Girls cross country takes first at Hilliard Hot Summer Bash

After graduating four seniors from last year’s team that placed third in the state in Division I, many thought the Avon girls cross country team might be in for a rebuilding year.

But in Saturday’s Hot Summer Bash hosted by Hilliard Davidson, the Eagles looked as strong as ever, taking first place against a field that was loaded with some of the top-ranked teams in the state. Eleven of the 16 teams were mentioned in the latest Division I state coaches poll, including three that were ranked in the top six and nine that were ranked in the top 20.

Avon actually has dropped to Division II this year, but that mattered not to the Eagles who scored 117 points to 131 for runner-up Massillon Jackson, which is ranked sixth in the state. Rounding out the top five were No. 11 Springboro with 139, No. 3 Davidson with 145 and No. 4 Gahanna Lincoln with 151. Gahanna Lincoln won the Division I state championship last year and Davidson was second.

Avon, which was ranked sixth in the Division II poll but will certainly move up after this performance, was led by senior Ava Melott, who placed 10th with a time of 19:34.34 over the 5,000-meter course. She was followed by Brooke Tindera (18th in 20:00.09), Molly Suter (25th in 20:18.12), Madison Colaizzi (30th in 20:30.35), Momoka Tanaka (20:40.64), Lauryn Hider (39th in 20:54.66) and Lauren Kershaw (45th in 21:03.21).

“Today was another great day for the Eagles,” said coach Justin Carroll. “It was a little humid and quite muddy, but those variables and circumstances were there for all the teams. The girls continue to push hard and work together and took another step while competing against some of the best teams in the state. Meets like this when it’s not perfect or ideal enable us to focus less on time and more on our mentality to keep the momentum going and compete hard.”

Avon will be in action again on Saturday at the Wooster Invitational.