Hoover Roars to Conference Title

1st, 2nd, 4th, PR's, SB's all in this OHC XC Championship Recap......

M.M. Van Winkle

Oct 16, 2022

Cedarville, Ohio

Rachael Hoover

2022 Ohio Heritage Conference Champion

2022 Ohio Heritage Conference Girls Runner of the Year

2022 1st Team All Conference

Fairbanks XC 5k School Record: 19:11.00 @ OHC Championships Oct. 15, 2022

Left to Right: Mara Vicari (1st Team OHC, 8th place), Rachael Hoover (OHC ROY, 1st Team OHC, 1st place), Elaina Lahmers (2nd Team OHC, 10th Place), Addie Thrush (Honorable Mention OHC, 19th Place).

History in the making…….

It was a historic day for the Fairbanks Panthers XC program on Saturday at the Ohio Heritage Conference meet. Autumn leaves and a slight breeze in the air chilled spectators but for Panther fans the morning weather was clearly worth the shiver.

“We knew from the beginning of the season that West Liberty was the team to chase and they showed just how dominant their programs are today,” remarked Coach Van Winkle, “but when the autumn leaves begin to fall we always begin to run our best races and that’s what we focused on today.”

The high school boys race shot out at 9am and a lead pack emerged between West Liberty’s Owen Harrison, Mechanicsburg’s Will Negley and Cedarville’s Caleb Sultan. After 2 miles the leaders Sultan and Negley traded surges as they left Harrison behind. The final hills proved to be the difference as Cedarville’s hometown boy Caleb Sultan ran away with the boys conference title in a time of 16:15.3.

West Liberty's boys took the team title by clogging up the top 20 with 12 runners.

Zeke Gingerich, (22) 18:00.9 Honorable Mention All-OHC, led the way for the Panther boys team followed by Caleb Wenger, (28) 18:38.3 Honorable Mention All-OHC. And then the PR train came rolling to the finish line led by Frosh JJ Meihls, (34) PR 19:05.7, Nathan Parks, (35) PR 19:10.3, Cameron Nisly, (36) PR 19:13.7, Bryce Nisly, (37) PR 19:23.6. Nicholas Powell, (46) 20:07.2, closed out the boys top 7 followed by Nicholas Johnson, (54) 20:53.7, and Tim Staton, (71) PR 28:16.4.

“I took it out fast”, said Zeke of his race “but that’s just how I have to race, I’m the number 1 guy on the team so I have to attack.”

Cam Nisly was pleased with his effort, “It was really great to get a PR. I feel like I’m really getting to understand the 5k. I’m excited to see what I can do at districts.”

“I was worried that Kayden had gotten lost in an un-carved pumpkin so I had to get through the race fast and resume smashing pumpkins!” added Nathan Parks

“It was a season best effort for the boys. It showed with a hand full of PR’s. It’s a stride in the right direction, team time was 18:50 average, that’s a great accomplishment for this team.” noted Coach Van Winkle

The boys finished 4th out of 7 teams.

9:30am it was time for history in the making. West Liberty’s girls still showed their greatness with another conference team title but the best individual of the day was ours truly, Rachael Hoover. Her historic run was the first time in FHS XC program history to have a conference champion.

“We talked about it, and really a lot more in the last 2 weeks”, said Rachael referencing conversations with Coach Van Winkle, “Megan Adams won the last 2 conference titles, she graduated, and so someone had to win it this year. My times have been good lately and I was feeling really good. There are some hills in the last mile of the course, I wanted to be right with the lead pack at that point and kick in the last 400 meters.”

“It was a great race, really both the boys and girls races were awesome. No one ran away with the races early and the late hills were the difference. It was endurance racing and just fun to watch". Van Winkle “It’s been a remarkable run for Rachael over the last couple of weeks. I’m very proud of her.”

The girls team showed up strong too, finishing 2nd overall in the conference. Following Hoovers 1st place finish the girls were lead by a pile of all conference performances and some pr’s starting with Mara Vicari, (8) 20:41.5 PR 1st Team All-OHC, Elaina Lahmers, (10) 20:58.5 2nd Team All-OHC, Addie Thrush, (19) 21:42.5 Honorable Mention All-OHC, Molly Thrush, (33) 23:30.1, Elizabeth Philippo, (47) 25:11.7, Meredith Reinhard, (50) 25:30.9 PR, Marissa Wenger, (62) 29:09.4.

“This team is right up there with the best in school history. It’s exciting to see young runners like Mara (Freshman) run their way onto the 1st team All-OHC. It was great to see Meredith hit a PR today too, she’s worked hard and it payed off.” said Van Winkle.

The Panthers are off to the Division 3 Central District Championships at Hillard Darby High School next Saturday Oct. 22.