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OREGON – And now it’s getting serious for the Fremont Ross cross country teams.

All season the Little and Lady Giant cross country teams have been keeping an eye on the end of the season, what coach John Elder calls, “the championship season.”

Having competed Saturday in the TRAC championship meet, the Championship Season has arrived and room for error goes away.

“Getting ready for districts, we talked about trying to push the pace a little more to see what happens and if things don’t work out, it really doesn’t mean that much in the grand scheme of things, because we’re still going to run next week,” Elder said. “Next week we have to put it together and run the race we want to run.”

Ross’ runners pushed the pace Saturday with mixed results. While their top runners continued to excel as they have much of the season, the next level of runners cross the finish line a little later than Elder had hoped for.

The boys team finished fourth with 85 points, four points behind St. John’s and 35 behind second-place St. Francis, while the Lady Giant placed fifth with 141 points.

“I was expecting (the boys) to be third and closer to St Francis than we were,” Elder said. “…Like the boys, had a couple girls run a little better, we could have come in fourth place.”

Ethan McClory turned in Ross’ highest finish of the day, placing fourth in the boys’ race with a time of 16:58. Zach Edmonds finished shortly after McClory, with a time of 17:23, finishing sixth.

As next week’s district meet will have the top 16 runners advance to the regional, McClory and Edmonds are right where they want to be.

“I was expecting them both to be top 7 and they did,” Elder said. “I was kind of hoping we could get a couple kids in the next seven but that didn’t happen.”

Brayden Darr (18th place, 18:29), Isaias Ortiz (26th, 18:43) and Noah Egbert (31st, 19:00) rounded out the scoring for the Little Giants. While Saturday’s TRAC meet was a bit disappointing, Elder believes the Little Giants will be right in the mix to advance beyond next weekend’s district meet.

“If we run well, we’ll make it out,” Elder said. “But we have to run well.

“Ashland will be in the race and Ashland is probably the best team in the region,” he added. “Southview, Norwalk, Defiance and us, there is of four of us fighting for the next three spots and it’s up for grabs. It’s a good race for us to be in. It’s there for the taking, we just have to run.”

The Lady Giants were again led by McKela Elder, whose time of 20:10 placed her fifth. Freshman Allison Taylor finished just inside the top 20, with a time of 21:54.

AnneMarie Moses clocked a time of 23:26, placing her 36th, Grace Egbert placed 40th in a time of 24:41 and Mekenna Englund finished in 24:58 for 41st.

“The girls team will have to run beyond what they’ve been doing to make it out of next week’s race,” John Elder said. “It’s the outside of outside shots for the girls. McKela we’re expecting and Allison we’re hoping.”

The boys will run next Saturday at 3 p.m. and the girls at 4:20 at the Owens Community College campus in Findlay.

Given the district is being held on the same course Ross ran on earlier this season at the Van Buren Invite, where most of the Little Giants ran their best times of the year, Elder is hoping that positive experience will give his runners a mental edge going into the race. Add in the fact several runners are also members of the marching band, Elder believes his team runs better in the afternoon, as opposed the first thing in the morning after a football game.

“I’m kind of hoping, since we run in the afternoon on Saturday, we can sleep in and not be rushed in the morning, take our time and be in a good frame of mind,” Elder said. “We’ll see.”

 

Cross Country TRAC Championship

BOYS RESULTS

Team finish: Whitmer 35, St. Francis 50, St. John’s 81, Fremont Ross 85, Findlay 114, Clay 173, Central Catholic 187.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

4 Ethan McClory, 16:58

6 Zach Edmonds, 17:23

18 Brayden Darr, 18:29

26 Isaias Ortiz, 18:43

31 Noah Egbert, 19:00

33 Jayden Scott, 19:08

40 Ivan Starkweather, 19:29

 

GIRLS RESULTS

Team finish: Notre Dame 47, St. Ursula 63, Findlay 73, Clay 83, Whitmer 134, Fremont Ross 141, Central Catholic 188, Lima Senior 236

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

5 McKela Elder, 20:10

19 Allison Taylor, 21:54

36 AnneMarie Moses, 23:26

40 Grace Egbert, 24:41

41 Mekenna Englund, 24:58

44 Madalyn Metcalf, 26:05

45 Ashanti Elkins, 26:30

 
BOYS GOLF
BOYS SOCCER
CHEERLEADING
CROSS COUNTRY
FOOTBALL
GIRLS GOLF
GIRLS SOCCER
GIRLS TENNIS
VOLLEYBALL
BOYS BASKETBALL
GIRLS BASKETBALL
SWIMMING & DIVING
BOYS WRESTLING
BOWLING
BASEBALL
BOYS TENNIS
SOFTBALL
TRACK & FIELD
CHEERLEADING
GIRLS WRESTLING
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