Dalton girls cross country 2nd in WCAL; boys 3rd
PHOTOS BY GRACE GREER
Earlier this month, Dalton’s cross country teams competed at the invitational in Orrville.
By Ariel Stahler
Gazette & News sports writer
Dalton High School’s girls cross country team placed second Oct. 15 at the Wayne County Athletic League championships and the boys came in third.
Now, the goals are to stay calm and motivated and continue to improve like they have all season as they head into the Division III District meet Oct. 22 at Lorain Community College.
“To prepare for Districts, we’ll be going to Lorain County Community College to look at the course to see how best to run it,” said Dalton’s head cross country coach Jodi Augspurger. “We’ll strategize a bit about our competition and determine the best ways to stay calm and motivated.”
In the girls team race, Norwayne came in first followed by Dalton. Waynedale finished third, Rittman was fourth and Chippewa placed fifth. For the individual results, Emberlynn Nolt came in 7th overall with a time of 20:03.42. Samantha Thiel was 12th at 21:21.15 and Mackenna Thiel placed 13th at 21:26.77. Brianna Chenevey finished 16th with a time of 21:46.99. Ava Fivecoat came in 18th place at 21:56.23. Analeia Hershberger was 20th at 22:22.37. Myah Lehman (22:51.92) and Kendel Nussbaum (23:01.94) were 25th and 26th, respectively. Janae Hostetler was 31st with a time of 24:06.23. Jordan Nussbaum finished 39th at 25:38.37.
“For the girls team, we are very satisfied with our WCAL results,” Augspurger said. “Finishing second is what we had worked toward. Looking forward, we’re hoping we can do just as well this coming Saturday and advance out of Districts. The WCAL is very competitive and it’s highly conceivable that the top four girls teams from the WCAL will also be the top four finishers of the 22 teams at Districts.”
In the boys team race, Rittman took the top spot, followed by Waynedale, Dalton, Smithville and Northwestern. Carson Steiner was 5th in the individual results at 17:06.00. Caleb Hofstetter finished 7th with a time of 17:15.43. Judah Hershberger was 18th at 18:14.36. Ely Hutson placed 21st with a time of 18:17.29. Jacob Fink finished 31st at 19:20.82. Kaydin Fone came in 55th place at 22:36.97. Tristan Turner placed 61st with a time of 24:04.89. Nolan Miller finished 63rd at 27:51.23.
“We’re satisfied with our third place finish, but we’re hoping to be able to close and pass Waynedale at Districts,” Augspurger said. “If everything falls correctly, we could advance out of Districts, but we’d have to perform as well there as, if not better than, we did at the WCAL. It’ll be tough to advance, but not impossible given the way our athletes have been improving this season.”
