Ross’ McKela Elder crosses the finish line of the Norm Bray Invite.
FREMONT – Ross’ cross country teams are split pretty much right down the middle.
On the one side are the returning runners, all of whom coach John Elder knows exactly what to expect.
Then there are the new, young runners, all of whom Elder is hoping will prove his suspicion that they can quickly adapt themselves to the varsity-level three-mile distances.
The Little Giant cross country teams made their season debut Saturday morning hosting the Norm Bray Invitational at Walsh Park. Elder’s returning veterans, Matt Kuyken, Ethan McClory and McKela Elder all turned in top-five finishes. And the youngsters gained valuable experience as the teams build toward the district meet.
“Always, at some point in the race, you doubt why you’re even doing it,” John Elder said. “You have to remember that you run further than this in practice every day, just not as fast. It’s mind over matter. We train everything below the neck, you have to train yourself above the neck.”
Ross’ Matt Kuyken runs alongside Bowling Green’s Zach Applegate in the Norm Bray Invite.
Sophomore McKela Elder finished fifth overall in the girls’ race, and was the first runner to finish not from Notre Dame Academy. Elder’s time of 20 minutes, 48 seconds was a new personal best at Walsh Park. Not bad considering her participation in band has limited her time to train.
“I feel like I did OK, for the first meet, considering I had band camp and I wasn’t able to train as hard I could have,” said Elder, who plays clarinet. “We get up at 6 in the morning and from 7 to 1 p.m. we’re marching and practicing playing on the field.
“Band camp is over now, so I now I can focus on training.”
Of Ross’ next five finishers, four were freshmen and the fifth just a sophomore. Freshman Ashanti Elkins finished 21st with a time of 23:32 with sophomore Alexis Prenzlin coming in three seconds later.
“I’m really impressed with our No. 2 runner, Ashanti Elkins,” John Elder said. “Lexi Prenzlin is my No.3, I thought she’d be No. 2 but she did what I thought time-wise. They’ll keep going forward.”
Freshmen Bryanna Schermerhor and Mara Brown came in back-to-back at 35th and 36th place with times of 24:29 and 24:23 respectively. Lauren Zimmerman, yet another freshman, finished in 25:10, senior Santina Minor ran in 25:52 and sophomore Kayla Glotzbecker followed at 25:53.
“We had no idea how’d they’d look today and they looked pretty good,” Elder said of his freshmen running their first races. “They’ve never ran cross country before so it was their first meet ever, so there was a lot of nerves, ‘I have no idea how I’m going to do, how do I run this race?’ That was real encouraging.”
Ross cross country coach John Elder speaks with (from right to left) Mara Brown, Ashanti Elkins and Madalyn Metcalf following the girls’ race at the Norm Bray Invite.
On the boys’ side of things, Kuyken, who entered the morning looking to break 17 minutes, surpassed his expectations with a time of 16:25.
“It’s a great start to the season,” Kuyken said. “I ran the first mile just as I was hoping to, but I got off a little bit, but we’ll work on that over the season. Not in the best shape yet, I didn’t have that endurance factor quite yet.”
McClory finished soon after Kuyken, finishing fifth with a time of 16:44, upping his personal-best by 40 seconds. McClory ran 25 to 30 miles a week this summer to help him achieve his goal of qualifying for the state meet this year.
“I run a lot. I run almost every day,” McClory said. “I was five places away (from qualifying for the state meet last year). The Tiffin Carnival, the hill, it caught me off guard. I’m doing a lot of hill training.”
Junior Keaton Jordan finished third for Ross, 30th place overall, in a time of 18:21 while sophomore Zach Edmonds ran in a time of 18:40.
Sophomores Jayden Scott and Cody Farrier clocked in at 18:56 and 19:13, respectively, while freshman Brayden Darr ran in 19:40.
“We have five spots (behind Kuyken and McClory) for the next eight or nine kids and I thought it looked like that today,” Elder said of his boys team. “Keaton Jordan was our third runner and I’m pretty confident he can stay our third runner, four through seven could change up, which is great, it means we have depth.”
The cross country teams return to the course next Saturday at the Ashland Invite.