Eagles soar over the cross country competition at Celtic Clash
Avon’s girls cross country team traveled to Columbus Saturday for the Celtic Clash at Dublin Jerome High School, and despite the fact that the meet was a mud fest, the Eagles dominated the proceedings.
There were three races held—one for varsity, one open race for 9th- and 10th-graders, and one open race for 11th- and 12th-graders, and Avon took two firsts and a second.
In the varsity race, the 23-team field included six teams ranked in last week’s Division I state coaches poll and four teams ranked in Division II, and the Eagles beat them all handily. Avon scored 69 points to 99 for both Jerome and Gahanna Lincoln, the defending Division I state champions. Upper Arlington was next with 107, followed by Big Walnut (120) and Wadsworth (192).
Avon entered the meet ranked No. 2 in Division II, while Big Walnut was ranked fifth and Wadsworth was 10th. In the Division I poll, Upper Arlington was second, and Gahanna Lincoln was seventh.
“Given the teams that were here and the weather and the circumstances, I’m proud of the way the girls competed and battled today,” said coach Justin Carroll. “The conditions were not ideal for anyone, but they continue to find ways to improve on their pack running and working together. Despite all the mud and puddles, they stayed true to our goal of staying together as a pack.”
As has been the case all season, Ava Melott led the Eagles with a ninth-place finish with a time of 21 minutes, 46.19 seconds over the sloppy 5,000-meter course. In general, the runners for Avon were about 2½ minutes slower than usual because of the conditions. Melott was followed closely by Brooke Tindera (12th in 21:48.77), Molly Suter (15th in 22:07.05), Madison Colaizzi (18th in 22:12.25), Molly Pomfrey (20th in 22:25.82), Lauryn Hider (29th in 22:51.06) and Lauren Kershaw (33rd in 22:58.61).
In the 9/10 open race, Avon scored 31 points to 95 for Olentangy Liberty. In the 11/12 open race, Avon placed just two points behind winner Jerome with 68 points.
Next Saturday the Eagles will head south again, but not quite so far, as they will compete in the Todd Clark Invitational hosted by Cloverleaf but held at Silver Creek Metro Park in Norton.
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