By Adam Turer, Community Press
NEW RICHMOND — The postseason is a great time to run your fastest race of the season.
At the Southwest District Division II cross country meet held on Oct. 20 at Corwin-Nixon Park in Mason, the New Richmond Lions set several personal bests.
Fourteen New Richmond High School cross country runners advanced to the Oct. 27 regional meet. Both the boys and girls teams qualified, with the boys placing fourth and the girls claiming the district championship.
Seven boys and seven girls head to the regional meet attempting to qualify for state. The Lions are peaking at exactly the right time. Their practice schedule is geared toward starting slow and finishing fast.
“We always start a little slower than other teams,” head coach Rylan Shebesta said. “We see so many other teams peak early. We can’t afford to do that.”
With a small roster — only 13 girls run on the varsity team— Shebesta knows that he cannot afford injuries due to early-season strains. By taking it slower than some of their opponents, the Lions know they will be at or near full strength for the meets that matter most.
“We treat the regular season meets as practices for the league meet and the postseason,” said Shebesta. “We start working on speed later in the season.”
At districts, the girls ran an average time of 20:42.61. The Lions’ top-five times proved to be one place better than those of runner-up Indian Hill. According to Shebesta, every girl ran a personal best at the meet.
“They ran a lot faster than my expectations,” Shebesta said. “Those were their best times of the year.”
Freshman Claire Burns paced the team with her time of 20:18.47, good for seventh place. Senior Kara Burns finished right behind her in eighth place. The boys were led by senior Luke Gilday, who placed 12th, and sophomore Bobby Bingham, who placed 16th. Both teams head to regionals with the confidence that they can compete with any team from the Southwest District. Most importantly, the Lions are in a unique position of running their fastest times of the year in the postseason.
“We’re still improving every week,” Shebesta said.