It didn’t matter what the weather was going to do, all the Cross Country teams at Lemon Lake were ready to run.
The evening started off with the boys race on a wet course with everyone taking off up the first hill to the turn. Coming off the hill, Blaylock and Gray had separated from the pack with quite a lead at that point in the race.
“I decided to surge at about 1.7 to see if Gray would follow. He didn’t, so I decided to make a decent gap and try to maintain the lead,” said Blaylock of his strategy. “If I didn’t do it, he would have. It was important to make the first move.”
Blaylock was first to the finish with a time of 16.16; no other times were available. Tyler Gray from Crown Point took second, Hobart’s Brent Dunn was third, Ryan Kepshire from Crown Point was 4th, and rounding out the top five was Jacob Langbehn also of Crown Point.
1st place team honors went to Crown Point with 25, followed by Hobart placing second with 62, and third place going to Lowell with 96.
Coach Artherhults from Hobart said, "I’m pleased with the boys’ outcome, they haven’t had it together and today they showed up to race.”
On the Girls side, the Brickies Guerrero and Whidden ran 1-2 the entire race, with Guerrero finishing first today. Whidden was the second runner in overall, followed by Kayla McGurk , Jill Zimmerman, and Lyndie Pierce of Crown Point in third, fourth, and fifth.
Senior Mindy Whidden said the course was tough, “It’s not one of my favorites. I like New Prairie, I usually run well at New Prairie.”
Team honors for the girls went to Crown Point in first, with a score of 31, followed by Hobart in second with 42. Hebron with 45 took third.
Regionals will take place on Saturday at Lemon Lake.
Click here to view more photos from the meet.