Cross Country fans were treated to a packed three-day weekend, with several major post-season events occurring across several states. Current and former WR2 runners represented the Warsaw community very well, with 35 runners competing at four events, and several runners earning Top 20 Honors. The action started on Friday as five former Warsaw runners competed at the collegiate level. Ryun Hoffert and Gabe Klein competed for Grace College at the NCCAA Championships here in Warsaw. Hoffert would finish the 8K race in a time of 27:25, placing 33rd with teammate Gabe Klein placing 59th and clocking a time of 29:15. Later in the day, three former WR2 runners would compete 200 miles west in Norton, Ohio as part of the NCAA D1 Regional Championships. Despite an extremely challenging course with significant elevation changes (hills) Indiana University freshman, Joey Rastrelli was the 5th IU runner, placing 81st and running a career-best time of 21:05 over the 6K course. After three loops of the Women’s race, the course conditions progressively became worse with several areas of sloppy mud for the Men’s 10K. Despite these conditions, both Tyler Swartz (Valparaiso University) and Andrew Potter (University of Evansville) would run career bests, finishing the 10K with times of 33:07 and 35:05, respectively.
Saturday was a double header, opening with Tyler Mimnaugh representing Team Indiana at the Mid-East XC Championships in Kettering, OH. Mimnaugh joined eleven other seniors from Indiana to compete against the top seniors from Ohio and Michigan. Mimnaugh clocked a time of 16:31 as the Indiana All-Stars claimed the team title.
In the afternoon, WR2 brought twelve runners to compete in the Middle School Nike Cross Regional meet with all of them running a 3K race. Nearly every runner ran a career best, with significant improvements compared to their times on the same course just a few weeks earlier. The WR2 Boys group consisted of four runners, just short of enough for a team score. Each of the four runners crushed their prior bests by 30-40 seconds. Spiros Christos showed his grit as he ran to a 12th place, sub 10-minute finish (9:53). Training partners and teammates Eli Swinehart (10:33), Luke VanderBie (10:55) and Magnus Granger (11:08) ran equally impressive improvements over their prior best times.
The girls finished 6th overall as a team, with both Dani Rastrelli (9th, 10:58) and Gracie Boren (10th, 11:00) finishing in the Top 10. Elliot Lock, a sixth grader at Claypool was the third team runner, finishing 73rd overall with a time of 12:08, followed by Jubilee Simfukwe, a fourth grader at Jefferson, placing 103rd with a time of 12:37. The strong performances continued as Anya Puthucode (13:12), Lucy Purdy (13:20), Kinsley Purdy (13:31), and Estelle Jaumard (13:55) all finished with impressive times and strong closes.
The three-day XC weekend concluded on Sunday, with the NXR Midwest meet, also in Terre Haute. This mega-regional meet featured nearly 3,400 runners and over 280 teams from 5 states competing in twelve races. The event started with Kyla Transparenti (59th) and Aubrey Bricker (94th) competing in the Girls Rising Stars race in a field of over 200 runners. Next up was the Girls Open division. Eight runners represented the WR2 club with course conditions, similar to the NCAA regionals, being less than ideal as the rain resulted in muddy, soft conditions. Over seven hundred runners comprised the field and the WR2 crew would again be represented on the podium with two placing in the Top 20. Ella Laput would lead the crew, finishing 15th, with Sammi Rastrelli close behind (18th). The WR2 team finished 7th as a team out 64 teams in the field. The strong team finish was accomplished by solid runs from teammates Eden Metz (103rd), Bryce Eherenman (293rd), Annie Parker (294th), Stephanie Malagon-Juarez (375th), Maddie Lezark (636th), and Hannah Fisher (637th).
Representing Warsaw for the boys, Jaxon Lehman finished 183rd out of nearly 500 runners in the Rising Stars race. In the Boys Open division, the Warsaw team finished 6th, led by Clark Meridew (59th). Tyler Mimnaugh ran to an impressive 102nd place finish after running the day prior. Rounding out the team were Rick Orr (116th), Noah McPhail (119th), Alex Schrock (334th), and Micah Zaugg (548th). This division included over 1,300 runners. Jackson Gackenheimer was the final runner of the day, competing against the best runners across the 5 states. Gackenheimer ran an impressive sub-16 race, finishing 79th in the Championship Division.
With the conclusion of these events, many of these runners will take a well-deserved break before training resumes for the upcoming indoor season. The Grace College runners will be competing once again this Friday in the NAIA National Championships. For additional information on training and the Indoor Track & Field schedule, email [email protected]