Girls cross country ties program best by placing third in the state

The four seniors on Avon’s girls cross country team completed their high school careers in fine fashion Saturday, taking third place in the Division I state meet at Fortress Obetz in Columbus. Making their fourth consecutive state appearance, the Eagles tied the best result in program history. Avon finished third behind Gahanna Lincoln with 81 points and Hilliard Davidson with 136. The Eagles had 169 points, and Olentangy Liberty was fourth with 211. “I’m happy,” said coach Justin Carroll. “Our best finish in school history is third place back in 1988, so for them to go from twelfth, sixth, twelfth to third today is just awesome. It takes all of them, you know? The team that we have now, the ups and downs that they faced, they just kept pushing, kept believing. So, I’m very proud of them.” Avon had been ranked fourth in the state for much of the season, but the coaches poll that came out the week of the state meet had the Eagles placed third. “I’m really proud of all of us,” said senior Jessica Pendleton. “I know the coaches poll said some nice things about us maybe placing third, and I’m really proud that we accomplished that today. We’ve all been working super hard at working as a team and being competitive in our pack, and it came together today. But it’s a bittersweet moment because it’s my last high school race. I’m just really happy to be part of a family that’s been so encouraging all these past years.” The Eagles were led by senior Kaitlyn Reese, who placed fifth with a time of 17 minutes, 54.48 seconds. She was backed by Olivia Pejak (49th in 19:24.61), Ava Melott (53rd in 19:29.19), Pendleton (60th in 19:34.85), Madison Colaizzi (63rd in 19:37.27), Molly Suter (77th in 19:44.16) and Julianna Stein (94th in 19:52.57). Reese put herself at the front of the race right from the start. She was fourth at the mile mark (5:30) and third at two miles (11:10) before finally settling into fifth place, which equals her best individual finish of two years ago. In her four years of high school cross country she has been All-Ohio four times, placing 20th, fifth, seventh and fifth. “She did what we talked about, which was put herself in the race and see what happens,” said Carroll. “The state of Ohio, no matter what division, is such a good state for cross country runners. I’m just proud that she continues to put herself out there and race and be comfortable. I respect all of the runners ahead of her, because they’re all great runners. To be All-Ohio four times in cross country I really don’t think is a common thing. Whether she’s fifth or she’s 20th, the fact that she’s done it all four years and three years being in the top seven is something I could never truly be more grateful for.” Typical of the Eagles this season, Reese was up front, and the remainder of the team ran as a pack, starting somewhat slowly and gradually working its way through the field. The gap from the second to the fifth runner was less than 13 seconds, and from 2-7 it was about 28 seconds. “Realistically, we were just trying to be in the top five, just to surpass our sixth-place finish from two years ago,” said Carroll. “Watching the live results and seeing them move up from 15th at 400 meters to finish third in the state, with the teams that are here and are always up there and for us to get there and compete after all these years of building the program, is just awesome. It’s surreal.”