Heat Hampers Runners During Invitational Bid
West Milton, OH (September 2, 2004) Snow slows down things for winter sports. Games get cancelled causing athletes' to lose focus and shift adrenaline surges. Heat has the same effect and can put a damper on fall sports. This past Saturday, as the Spartans cross country runners shed pounds during their meet, it's possible all they could think about was the chill of a January day off.
"It was an extremely hot day. The heat index was at 100 degrees," Coach Denny Shepherd said.
The entire team was affected by the overpowering heat especially Mary Clark who really felt the effects of the moist air. She ended up short of the finish line due to heat exhaustion and later recovered as a result of her excellent conditioning.
"The girls' team had two teams of five people, but Mary Clark didn't finish the race because of heat exhaustion. An another one of our girls stopped to help her, so we had two girls out and the officials allowed us to combine our girls into one team," Shepherd mentioned.
"I was with Mary for a half hour so the Brookville coach helped write down times for me. She should be okay though, she has been practicing with us and doing well," Shephard noted.
The Lady Spartans finished in tenth place out of 11 teams. The top three finishers for the girls were Stephanie Reid at 24:59, rookie runner Sara Smith (24:59) and Jessica Markus who finished in 25:26.
"Sara is a new runner this year. It was a pleasant surprise to see her run a 24:59 and it's exciting to see two of my new runners (including Anthony Zani) finish in the top three," Berry stated.
Zani definitely raised the bar on the boys team, finishing with a 19:12 in the Valley View "B" team and providing some insight to the Spartans rookie runners. The "b" team finished in 21st place out of the 23 teams there.
The Spartan "A" team wound up in 11th place and potentially could have finished in eighth or ninth had Zani been running with them.
"The boys ran very well. I had a "B" runner (Zani) that finished the race in 19:12 and if he would've been on the "A" team they would've finished in eight or ninth. It's really encouraging to know that," Shepherd said.
"Anthony was a pleasant surprise. He didn't' run last year and is playing soccer inaddtion to running for us. From now on he'll be running with the "A" team," Shepherd said.
Top finishers for the boys were Jordan Puckett with his time of 18:52, Chris Klingshirn who finished the race in 18:54 and Zani's surprise all time of 19:12.
Shepherd is ready to keep the season moving and he's excited for the added competition brought to the team by having bigger turnout for this season.
"Now that we have 14 boys there is more of a competition between the runners. They want to be on the "A" team and that's making our times faster," Shepherd said.
The Spartans return to action when they travel to Triangle Park to compete against Northridge. Shepherd feels good about the meet and hopes the girls will be able to repeat champions again this year.
"The girls won last year and this year we have some new runners who are making our top three times, so I'm anxious to see what happens. The boys are continuing to improve and I will be pleased to see them take third or fourth place," Shepherd noted.
