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As you drive by your local
high school early in the fall, shortly after the
beginning of the school year, you may often see a group
of boys and/or girls running through the neighborhood in
shorts and t-shirts or old sweatshirts. Contrary to
popular belief, these are not escapees from a late
afternoon gym class looking for a nearby ice cream
shoppe. These are the members of the school�s cross
country team out for their daily workout (and possibly
that ice cream shoppe later). In today�s world of high
tech training regimens and workouts in the weight room,
getting into shape for cross country pretty much comes
down to the basics � simply running long distances to
build up one�s stamina and work on some speed.
Cross country running
involves racing over a variable terrain such as hills or
wooded areas. At the high school level, this quite
often means running through a local golf course or
similar open area. In Ohio, the official distance for
cross country competition has ranged between two and
three miles, but since 1982 the official distance, for
both boys and girls, has been set at 5,000 meters, or
approx. 3.1 miles.
Cross country is essentially
a team sport. At a race, each team consists of six or
seven runners, but only the scores of the first five
finishers are used to determine the team�s overall
score. Like golf, this is a sport in which the low
score wins. Each runner is assigned a score based on
how he finishes, i.e., first place gets one point,
second place gets two points, etc. In the event of a
tie, the score of the sixth place finisher for each team
is used to determine the winner.
At the annual state meet,
individual runners with qualifying times are allowed to
compete, even though their team may not have qualified.
From 1960 through 1984 these individual qualifiers ran
in a separate race, but now everyone runs in the same
race and separate awards are given to the team and
individual winners.
The boys cross country state
tournament began in 1928, with all qualifying schools
running in a single class. From 1966-1969 the schools
were divided into two classes, A and AA, and then into
three classes, A-AA-AAA, from 1969-1989, when the
classes were renamed Division I-II-III. In the �one
class� days of 1928-1965, the sport was dominated by the
bigger schools from the northern part of the state.
Lakewood started this �trend� by winning the first two
meets in 1928 and 1929, and the championship tended to
stay up north after that. Schools like Akron North (5
championships), West Tech (4) and John Adams (3) of
Cleveland, Lakewood High School (4) and Toledo�s Scott
High School (3) were all major factors in the cross
country competition of the day. With the division of
the schools into various classes in 1966, the
championships have spread throughout the state, with no
one area really dominating, although individual schools
still manage to have their �day� as it were.
The most successful school
in Ohio boys cross country is also one of the smallest,
Caldwell High School of Caldwell, Ohio, located about 80
miles east of Columbus along I-77. A Division III
school with a total enrollment that struggles to reach
300, Caldwell�s boys cross country team was the premier
team in the state, at any level, from 1985 until 1992.
The cross country program at
Caldwell High School was started in 1971 by Rod
O�Donnell. That year the team finished dead last in the
state tournament, but under coach O�Donnell�s tutelage
the boys came roaring back the next year to finish all
the way up in second place, only eight points from a
championship trophy. In 1973, in just their third
season of interscholastic cross country, the Redskins
won their first state championship trophy. Although it
would be another dozen years before the Redskins claimed
another team championship, they did enjoy some
individual success during the intervening years. Brian
Jonard had the single best time in the team competition
in 1974, and he came back two years later, in 1976, to
win the individual competition.
The Caldwell team began its
unprecedented run of success under the watchful eye of
coach Ron Martin, who guided the Redskins from
1975-1986. In 1983, Caldwell finished second in Class A
to McDonald High School, losing by a mere two points,
94-96. The following year their margin of defeat was
even slimmer, losing the state title to Dayton Christian
High School by a single point, 79-80.
After losing two state
championships by a total of just three points, the
Redskins came back with a vengeance. Over the next
three years, 1985-1987, the Redskins made sure that
there was no doubt as to who the Class A state champion
was by posting the three of the lowest point totals in
state cross country championship history, boys or
girls. In 1985 the Redskins took the state title with a
score of 33. In 1986, they bettered that with a 26, and
in 1987 they set the all-time state record by winning
the championship with an incredible score of just 25
points. Their narrowest margin of victory during those
years was 54 points. Leading the team, literally, to
victory in those three championships were Tony Carna,
who finished first in both �85 and �86, and Brian
Norris, who came in first in 1987. Carna also was the
top finisher in 1984, making him one of only four boys
in state history to win the state meet three times.
