And the Thunderhawks aren’t don’t yet.
»RELATED: Thursday’s high school roundup
»RELATED: Thursday’s high school scoreboard
“I know my girls are going in with a lot of confidence,” East coach Adam Thomas said. “That was one thing we worked on a lot this year compared to last year. We knew they were good last year, but the girls didn’t quite believe it themselves. This year they’re another team. They believe, especially now, they could potentially be regional champions.”
The Thunderhawks finished fifth at the D-I regional last season en route to a 10th-place finish at state. On Saturday, the top six teams and top 24 individuals overall advance to next week’s state tournament in Hebron.
East enters ranked No. 2 in the state poll behind Beavercreek. No. 4 Turpin, No. 5 Centerville and No. 6 Mason are also in the Troy region.
One of the Thunderhawks’ biggest victories this season came at the 37-team Midwest Meet of Champions in Hilliard. The team was running its first race without No. 1 runner Carly Spletzer, who was lost for the season with a stress fracture. East responded with an 81-point victory.
“The girls could have gone one of two ways with that news,” Thomas said of losing Spletzer. “Since then, we’ve put five girls where Carly was as that time. It’s really been impressive how they’ve stepped up and filled that void.
“We needed some girls on the team to help the rest believe they could still potentially win a state championship. (Seniors Lindsey Isom and Ali Neumeier) really stepped up their game not only in races but keeping the girls focused on still going after a state championship.”
East’s top five runners have been a combination of Isom and Neumeier, junior Danielle Horter, sophomore Kelsi Harris and freshman Cali Reynolds. Junior Hailey Wilson and sophomore Paxton Oberhaus are also key as the No. 6 and No. 7 runners.
“Our top five is a revolving door right now,” Thomas said, noting Horter led the Thunderhawks with second place overall at the GMC championships and was the team’s fourth runner at district.
“It wasn’t that she ran a bad race, we’re just so strong in our top five that’s just how it shakes out. Any girl could be No. 1 in our top five any given weekend. (Wilson and Oberhaus) keep closing the gap on the top five. They know those spots can be real important especially at a tight race at regionals where it could come down to a tiebreaker. They know they’re not just along for the ride. They hold valuable spots, too.”
At the GMC championships, East ended Mason’s eight-year stranglehold on the title. Horter and Harris finished second and third, respectively — Neumeier tied for fifth, Reynolds was seventh and Isom finished 12th.
Mason actually had six runners across the line before the Thunderhawks’ fifth runner. But East made up the difference with those high finishes, especially placing its first four runners among the top seven overall.
At the district meet, the Thunderhawks placed five runners in the top 10 and all seven finished inside the top 20. They’ll need another effort like that as they face Beavercreek and Centerville, the defending four-time state champions, on Saturday.
“A state championship is our ultimate goal,” Thomas said. “To stay undefeated everything has to go right all year.”
LOCAL REGIONAL QUALIFIERS
Here are the qualifiers from the Journal-News coverage area for the prep regional cross country meet Saturday in Troy:
Boys
Division I
Lakota West: Zach Beneteau, Cole Cronk, John Doyle, Alex Kelker, Tyler Kovac, Carter Rust, Ethan Vaught
Lebanon:Jacob Corbett, Carter Davidson, Sam Duncan, Aaron Guzman, Hunter Neskovski, Joey Shupe, Cavan Staley
Middletown: Conant Smith
Talawanda: Kiefer Bell, David Kraushar
Division II
Badin: Aidan Drake, Owen Mathews, Andy Moore, Mitchell Peel, Mike Rand, Dominic Seigel, Kevin Spade
Madison: Nathan Thobe
Monroe: Andy Garver, Robert Hoegeman, Christian Leach, Wyatt Phipps, Zach Slone, Braden Tarin, Marty Zumbiel
Girls
Division I
Lakota East: Kelsi Harris, Danielle Horter, Lindsay Isom, Ali Neumeier, Paxton Oberhaus, Cali Reynolds, Hailey Wilson
Lebanon: Hope Carr, Hope Erbach, Mia Mantei, Riley McKinney, Lilah Mohler, Megan Palmer, Abby Taylor
Talawanda: Abigail Bahlau, Libby Farmer, Maddy Iden, Hannah Lippincott, Zoe Moore, Eva Motta, Asya Walsh
Division II
Badin: Samantha Caballero, Paige Parrish
Fenwick: Jaina Hellmann, Hannah Tebbe, Rachel Tebbe
Monroe: Lexi Clements, Angelina Griffith, Allison Handorf, Aubri Jones, Emily McMurry, Leslie Purtee, Kaylah Vorhees
Division III
Cincinnati Christian: Kaylene Lunt
Local regional qualifiers
Here are the qualifiers from the Journal-News coverage area for the prep regional cross country meet Saturday in Troy:
Boys
Division I
Lakota West: Zach Beneteau, Cole Cronk, John Doyle, Alex Kelker, Tyler Kovac, Carter Rust, Ethan Vaught
Lebanon:Jacob Corbett, Carter Davidson, Sam Duncan, Aaron Guzman, Hunter Neskovski, Joey Shupe, Cavan Staley
Middletown: Conant Smith
Talawanda: Kiefer Bell, David Kraushar
Division II
Badin: Aidan Drake, Owen Mathews, Andy Moore, Mitchell Peel, Mike Rand, Dominic Seigel, Kevin Spade
Madison: Nathan Thobe
Monroe: Andy Garver, Robert Hoegeman, Christian Leach, Wyatt Phipps, Zach Slone, Braden Tarin, Marty Zumbiel
Girls
Division I
Lakota East: Kelsi Harris, Danielle Horter, Lindsay Isom, Ali Neumeier, Paxton Oberhaus, Cali Reynolds, Hailey Wilson
Lebanon: Hope Carr, Hope Erbach, Mia Mantei, Riley McKinney, Lilah Mohler, Megan Palmer, Abby Taylor
Talawanda: Abigail Bahlau, Libby Farmer, Maddy Iden, Hannah Lippincott, Zoe Moore, Eva Motta, Asya Walsh
Division II
Badin: Samantha Caballero, Paige Parrish
Fenwick: Jaina Hellmann, Hannah Tebbe, Rachel Tebbe
Monroe: Lexi Clements, Angelina Griffith, Allison Handorf, Aubri Jones, Emily McMurry, Leslie Purtee, Kaylah Vorhees
Division III
Cincinnati Christian: Kaylene Lunt
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