 |
DyeStat Ohio
Cross Country State Meet
"the year of St. Xavier" -
3 for 3 in battle of Northbend Road
Cincinnati St. Xavier boys beat Cincinnati LaSalle for the "Battle of North Bend Road" as well as the state Division I championship besting the Lancers 66-99.
LaSalle's Alan Bader won the race in 15:21 but the strength of the St. X pack proved to be too much for LaSalle to overcome.
Cincinnati Colerain girls won their fourth consecutive Division I Ohio state title on Saturday easily outdistancing runner-up Hilliard Davidson.
results from www.ohsaa.org
Detailed Results
Division
1
Boys: Cincinnati St. Xavier 66; Allan Bader, LaSalle, 15:
Girls: Cincinnati Colerain 73; sr Lindsay Zinn, Lakota East 17:42
Division
2
Boys: Napoleon 110; sr Jacob McCauley, Springfield Greenon 15:39
Girls: Beaumont Cleve Hts 99; jr Abbey Reeser, Circleville 18:17
Division
3
Boys: Girard 61; sr Brian Olinger, W Lafayette Ridgewd 15:30
Girls: fr Sunni Olding 18:17 and Minster 85
Highlights
ROUND 3 by Scotty Cotter
Columbus, OH-Many cross-country fans in Ohio would argue that the toughest prediction in November had nothing to do with Gore or Bush. It had nothing to do with who would reign on Pennsylvania Avenue. The question was, who was going to be the King of Northbend Road? Was it Cincinnati St. Xavier, the top-ranked team in Ohio and 20th in the nation? Or was it their rival neighbor Cincinnati LaSalle, 2nd in Ohio and 24th in the nation?
The teams met twice this year, first at the Greater Catholic League Championships, and then again at the Southwest Ohio Regional Meet. The first time St. X won in dominating fashion, with a 23-46 whirlwind victory over their counterparts. Whispers in LaSalle's camp claimed they were not healthy, and one runner even guaranteed victory at the Regional and State meets. LaSalle closed the gap at the Regional meet, losing by only a 13-point (49-62) margin to St. Xavier. It was obvious the Lancers were peaking at right time, but would it be enough to best St. Xavier the third time around?
LaSalle junior Allen Bader was the clear favorite to win individually after running a 4:15 mile as a sophomore. But Andy Wietmarschen, a senior from St. Xavier, had other ideas. At the Greater Catholic League Championships Wietmarschen took Bader within inches of being beaten for only the third time this season (the first two were to Ritzenhein and J. Jefferson), barely losing to Bader's 15:24 5k with a time of 15:25. At Regionals, under instructions from his coaches, Wietmarschen ran for second in a cool 15:47 and Bader blew away the field in 15:26. Could Wietmarschen climb the mountain? Or would Bader join Steve Padgett as the second LaSalle runner in as many years to claim the individual state championship?
Conditions could not have been better. The sun was out, the temperature was in the mid-50's, with little to no wind blowing across the short, green grass. LaSalle marched to the starting line glistening in their red warm-ups� the challenger entering the ring first. And then came the roar that was St. Xavier's entourage. Nearly one hundred crazed, shirtless students, painted in the Xavier blue and white colors, along with many more alumni and fans erupted with cheering at the emergence of St. Xavier. They marched to the starting line seven across; wearing sleek black warm-ups with blue trim� the heavyweight champions of Ohio. The contenders got their final instructions, LaSalle stripped down to their white uniforms with red trim while St. X sported blue uniforms with white trim. Round 3 in the battle of Northbend Road was about to begin�"Let's get ready to RUMBLE!"
Bader roared from the gun, grabbing the lead by the 400m mark, and blazing through the mile in well under 4:45. Wietmarschen was close behind, keeping up with the pace along with several other runners. Team wise, the end of the first mile was too close to tell who was ahead, but certainly St. Xavier and LaSalle were in position to take the crown.
By the two-mile the champions had asserted themselves. Bader refused to let up, and pulled away from the rest of the field. He crossed the finish line in a blistering 15:21, establishing himself as a favorite to run in Orlando later this year. LaSalle followed Bader, scoring a stellar 99 points. As a rule of thumb scoring 100 points or less in the boys division 1 race will win a team a state championship.
Unfortunately for corporate coach Frank Russo and the rest of LaSalle, this was not just any year. This was the year of St. Xavier. Scoring an extraordinary 66 points, the lowest in the states 5,000-meter history, St. X established themselves as the greatest team ever in Ohio. Their average 5k time of 16:00 broke the old state record of 16:06 held by Cleveland St. Ignatius. These staggering statistics, along with the mention that St. Xavier's top 3 runners were under 15:47, leaves little debate that they are the 3rd best team in the Midwest (behind Rockford and Novi) and definitely a top 10 team na tionally. The dynasty that has had a state-qualifier 14 years in a row, with championships in 1998 and 2000, along with a runner-up in 1999, can be credited largely to the coaching staff of Larry Merkel, Mike Dehring, Dave Eby, Dougbo Pelzel, Steve Rasso, and Gil Wendling among others.
Certainly many congratulations to Allen Bader and LaSalle, who undoubtedly would be team champions almost anywhere else and are certainly worthy of a high national ranking. And as for St. Xavier's Magnificent 7: Andy Wietmarschen, Tim King, Ryan Busse, Nick King, Ben Wietmarschen, Jeremy Mosher and Tommy Balmat, who raced to the medal stand and into the records books this past Saturday, you have the distinction of being members of the greatest team Ohio has ever seen.
