FREDERICKTOWN – Holding back a little bit didn’t stop Fredericktown runner Thomas Caputo from doing what he’s done all season— finish ahead of the rest.
Caputo ran a 15:57.42 to finish first out of 117 runners at the Fredericktown-hosted Denny Stevens Invitational on Sept. 29 at Kokosing Dam.
Caputo was coming off a pair of school-record-breaking efforts. He broke it for the first time with a 15:37.8 at a KMAC quad on Sept. 19 and followed that up by running 15:34.05 at Dublin Jerome’s Celtic Clash on Sept. 26.
“I wasn’t really racing for a time on Saturday,” Caputo said. “The defending Division III state champion (Derek Amicon of Grandview Heights) was there. So I was just really looking forward to duking it out with him. One thing led to another and I was right in that time range again.”
With only two days' rest, Caputo and Fredericktown cross country coach Bob Geiger agreed to reign it in a little at Denny Stevens.
“You can’t run all out every single time,” Geiger said.
Caputo, who has finished first in every race this season, ran with teammate Titus Krabill for about two-thirds of the three-mile run before turning it on. He finished about 20 seconds ahead of Mount Gilead’s Michael Snopik (16:18.92).
Both the boys and girls races were run in waves because of COVID-19 restrictions. It made it impossible for onlookers to know who won the race.
“The whole goal was to keep the kids not running in a large group,” Geiger said. “We did, but it made for a confusing race until (we) finally got it all scored out.”
Ultimately, Mount Gilead finished first in both the boys and girls races.
Behind Snopik, Erick Mowery (16:31.47), Brett Shipman (16:38.1) and Reese Supplee (16:47.31) finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, to lead Mount Gilead to a first-place (45 points) team finish out of 16 teams.
Behind Krabill was Evan France (13th, 17:06.14), Grant Shrimplin (15th, 17:12.84) and Xavier Platt (19th, 17:22.87) to help the Freddies finish second with 51 points.
“The first meet we had against them this season, I think we lost by 10 or 15 points,” Caputo said. “(On Sept. 26), we lost by six. We’re definitely making the improvements we need to. I think the biggest thing will be piecing it all together on the right day.”
Nicholas Houck (16:29.86) finished fourth to lead Northridge, which finished third as a team with 159 points.
Centerburg’s Blake Johnson ran 17:11.99 to finish 14th, helping the Trojans (182) to a sixth-place finish.
Joel Roberts (eighth, 16:48.93) and Hunter Bolton (12th, 17:04.34) helped Highland (186) finish seventh.
Utica was eighth with 197 points thanks to Silas Buckenberger (21st, 17:26.87) and Braydon Ricketts (27th, 17:41.72).
Samuel Whitney (31st, 17:50.7) led East Knox (315), which finished 14th.
Mount Gilead’s Allison Johnson (17:47.63) ran away with the girls race, beating teammate Emily Hanft (18:59.73) by more than a minute in a field of 105 runners.
Michaela McGill (fifth, 19:33.58) and Olivia Millisor (eighth, 20:17.31) helped Mount Gilead (54 points) beat the 15-team field in the girls race.
Elsa Hoam (fourth, 19:25.31) led the Freddies (125), who finished second as a team.
Olyvia Ashbrook (sixth, 19:36.08) led Northridge (153) to a seventh-place finish.
Abigail Dickhof (seventh, 19:53.14) and Avery Tucker (11th, 20:19.94) led Centerburg, which finished ninth.
Laura Brubaker (14th, 20:36.94) topped Utica (304), which finished 13th.
Highland (349) finished 14th and was led by Mia White (19th, 20:57.4).
East Knox didn’t have enough runners to compete as a team. But Taylor Severt finished 17th for the Bulldogs with a time of 20:50.83.
