Lakota East duo qualify for state meet

West's Nathan Haynes also advances.

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By Scott Hayes, Staff Writer 12:36 AM Sunday, October 30, 2011

TROY — A strange sense of satisfaction settled over Abbie VanFossen as she waited to receive her medal at Troy Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

The Lakota East High School freshman had just finished sixth at the Division I girls cross country meet, earning a trip to next weekend’s D-I state championships.

“I feel like I don’t have anything left to work for because this is what I’ve been aiming for all season,” VanFossen said. “It’s kind of surreal. I can’t believe I actually did it. Every time I think about it I get excited all over again.”

VanFossen crossed the finish line in 18 minutes, 39.76 seconds, just 20 seconds behind regional champion Claudia Saunders of Princeton. She and teammate Kelly Burrows — who also qualified for state by placing ninth in 18:46.44 — kept within striking distance of the lead pack over the 3.1-mile course.

“Abbie and I just wanted to stay with the top group. We knew if we kept them in our sight, we had a good chance.

“But while that was strategy, I wasn’t sure we’d be able to do it. It’s kind of unreal to tell the truth.”

Mason won the D-I girls regional title with 67 points, followed by Beavercreek (86), Centerville (100) and Springboro (108). Lakota West finished 12th in the team standings with 263 points. The Firebirds’ top finisher was Amanda Shelby, who crossed the finish line 32nd in 19:44.65.

West’s Nathan Haynes will be making the trip to Hebron next weekend though, after placing sixth in the D-I boys’ race with a time of 16:04.67.

“I’m pretty excited to be going to state, but I’m glad this one’s over,” Haynes said. “My body couldn’t take much more.

“I sat back the first mile to let people get settled into their positions. A lot of times at races like these people go out too fast at the beginning and I wanted to take advantage of that. In the second mile, I started picking people off and worked my way into the top eight.”

West’s Brady Holmer missed a qualifying spot — which goes to the top 16 individual runners — by 17 seconds, placing 23rd with a time of 16:35.35.

Lakota East’s Ben Call also narrowly missed a qualifying berth, placing 20th in 16:30.44.

The Thunderhawks placed sixth as a team with 181 points, just seven points shy of fourth-place Centerville, which nabbed the final qualifying team spot with 174 points. West placed seventh with 188 points.

In Division II action, Ross’ girls placed 15th but were just happy to run after a mishap with the computer chips attached to the team’s spikes almost caused them to miss the race.

“There was a lot of drama this morning, but all in all I’m just grateful it turned out the way it did,” Ross coach Wayne Wheeler said. “I thought, considering the circumstances, the girls ran really well.

“I’m very proud of their accomplishments. This is just the second time in school history a Ross girls team has made it to regionals, so it’s a pretty big deal to us.”

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

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