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Lebanon cross country teams fall short of ultimate goal; VanDeGrift qualifies for state

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By Scott Hayes, Staff Writer 6:06 PM Saturday, October 31, 2009

TROY — Saturday’s Division I regional cross country race at Troy High School was a bittersweet experience for the Lebanon Warriors.

Both the boys and girls teams finished higher than any previous team in school history — but in their minds it wasn’t high enough.

The Lebanon girls finished eighth overall in the region with 196 points, just behind Walnut Hills (187) and Centerville (193). Mason won the region with 58 points. The top four teams advanced to next weekend's state championship.

“We’re very disappointed,” Lebanon coach Tom Hoeffel said. “I’m at a loss of words a little bit. It was a tough one.

“We just didn’t run very well. Even with this bitter taste in our mouths we still did better than any team in school history. But, it is what it is.”

Junior Grace VanDeGrift was Lebanon’s lone individual qualifier to next weekend’s Division I state championships at Scioto Downs.

VanDeGrift finished 10th overall with a time of 19 minutes, 31.94 seconds. It will be VanDeGrift’s first trip to the Ohio state finals — after qualifying for the state cross country race in Florida each of the past two seasons.

“It’s pretty exciting,” VanDeGrift said. “To make it in Ohio after making it in Florida, I take a lot of pride in that. It was very windy and I got off to a good start but faded a little in the middle of the race. Thankfully, I had a strong finish and was able to catch a couple of girls at the end.

“I just wish I wasn’t going to state alone. The girls worked really hard this year and we’re a close-knit group. Everybody gave it their all, it just wasn’t our best effort today.”

Hayley Stegemiller (30th, 20:11.78) and Hannah Turpin (41st, 20:31.27) were Lebanon’s only other top 50 finishers.

Rounding out Lebanon’s scoring were Lyndsay Norris (72nd, 21:17.57) and Jacqueline Lewis (80th, 21:28.04)

Lebanon’s boys finished 13th out of 16 teams. Richard Patterson (42nd, 17:17.15) and Alex Rowland (45th (17:18.24) were the Warriors’ top two finishers.

Other scores for the Warriors were Levi Weible (84th, 18:01.44), Tad Masthay (85th, 18:01.61) and Joey Barone (117th, 18:58.73).

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4526 or shayes@coxohio.com.

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