But the Redskins were just
getting started. In 1988, now under the direction of
coach Dugan Hill, a former cross country runner himself
at Caldwell High School, in one of the tightest meets in
state history, Caldwell finished in a tie with East
Canton High School, each school posting identical scores
of 67. When the placing of each teams� #6 runner was
then factored in as the tiebreaker, Caldwell had won its
fourth consecutive championship.
Compared to that 1988 race,
the next four years were relatively �easy.� Winning by
an average of 56 points, the Redskins swept the Class A
state championship in 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992. In
the 1990-1992 races, the Redskins were again led by a
three-time individual winner, making Caldwell the only
school in Ohio, and one of only four high schools in the
entire country, to claim multiple three-time individual
champions. That boy was Brian Hesson, who lowered his
winning time each year, with his personal best time of
15:20.4 in 1992 missing the Div. III state record for
the 5,000 meter course by a mere 1.3 seconds.
From 1985-1992 Caldwell High
School won eight consecutive Ohio Class A cross country
championships. That, plus their championship in 1973,
makes the Redskins the most successful cross country
team in state history. Their eight consecutive state
titles also places the Redskins sixth in the nation
all-time in consecutive state championships. During
those same years, only one other school in the whole
country, Gallup (New Mexico) High School, with 12
consecutive titles, was more successful than the runnin�
Redskins.
Caldwell High School�s
outstanding success has been recognized by the Ohio
Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches, who have
inducted five Redskins into their Hall of Fame: coaches
Rod O�Donnell, Ron Martin and Dugan Hill (still the
Redskins� cross country mentor), and runners Tony Carna
and Brian Jonard.
Just as there have been some
great teams in Ohio cross country, there have also been
outstanding individuals as well. There are many boys
who have managed to win these long distance races twice,
but only a small handful can claim three victories. In
addition to the two boys from Caldwell High School
already mentioned, this elite group also includes Alan
Scharsu of Austintown Fitch (1975-1977), George Nicholas
from Dayton Meadowdale (1978-1980), and Vincent Fries
from Attica Seneca East (1995, 1995, 1997). As nice as
it was for Vincent Fries to win those individual
championships, they had to have been a bit bittersweet,
for his team from Attica Seneca East finished second in
the state tournament all four years that Fries ran
there, 1994-1997.
As the story of the Caldwell
High School Redskins cross country team demonstrates, to
be a state champion does not mean that one has to go to
one of the �big� schools. Champions will find a way to
be champions, and the size of their school really has
nothing to do with it.
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Looking Back at the
OHSAA's Cross Country Championships - Girls
A centennial moment
By Timothy L. Hudak
Sports Heritage Specialty Publications
4814 Broadview Rd.
Cleveland, Ohio 44109
www.SportsHeritagePublications.net
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The
state tournament for girls cross country got started
just a few years later than that of the boys, 50 years
later to be exact. For the first four years of the
tournament, 1978-1981, the girls ran the old 2.5-mile
distance, which, as for the boys, was increased to 3.1
miles (5,000 meters) in 1982. The classification of the
schools in the girls� competition has had its ups and
downs, literally. First it was 2 classes (1978-1981),
then three classes (1982-1988), then two divisions
(1989-1993), and finally three divisions
(1994-present). While all of this class and division
changing may have wreaked havoc with the stats guys, the
girls pretty much ignored it and just went out and ran
their races � which is what they were there to do in the
first place.
The
girls� team competition shows a history of one school
dominating for a couple of years, then being overtaken
by another front runner. For example, in the small
school classifications (A, AA, II) from 1978-1990, the
20 state titles awarded were won by only nine schools.
While most of these winning schools won two or three
championships, and Sandusky St. Mary Central Catholic
would take the state title four consecutive times (1987
to1990), only one of these early champions has remained
a force in the small school divisions throughout the
entire history of the state tournament. That school is
Minster High School, oddly enough, the only state
champion in those early days to win just a single
title.
Minster�s run of success began in 1982 when the Lady
Wildcats won their first state title. Although they did
not win their next championship until 1999, the girls
were always in the thick of it, finishing as high as
second place on three different occasions. Since 1999
the Lady Wildcats have been the premier cross country
team in Division III, earning five state championships
and one second place finish. In one race during the
2000 season, the girls even managed to sweep the first
five finishing places, compiling an unheard of perfect
score of 15. No cross country team in Ohio, girls or
boys, can claim a record of success to match Minsters�
Lady Wildcats over the last seven years.
