

“No, I didn’t realize how big a lead I had,” Weber said. “Not far back, I got paranoid when I heard people cheering. I thought they were cheering for someone coming up behind me. That made me nervous. … The last time I ran this course, I was in the 20s, so I would have been happy in the 19s. To get in the 18s was crazy. I hoped I’d be able to get to sectional. It feels good.”

Joanna Rivera was next for the Indians in sixth (20:52.70), then Emily Urbanski eighth (20:57.60), Erin Lissman 24th (24:26.80) and Hannah Treplow 25th (24:33.0). Emma White added a 47th (27:01.0) and Karlee Jenkins was 54th (28:18.60).

O’Connor, who was running against Weber for the third time, turned in a standout 19:50.0 on her home course.

“I’ve run against her twice now and she’s really good. I had a good freshman year, but I was never that fast,” O’Connor said with a chuckle. “I feel pretty good with where I’m at right now, but I hope to get faster for sectional. … But it’s going to be fun running against her the next two years. Good competition makes you better.”

Next for the Irish was Ashley Alsvig, fresh off a three-week absence because of injury, in 15th place (22:58.8), one spot ahead of teammate Gracie Steffes (23:00.5). Lily Mueller took 20th (23:32.2) and Keeli Pumphrey was 21st (23:35.1), with Natalie Misener placing 23rd (23:46.20) and Ruthie Steffes taking 27th (24:36.2).

Henry had only five girls, led by freshman Daniella Bumber in seventh place with a 20:54.5. The Mallards also saw Mikayla Frawley finish 14th (22:27.2), Taylor Frawley 42nd (26:17.5), Elizabeth Knuckey 65th (30:47.4) and Lexi Serpette 71st (33:56.5).

Marquette copped the final advancing team slot – the first for coach Jeff Cook – behind sophomore Maggie Jewett in 18th place with a 23:20.7. She was followed for the Crusaders by Olivia Tamblyn in 36th (25:48.7), Morgan Nelson in 38th (25:57.9), Keely Nelson in 46th (26:47.9) and Grace Dose in 58th (29:08.8). Chloe Larson placed 62nd (30:16.8) and Darby Morganflash 66th (31:15.4).

“I’m really proud of all our runners, but especially this group of girls,” Cook said. “It’s largely the same group as last year when we fell just a bit short, but I preached to them all season that they were capable of this, and it’s really nice to see their hard work rewarded. They stepped up today.”

Advancing as a top-five individual not on one of the advancing teams was Princeton’s Lexi Bohms, whose time of 21:48.1 earned her 13th place overall and a trip to Oregon.

The boys overall race was much closer, with Seneca’s Austin Aldridge and Sandwich’s Miller giving individual champion Aiden Lee of Pontiac a real run for his money. However, both came up a little short of Lee’s winning 16:53.1, with Aldridge coming in with a runner-up 17:15.6 and Miller a third-place 17:32.6.

“My race went well. I had a good first mile, but once I got into the woods with those hills, I was just feeling it today,” Miller said. “Getting third against competition like this is an honor, and I’m really proud of that. … It’s really exciting that both our boys and girls got out.”

Said Aldridge, “This is a hard course, but my race was good, one of my better times this year. The warmer weather actually hurt a little because we’d been practicing in such cooler conditions, but it felt good to be warm again.”

Miller’s performance was one of several fine efforts for the second-place Indians, with Dayton Beatty placing eighth (18:17.0), Hudson Wills 10th (18:24.3), Max Cryer 14th (18:35.7) and A.J. Parkinson 28th (19:55.2). Also, Alex Walsh was 31st (20:08.3) and Josh Schaefers 32nd (20:23.1).

Following Aldridge for the Irish were Chris Poyner in 15th (18:48.1), Nate Sprinkel 27th (19:47.0), Calvin Maierhofer 33rd (20:35.6) and Logan Pasakarnis 39th (21:07.9). Seneca also got a 48th place from Colin Collet (21:44.5) and 57th from Connor Pabian (22:17.8).

“Austin ran phenomenal today,” Seneca coach Kim Foster said. “I felt we could get past today, seeded second for girls and third for boys, and the boys just missed that by one or two placers. We have runners who are struggling with some quad pain, so I knew our rankings might not be where we’d be if everyone were healthy. We’ll take this, but I think we we are going to do better next week.”

Bureau Valley senior Elijah House breezed into fifth place with an 18:01.1 clocking.

The Storm had Benjamin Roth also finish in ninth (18:20.5), followed by Adrian Gallardo in 22nd (19:21.6), Maddox Moore 34th (20:43.6) and Payton Walowski 38th (21:06.6). Owen Larkin finished in 46th place (21:41.8) and Rhiley Pinter 50th (21:59.6).

Henry’s Preston Rowe was first for his team with an 18th-place time of 19:05.0, not far ahead of teammate Noah Dorsey in 21st (19:18.5). Jerrod Meffert placed 44th (21:36.8), James Braun 55th (22:06.5) and Nico Yee 58th (22:18.9). The Mallards’ Hayden Howard Martin finished 71st (27:17.2) and Aiden Strong 77th (29:34.6).

Nathan Husser led St. Bede across the finish line in 24th place with a 19:32.4. Next for the Bruins were Greyson Marincic in 30th (20:05.7), Johnny Brown in 49th (21:56.4), Haiden Ator in 56th (22:07.5) and Frank Fan in 64th (24:01.5).

Runners earning a spot at Oregon not from one of the advancing teams were Princeton’s Augustus Swanson in 19th place with a 19:05.9, Putnam County’s Wyatt Grimshaw in 20th with his 19:14.4, and Hinckley-Big Rock’s Andrew Harper in 25th with a 19:39.1.