SPARTA – Fredericktown simply dominated the first Highland Cross Country Invitational in eight years, held Sept. 5.
The first two runners to complete the brand new course— both boys and girls— were Freddies. As a result Fredericktown finished high in the team standings. The boys had 31 points to place first and the girls (65) were second to Big Walnut (53).
Fredericktown senior Thomas Caputo was pleased with the new course, the cooler weather and his top placing ahead of 68 other runners.
“Honestly, the weather helped with my run,” Caputo said. “It makes a big difference with the weather like this.”
Caputo may have started a bit too cautiously, but soon he cut loose and ran to a time of 15:52.18.
“As soon as I felt I wasn't able to run my race, that's when I let myself go and take over from there,” Caputo said. “I let other people get out in front and make their mistakes. Then, I like to set the pace after that.”
Senior Titus Krabill (16:52.04) of Fredericktown placed second, approximately one minute behind Caputo. Highland sophomore Joel Roberts (17:08.61) was third. Evan France (5th) and Xavier Platt (7th) of Fredericktown and Hunter Bolton (6th) of Highland all placed in the top ten. As a team, Highland’s boys (71) placed second. Centerburg (141) was sixth, behind Delaware Hayes (81), Big Walnut (99) and West Holmes (101), and ahead of Olentangy Liberty (165).
“It wasn't too hilly, but there were some hills,” Krabill said. “The course felt pretty fast. I was able to stay with Thomas until about the two-mile mark when he started to get ahead of me.”
Else Hoam, a Fredericktown sophomore, won the girls race handily over 67 other runners. She opened her stride early in the race and completed the course in 19:40.97, well ahead of teammate Emily Van Meter (second, 20:19.84).
“I don't think we got through the first mile and I broke away,” Hoam said. “Around the three-quarter mile mark I was running with Emily. Then I broke away from her in the first one-and-a-half miles. The cool weather really helped. There were a few hills, but overall it was pretty awesome. Today’s run was a PR over this year and last year.”
In the girls team standings, Centerburg (105) was fourth and Highland (107) was fifth behind Delaware (71), and ahead of West Holmes (118) and Philo (183).
The race and the new course were the collective effort of Highland cross country coach Rich Williams and a number of parents, led by Spencer Schade.
"The parents were amazing." Williams said. "They were out on the course, moving cones for me and running the gator. They did a great job. Spencer brought over his skid loader, his tractor and his bush hog, and he spent a lot of time working to make this right."
