The Marysville High School girls team and Tristan Karnes will compete in the Division I regional cross-country meets on Saturday at Pickerington North High School. Pictured are from left, front row, Katie Krueger, Bryn Hothem, Hannah Alice and Jacquelyn Witt; back row, Leanne Eichorn, Payton Pierce, Karnes, Haley Cook and Haylee Huffman. Not pictured, Jenna Rioch. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
For the fourth consecutive year, the Marysville High School girls cross-country squad will compete in the Division I regional meet.
The Lady Monarchs will take to the course at Pickerington North High School for the race that will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
MHS earned its spot in the regional with a third-place finish at last week’s district competition at Hilliard Darby.
The girls will be followed on the course by Tristan Karnes, who is making his second consecutive trip to the regional.
He will compete at Pickerington North with a 3 p.m. start time on Saturday.
Marysville head coach Luke Sundermeier talked about the girls team and Karnes during a practice session earlier this week.
“The girls have been outstanding with their attitudes, efforts and accountability,” he said. “Cross-country is one of those sports that if you don’t truly enjoy it, you’re going to be miserable.
“These girls enjoy cross-country and have fun,” he said. “However, they also know when it’s time to get down to business.”
Sundermeier said he’s been most impressed with the training the Lady Monarchs went through during the off-season.
“This isn’t a sport in which you can show up the first part of August and say ‘here we go,’” he said. “These girls trained hard all summer to get where they are today.
“It’s easy to see your improvement in cross-country,” the coach said. “You see your improvement very quickly and the girls have received a lot of satisfaction with their improvement.”
There are six MHS girls who have finished races in less than 21 minutes. They include Jacquelyn Witt, Bryn Hothem, Katie Krueger, Jenna Rioch, Haley Cook and Leanne Eichorn.
Those girls will compete in Saturday’s regional.
There is one final spot to fill in the lineup for the meet. That person will come from Hannah Alice, Kayla Michalak, Ellie Nichols, Payton Pierce or Haylee Huffman.
“That final spot is to be determined,” Sundermeier said earlier this week.
The Lady Monarchs placed eighth during last year’s regional and missed qualifying for the state meet by a handful of places.
The top five teams and the top 20 individuals will move on to the final meet of the season at National Trails Raceway near Hebron the following week.
“We want to place in the top five and go to the state meet,” said Witt. “I think we’re in the mix for the top five, so there’s a chance.”
Sundermeier predicts Hilliard Davidson and Thomas Worthington will put on a battle for the top two spots.
“We’re not even going to worry about them,” he said. “We’re just going to be concerned with the third-through fifth places that I feel will be between us, Lancaster, Gahanna, Olentangy Liberty, Olentangy Orange and Worthington Kilbourne.”
Sundermeier feels Karnes has an opportunity to advance to the state meet as the top 20 individuals in the regional will run one more week.
Karnes placed seventh at the district with a time of 16:00.
He is only the second MHS boy to break the 16-minute mark. Earlier this season, he was timed during a race at 15:58.
Alec Sandusky, the school’s boys cross-country record holder, has the best time in school history with a mark of 15:50.
“Tristan recently talked to Alec and received some pointers about running in the regional,” said Sundermeier. “Alex is a pretty good person with which to talk.”
Sundermeier said Karnes’ time won’t necessarily be the most important factor in the race that is supposed to be held in 50-degree temperatures and pouring rain on Saturday.
Sundermeier said that’s good Monarch running weather.
“We like it colder and sloppy,” he laughed.
“It’s all about placement now for Tristan,” said the coach. “It’s being in position to be among the top 20 individuals.
“If Tristan runs a consistent race, he’ll be right there,” said Sundermeier. “He needs to go out hard at the beginning of the race, hang in the pack during the middle and then go all out over the last kilometer.”
“I’d like to finish in the top 15,” said Karnes. “In order to do that, I think I’ll have to run under 16 minutes.”