AW Cross Country Teams To Advance To Regionals

BY KEVIN O’CONNOR | CROSS COUNTRY COACH — Last Saturday was a terrific team day as both the girls and boys Anthony Wayne cross country teams finished as runners-up in the district championship meet at Scream Acres/Leaders Farm.

Both teams will advance to this Saturday’s regional meet in Tiffin.

The girls races kicked off the day, as the girls ran smart, strong races to finish as the district runner-up. 

Senior Ana Karmol led the way with her best run of the season and a terrific fourth-place run in a time of 19:01. Sophomore Amelia O’Connor came through next for the team, finishing 14th with a personal best of 20:20.

Senior Ella Karmol (20:51.61), senior Cari Varner (20:54.59) and junior Brandy Outly (21:04.57) ran well as a pack to round out the top five and place all five of AW’s scoring runners in the top 22.

Varner had her best run of the season and Outly set a new personal best.

Sophomore Maddy Jones (21:30.38) and freshman Marina Humphrey (21:47.37) made an impact as well by finishing ahead of Bowling Green’s fifth runner to increase the Bobcats’ score and finish ahead of scoring runners from Northview and Southview.

It was a really good team day for the girls, who were 25 points ahead of the third-place Bobcats.  

This is the sixth consecutive year the girls have advanced to the regional meet and the eighth time in the last nine years. The girls have developed a tradition of consistent excellence and work on that every day.

Boys

For the second week, the boys showed they are not afraid to tangle with the best. 

Sophomore Connor Long (16:20.26) and juniors Aiden Lengel (16:31.03) and Matt Dittus (16:48.18) ran well up front to fuel the boys to a district runner-up title and punch a ticket to the regional meet for the second consecutive year after they went from 2006 to 2019 without qualifying.

Rory Smith (17:05.23) and Connor Neumeyer (17:50.69) both used strong kicks to finish ahead of scoring runners from other competitive teams.

The boys finished a mere five places from a district championship.  

Both teams should gain confidence from these terrific team runs as they head into this week’s regional meet.

“It was great to see so many seasons bests by our runners, on both teams, and the smiles that go along with those results after working hard all summer and fall,” said AW coach Kevin O’Connor.

“Twelve of our 14 runners put up seasons bests and 10 of the 14 ran career personal records last weekend. That’s hitting your stride at the right time. And a big part of the fun day was seeing so many teammates out to cheer on the varsity squads.”