Even when she returned, it wasn’t the same at first.
“It has definitely been hard not running where I want to be,” McManus said. “I saved myself for the end of the season and I am slowly starting to feel like myself.”
McManus looked a lot more like herself Saturday at the Neal Charske Firebird Invitational at Indian Riffle Park, finishing second in 19:35 as Lakota West claimed the team title.
“This was really good for us to see where we are at,” McManus said. “We want to peak for regional and get to state.”
McManus led most of the first two miles before Cincinnati Seton freshman Erica Schloemer made her move and took the title in 19:09.
“She just came on at the two-mile mark,” McManus said. “I knew she was there. She ran a good race and it was good for us to have her pushing us.”
Lakota West finished with 49 points after placing its top four runners in the top 15 and having all five scorers in the top 20. Cincinnati McAuley was second with second with 76.
LW’s Gloria Corona-Luna was fourth (19:58), Meredith Elstun 11th (20:46) and Emma Cunningham 15th in 20:54. Fifth runner Emily Elstun was 17th in 20:56.
“These girls are competitive one through 10,” Lakota West coach Craig Myers said. “They love to run against people and they love to beat people and that has been a change in mentality for them. It has changed each week as they get better.”
And it was an interesting week, to say the least.
McManus is continuing her return from a broken foot, Elstun is battling blisters and Cunningham is dealing with a death in the family.
“We have all those things,” Myers said. “We need a nice smooth week. The week of district and regionals would be a perfect time for that.”
The Lakota West boys finished fourth in the Division I race with 134 points, behind LaSalle, Elder and Beavercreek.
“That was not bad for the boys,” Myers said. “We did well.”
Josh Oeters led West with a fourth-place finish in 16:41. Freshman Garrett Shelby was 23rd in 17:30.
“Josh was only 10 seconds off his best time and that is good at this course,” Myers said. “He’s a competitor. The big thing is our top five have been the same in each meet.”
Fairfield sophomore Zach Birdsall was top runner, finishing second in 16:33 as the Indians finished sixth with 157 points. Senior Kevin Conrad finished 19th in 17:24.
Junior Alison Coleman’s 10th-place finish in 20:57 helped Waynesville to a fourth-place finish in the girls Division II-III race. Alter won with 19 points.
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