Though the result was the much of the same for Olpe’s Sharon Zeller, this year’s individual title at the Northern Heights Cross Country Invitational had a decidedly different feeling.
While Zeller captured first place for the third consecutive year Thursday afternoon at the meet held at The Orchard north of Emporia, Zeller took more pleasure in knowing that she and her teammates had taken the team title after the Olpe girls came in a disappointing fifth last season.
“Compared to last year, this is a lot better,” Zeller said. “It felt really good having my whole team with me this year.”
The Olpe girls had four runners place in the top 7, led by the three-time champion Zeller.
Zeller darted into the lead less than 200 meters into the 2-mile race and never trailed again. Northern Heights’ Amy Lee, who would have been Zeller’s main competition, was sidelined because of hip inflammation, allowing Zeller to run virtually unopposed right from the start.
“I like being able to be in the lead from the beginning,” said Zeller, who finished in a time of 16 minutes, 30 seconds. “It doesn’t always happen like that in every race, but it does make me feel more confident when I get out to a good lead quickly.”
Zeller’s teammate Katelyn Henderson finished second (17:08); Adrian McCollum, a freshman at Madison who is being allowed to run with Olpe during the regular season, came in fourth (17:25); while Nicole Wendling placed seventh (18:26) and Angela Bartley came in 18th to round out Olpe’s scoring.
The Olpe girls finished with 25 team points, well ahead of second-place Council Grove (49), giving the Lady Eagles the team title after a one-year absence.
After a week of below-average temperatures, Thursday’s near-90-degree heat was a thorn in the side of many of the runners and even played a role in deciding the boys 5-kilometer race.
Emporia High’s Lance Sadler — racing with the Spartans’ J.V. team this week instead of varsity because of his sister’s wedding this weekend — led at about the halfway point of the boys race, but had Cornerstone’s Josiah Powell, last year’s champion, on his tail.
Then dry mouth and side cramps took their toll on Sadler’s body, and Powell claimed the lead with about a mile to go. Powell went on to defeat Sadler by 27 seconds with a time of 17:10.
“Going out, I was pretty steady. I had a good tempo for a while, and then my lips started chapping and I was getting a couple cramps,” Sadler said. “I tried staying with him (Powell), but I figured if I had pushed myself too fast, too hard, it would have drained me of some energy.
“I tried slowly picking it up, but he just had a lot of energy. He was really ready to go.”
The top area finisher on the boys side was Northern Heights’ Pete Symmonds, who came in fourth in a time of 18:23.
“I never felt particularly bad during the race ... but I wish I would have done better,” Symmonds said. “My race was not as good as I was hoping for.”
The Osage City boys took home the team title after placing second a year ago, earning 50 team points to beat out Olpe, which totalled 78 points.
Northern Heights Invitational
Thursday at The Orchard
Girls
Team Scores
1. Olpe 25, 2. Council Grove 49, 3. Osage City 51, 4. Cornerstone Family 103, 5. Mission Valley 105.
Individual Results
1. Sharon Zeller, Olpe, 16:30; 2. Katelyn Henderson, Olpe, 17:08; 3. Emily Frese, Council Grove, 17:25; 4. Adrian McCollum, Olpe, 18:03; 5. Jenny Neuenschwander, Lyndon, 18:13; 6. Cally Aspegren, Osage City, 18:22; 7. Nicole Wendling, Olpe, 18:26; 8. Lauren Portner, Osage City, 18:48; 9. Cara Spencer, Lyndon, 18:54; 10. Gesina Miller, Northern Heights, 18:58.
Boys
Team Scores
1. Osage City 50, 2. Olpe 78, 3. Cornerstone Family 85, 4. Northern Heights 95, 5. Emporia J.V. 153, 6. Council Grove 168, 7. Herington 175, 8. Lyndon 183, 9. Mission Valley 204, 10. Highland Park 254.
Individual Results
1. Josiah Powell, Cornerstone, 17:10; 2. Lance Sadler, Emporia, 17:37; 3. Jordan Wittman, Council Grove, 18:14; 4. Pete Symmonds, Northern Heights, 18:23; 5. Blake Stoppel, Osage City, 18:35; 6. Richard Woodward, Osage City, 18:42; 7. Dylan Filburn, Lyndon, 18:56; 8. Chris Seematter, Northern Heights, 19:01; 9. Tyler Bartee, Osage City, 19:11; 10. Todd McFall, Cornerstone, 19:13.