Midwest Meet of Champions
a DyeStat featured meet

DONNA ON THE SIDE in Hilliard OH

Part 1 - Sidelines and Workerbees
Part 2 - Race of Champions
Part 3 - Freshman/Sophomore and Open races
Part 4 - Awards

by Donna Dye

The Midwest Meet of Champions is a great open to the cross country season! Located in the heartland of the country, Hilliard is just outside of Columbus and is "a place for everyone!" says the city's slogan. The city dates back to 1853 when Hilliard was founded by John Reed Hilliard. Today, it's mostly a suburban kind of place with all of the trappings including shopping malls and popular restaurants.

The meet was founded to provide a field for high school runners in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan to test their skills. The course is run on the grounds of the The Church at Mill Run and Mill Run Association, a lovely open, grassy, well landscaped area. Coaches and volunteer parents are in charge, running an efficient well conducted meet that gets better every year.

This year the Hilliard Davidson Cross Country Club scheduled their meet for September 11 in memory of this country's September 11 tragedy and to mark the meet's beginning and tie with that tragic event--the first Midwest Meet of Champions held on September 10, 2001. A moment of silence and inspirational words from Reverand Mann were offered for those lost that awful day. Red, white and blue flags were presented by the American Legion Post #614, to the cadence of the Hilliard Davidson Drum Line and singing of the Star Spangled Banner by the Boys in Blue.

Now on to the Meet

	Master of Ceremonies Bill Righter with his wife and co worker, Julie

The Boys in Blue sang the Star Spangled Banner: (from left) Joe Van Horn, Scott Baker, Jeff Meyers Jr., Ian Bates, Jason Fuller, Jeff Berner, Chris Greiner

Faces on the Side

Sideline Action

Athletes on the Side

Cincinnati Turpin

Cincinnati Colerain: (top left)Maria Doerger, Brittany Detzel, Nina Vaughn, Erin Ragouzis, (bottom left) Mandi McCullah, Bryn Winters, Lydia Kern,
Kate Wharton