(November 1st, 2014)-COLUMBUS: Against a field of 147 of the elite runners in Ohio’s Division II, Quintin Reiser outran all but three of them.
Earning an invitation to the State Cross Country Meet in Columbus, Reiser was the lone Indian runner in his race. Not deterred or intimidated by that fact, the Wauseon senior excelled on the biggest stage. With a fourth place finish, he completed the course in 16:03. For comparison’s sake, the third place finisher ran a 16:00 flat, while second came in at 15:59.94, and the winner of the race turned in a 15:44.
Competing as a unit, the Wauseon girls also attended the Division II State Meet. With a tenth place finish as a unit, the Lady Indians had a respectable showing at the highly competitive meet. In particular, Taylor Vernot performed exceptionally well, finishing in third place amongst 137 of the state’s top runners. Her time of 18:37 was just 20 seconds slower than that of the first place finisher in the race, who put up an 18:17.
Aleea Volkman was the next Lady Indian to cross the finish line, doing so at 19:52, good for fifty-first place. Her sister, Aneesa Volkman, came in sixtieth place, running a 20:08.26, finishing less than a second ahead of two other runners to earn the distinction. Teammate Seneca Wyse claimed seventy-ninth place, thanks to a time of 20:32. Amanda Stutzman rounded out the scoring for Wauseon, finishing in 116th place at 21:47.
Fayette’s Skylar Lantz took part in the Division III Boys Meet, finally making it to Columbus after three years of coming up just shy of qualifying. The senior made the most of his last opportunity at State glory, taking home a thirty-sixth place finish against 148 of the best Ohio Division III runners. Lantz ran a 16:50 to accomplish such a feat.
A pair of Lady Blackbirds ran in the State Division III girls heat as well. Alexa Leppelmeier, only a sophomore for Pettisville, laid claim to sixtieth place against 142 strong runners. She clocked in at 20:16. Freshman Nichole Foor also ran in the race, earning a seventy-sixth place finish with a time of 20:37.