Several other schools have also enjoyed an extended run
of success. The girls from Upper Arlington High School
were winners in the first big school, Class AAA, state
championship race in 1978. They followed up that
championship by winning five of the next 12 titles,
along with a second place finish. The current dominant
team in Division I girls cross country is Cincinnati
Colerain. From 1996 through 2004 the Lady Cardinals had
the greatest success of any team in the big school
division. They finished second to Beaver Creek High
School in �96, then won the next four state titles in
succession. After a couple of �off� years, the Lady
Cardinals let everyone know that they were back and
flying high by placing second in both 2003 and 2004.
At
present, the winningest team in girls cross country are
the Blue Streaks of Beaumont School in Cleveland
Heights. Jim Emery took over as both the track and
field and cross country coach at Beaumont in 1990, and
it only took him a few short years to make his long
distance runners as successful as the school�s track
team has been. In 1993, when Beaumont was still a
Division I school, the Blue Streaks captured their first
state championship. The following year the team dropped
down to Division II, to the delight of the other
Division I schools, but to the definite dismay of the
Division II competition. Beaumont would win the next
three Division II state championships, but it was not
always as easy as it may have looked. For example, in
the 1996 championship race, Beaumont and Dover High
School actually tied for first place after the scores of
the first five girls were totaled. Going to the
tie-breaking sixth runner, Beaumont�s depth prevailed
and the Blue Streaks came away with a 60-130 victory.
That same year the Blue Streaks were ranked as high as
#4 nationally.
Mogadore�s Field High School dominated the Division II
cross country competition in 1997 and 1998, but then
back came the Blue Streaks. In 1999 they edged out
Field, 92-109, for the state title, and then won the
championship each of the next two years by an average of
36 points. Although the Blue Streaks have not finished
higher than 7th in the state tournament since their last
title in 2002, they still hold the record for the most
state championships by a girls� team (7), and can never
be counted out of any race that they enter.
While
there have been many impressive teams in girls cross
country, there have been just as many, if not more,
impressive individual performers in the sport over the
history of the state tournament. Many of these
athletes have won two state championships, but those who
really stand out have won three titles. Among these
exceptional runners are Patty Metzler of Jackson-Milton
High School (1980-81-82), Tina Cheney of Lima Shawnee
(1981-82-83), Laurie Gomez from Boardman High School
(1985-86-87), Michelle Borgert from Kirtland
(1986-1987-1989), and Nicole LaSelle from Dayton
Chaminade-Julienne High School (1993-94-95).
Two
other girls made their mark in the girls cross country
competition, not just because of their individual
accomplishments, which includes success at the national
as well as the state level, but because their success
also helped propel their teams to greatness.
Minster High School�s team success from 2000-2002 was in
no small way aided by the success of Sunni Olding. In
winning the Division III cross country race in 2000,
2002 and 2003, and finishing third in 2001, Ms. Olding
led her team to state titles in both 2000 and 2001, and
a second place finish in 2002. In 2003, Sunni Olding
was undefeated in Ohio Division III cross country
competition, and was named a USA Today High School
All-American in both 2002 and 2003.
From
1993-1996, Beaumont School owned Ohio girls cross
country, and the undeniable leader of that team was Katy
Radkewich, arguably Ohio�s greatest high school cross
country runner - period. In 1993, as a freshman, Katy
finished second in the Division I state meet to future
three-time winner, Nicole LaSelle, by a mere 0:00.04,
four one-hundredths of a second. It would prove to be
the only race that Ms. Radkewich would ever lose to
another Ohio high school runner in four years of cross
country competition. By that narrowest of margins, Katy
Radkewich missed becoming Ohio�s only four-time state
cross country champion.
As a
senior in 1996, Katy won the Division II state
championship, her third straight title, with a time of
16:59.8, still the only girl to finish the 5,000-meter
course in under 17 minutes. Her time in that race was
so dominating, in fact, that she beat the second place
finisher by almost two full minutes, one minute, 46.2
seconds to be exact � an almost unbelievable margin of
victory. In 1995 Katy finished third in the national
championships, then came back to take second place in
1996, thus earning All-American status two years in a
row.
When
Katy Radkewich graduated from Beaumont after the
1996-1997 school year, there were probably more than a
few observers of Ohio�s cross country scene who wondered
how Katy managed to lose that one race back in 1993, her
only defeat in Ohio. She may have wondered about it as
well, but let�s give credit to the great champion who
won that race, Nicole LaSelle, who can proudly claim to
be the only Ohio high school girl to ever beat Katy
Radkewich over hill and dale. |
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