Badin runners qualify for state

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By Scott Hayes, Staff Writer 1:28 AM Sunday, November 1, 2009

TROY — Badin High School’s Evan North and Brent Fritz ran very different races at the Division III regional cross country meet Saturday afternoon, Oct. 31, at Troy Memorial Stadium.

But both ran their way to Scioto Downs, host of next weekend’s state championships.

Fritz ran with the front-runners and finished 15th with a time of 17 minutes, 17.98 seconds. North trailed the pack for most of the race but kicked it in over the final mile to finish 10th with a time of 17:10.50.

The top 16 individual finishers advanced to the state finals.

As a team, the Rams finished sixth, 15 points out of the fourth and final team qualifying berth.

“Brent and Evan train together, but they definitely run different styles,” Badin coach Steve Smith said. “I’m very pleased for both of them. Brent’s the only senior we have on the team, so we were really happy to be here. We wanted to go to state, but we’re pleased with how it turned out.”

Fritz will be making his third trip to state and his first as an individual.

“It’s just a great feeling,” Fritz said. “It’s the last time I get to do it, so it’s one of the greatest experiences ever.

“It was tough out there because of the wind. I had to run smart after the first mile, and people started to drop back but I had to stay with the pack. I always stay in the front pack, that’s just how I run. If I’m not in it after the first mile, I’m not as motivated to stay in it.”

North, a junior, took the opposite approach.

“I was way back after the first mile,” North said. “But that’s where I usually run. Then I step it up over the last half of the race. I wasn’t sure about my place at the two mile mark, I just knew that I had to go.

“It’s really special to get to go as an individual and to go with Brent. We’ve been close the whole season, and it just wouldn’t have felt right if just one of us made it to state.”

The Badin pair weren’t the only area runners to make it out of the Troy regionals.

Lakota West sophomore Amanda Shelby placed seventh in the Division I girls race with a time of 19:25.65, while Lakota East freshman Alaina Norman advanced with an 11th-place finish (19:32.27). The Thunderhawk girls finished a surprising fifth, one spot shy of a state berth.

“The girls were bummed out that they didn’t qualify, but I told them not to think of it as missing state by one place, but rather think of it as running the race of their lives, because that’s pretty much what they did,” East coach Adam Thomas said.

In the boys’ Division I race, Lakota West’s Aaron Ghering (eighth place, 16:24.63) and J.J. Webber (16th, 166:39.29) both qualified for the state meet. The Firebirds placed sixth as a team with 170 points.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4526 or shayes@coxohio.com.

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