MANSFIELD — Richland County has long been home to a wealth of talented female distance runners — just never so many all at once.
From Shelby to Lexington and all points in between, greater Mansfield has become a hotbed of girls’ cross country.
“There is a lot of great competition in Richland County,” Shelby’s Makenna Heimlich said after winning the Richland County championship last month at Madison. “There are a lot of schools with good programs and those are the schools we will see over and over throughout the season and into the (postseason).”
A senior, Heimlich is a two-time state qualifier and one of 11 returning area runners who competed at last year’s state meet. She was 71st at National Trail Raceway last November after taking 77th as a sophomore.
Defending Division II state champion Lexington returns six runners who competed in last year’s state meet, including sophomore Joanna Halfhill, who turned in the fastest time of the day regardless of division at the prestigious Galion Cross Country Festival last weekend (19:03.5).
“It’s just good that all the girls around here like to give their best,” Halfhill said.
In addition to Halfhill, Carina Weaver, Halle Hamilton, Lilly Weeks, Tessa Gerhardt and Ellie Hocker all competed for Lady Lex at last year’s state meet. A senior, Weaver also was a member of Lex’s 2016 state runner-up team.
Ontario sent three runners to last year’s state meet and two of them, Grace Maurer and Anna Gregg, are back this year.
So is Madison’s Emily Atwell. The junior became her school’s first girls’ state qualifier since 1992 last fall.
“Between Makenna and Lexington and Ontario, there are so many good girls in the area,” Atwell said after finishing behind Heimlich at the Richland County meet. “We’ll compete against each other all year, which is going to make everyone better.”
If Saturday’s Division II race at Galion was any indication, it’s going to be an exciting postseason. Lexington won the team title with a score of 67. Ontario was second with 89.
In a race that included 144 runners, nine of the top 16 finishers were from Richland County. Shelby’s Heimlich (19:47.9) was fifth, followed by Lex’s Weaver (19:56.5) in sixth. Madison’s Atwell (20:05.8) was eighth, while the Ontario duo of Ellie Maurer (20:17.7) and Grace Maurer (20:25.9) were 10th and 11th, respectively. Lexington’s Weeks (20:31.7) was 13th, followed by Ontario’s Gregg (20:33.5) in 14th and Ontario’s Ariah Reuer (20:44.1) in 16th.
In the girls’ Division II/III open race at Galion, Mansfield Christian’s Carolina Trumpower cruised to the individual title in 20:22.7, more than a minute ahead of the runner-up. Trumpower qualified for the Division III state meet last fall, finishing 58th in 20:20.2 despite losing a shoe early in the race.
“There are a lot of really good runners in the area and they’re all doing so well,” Trumpower said. “I had one race against the Ontario girls and that was really fun because I could see where I was compared to Division II girls. I wish I had more races against them.”
