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November 4, 2004
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November 4, 2004 |
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After winning XC regional title, YSHS harriers set eyes on state
Last week, it seemed that things couldn’t get much better for the YSHS boys cross country team, which won the John Bryan Invitational, the Metro Buckeye Conference title and the Division III Springfield district championship in the span of eight days. But the team reached a new level when the unranked Bulldogs upset Versailles, ranked second in the state, to win the first cross country regional championship for YSHS at the Troy regionals on Saturday. Running in 35-mile-an-hour wind, the Bulldogs finished with 37 points, far ahead of Versailles, which placed second with 83 points, and third-place finisher New Bremen with 104. The three teams advanced to the state championships, which take place on Saturday, Nov. 6, at Scioto Downs, 6000 South High Street in Columbus. The boys Division III race begins at 11 a.m. The Bulldogs were not favored to win. With a freshman, a sophomore, a junior and two seniors as the top five of eight runners, the team is one of the youngest and smallest teams in the region. Only one of the team’s runners advanced beyond the district level last year, and the Yellow Springs cross country team hasn’t been to state in 20 years. The Bulldogs were led by sophomore Sam Borchers, who won the regional meet in 16:55, 10 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Dan McCracken of Anna. Borchers’s time wasn’t his best this season, he said, but he reasoned his way to first place. Starting out with a pack of 16 runners, he waited until McCracken broke away at the first-mile mark and drafted behind him. Just past the two-mile mark, with the wind at his back, Borchers kicked ahead of McCracken and kept steaming ahead to the finish. “Sam is just a sophomore, and he’s inexperienced, but I know he’s got it in him,” coach Vince Peters said. “He was incredibly patient, and then when he went, he really caught everyone by surprise.” Senior David Warren and freshman Andy Peters ran together for most of the race, drafting when they could until they both took off in the last stretch. Warren finished 12th in 17:29, with Peters right behind in 13th in 17:35. Junior Carey Dixon had such a strong finish, passing six runners in the final mile, that he tripped just yards from the finish line and clawed his way over the line to place 15th in 17:44. Senior Jeremy Upton, who joined the team three weeks ago as the crucial fifth man, finished 30th in 18:09. Sophomore Andy Sontag finished 82nd in 20:05, and junior Matt Halm was 105th in 22:15. After the race, Andy Peters jabbed his teammates in the excitement of their unprecedented win. “I thought it was possible for us to qualify for state, but then we got Jeremy and I thought we could win it,” he said. Coach Peters, who has been waiting 20 years for this type of accomplishment, was so excited he allowed his team to drench him in the Miami River to avenge themselves after months of early Sunday morning workouts. Though YSHS came into the race with a strategy, coach Peters was impressed with his runners’ execution of the plan. “It’s incredible how smart our guys ran,” he said. “It was a thrill watching them pass Versailles’ guys.” At the state meet this weekend, Coach Peters thinks that the Bulldogs will do well. They’ll be watching Cortland Maplewood, which won the state title last year, and McDonald, which had five runners place in the top 25 in their regional competition this year. But McDonald ran in the pouring rain and high winds, and there is no way to compare different courses, Peters said. “Our best shot is as a team,” he said. “If we run well as a team, the individual honors will come.” As the Bulldogs congratulated each other on Troy’s levee, they took their shoes off to relax and celebrate their victory. “Shoes on!” Peters demanded. “You’ve still got one more race.” In the girls competition, Tina Peters, the only YSHS girl to qualify for regionals, passed five runners to finish 39th in 22:05.
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