Girls cross country places fourth in Division II state championships

OBETZ, Ohio—It’s a stretch that’s become known as The Gauntlet.

While most cross country runners around the state are running on flat, fast courses and posting eye-opening times, the Avon Eagles are forced to face The Gauntlet, a postseason stretch that sees the Southwestern Conference meet at Lorain County Community College, the district meet at LCCC and the regional meet at Boardman. LCCC is the most challenging course that feeds into Boardman, which is the most challenging course that feeds into the state meet.

As is often the case with a gauntlet, either you beat it or it beats you. Running in the state meet for the fifth consecutive year, Avon beat the gauntlet, using it to prepare for the state championships held Saturday at Fortress Obetz in suburban Columbus.

The Eagles didn’t appear sharp in the district and regional meets, placing second each race. Coach Justin Carroll attributed some of that to dealing with The Gauntlet. Then, they exceeded expectations in the state meet, placing fourth in the Division II race.

“I just think it’s because of the gauntlet we have with LCCC twice and then Boardman,” Carroll said. “But in the end, the state meet’s the big picture, and I’m just glad they stepped up despite the last few weeks. They ran their best when it mattered most. We embrace (the gauntlet). It’s difficult, but we got to run some faster courses during the regular season for that reason. To do that gauntlet and then have teams like us, Westlake and St. Joe’s rise like that, it’s awesome.”

Avon entered the meet ranked sixth in the final state coaches poll. St. Joseph Academy was ranked 11th and Westlake was placed 13th. All three ran in the district at LCCC and then Boardman. In addition, Aurora, which won at Boardman, was ranked second in the poll and pulled off the upset of the day, taking down defending champion Columbus Watterson by 19 points, 80-99. Big Walnut was next with 192, followed by Avon (202), Fremont Ross (234) and Westlake (247). St. Joseph Academy was 10th, meaning four of the top 10 teams in Division II went through The Gauntlet.

The Eagles were ranked No. 2 in the state for much of the season, which was very lofty status for a team that graduated four seniors from last year’s squad that placed third in Division I.

“I know where we were ranked all season, but ultimately with the rebuild and all that, the goal was to be top five,” Carroll said. “So, to be 10 points away from third is awesome. All season they bought in, and they put themselves out there. There were no what-ifs today. They did what we asked and I’m so proud of them. I felt everyone did what we thought could do. There’s always what-ifs, but the what-is is that we got fourth today, and that’s awesome.”

Ava Melott led the Eagles across the finish line, earning second team All-Ohio status by placing 25th with a time of 18 minutes, 51.4 seconds. She was backed by Brooke Tindera (54th in 19:22.6), Madison Colaizzi (56th in 19:23.8), Molly Suter (73rd in 19:36.8), Momoka Tanaka (99th in 19:56.7), Lauren Kershaw (110th in 20:01.4) and Molly Pomfrey (162nd in 20:38.0).

“We’ve been training for this all season, and I was just so happy to be a part of the journey all four years that I was on the team,” Melott said. “I’m really proud of how far I’ve come since freshman year. I know from the way that I finished that I really left it all out there. Coming in, we were definitely thinking top five. That’s definitely what we wanted, and we feel good about getting it.”

Melott and Pomfrey are the only seniors who competed in Columbus, putting Avon in a strong position to perhaps make the state meet for a sixth consecutive time next year.