Emch, Bowman lead Eagles to 13th place in Division II

  With so many good, young runners, the future is bright for Eastwood.

In the meantime, the Eagles can reflect on the incredible season they just had, one that saw them finish 13th at the Division II state cross country meet.

The Eagles, who won their district and were second at regionals, also claimed victory at the Northern Buckeye Conference Tournament, two league jamborees, the Norm Bray Invitational, the Tiffin Carnival and the Mel Brody Invite, and have a young, promising core that is primed for great things.

At the state tournament, Leah Emch finished 43rd in 19 minutes, 32.0 seconds, and Avery Bowman was 44th in 19:32.3. Talia Baum was 108th in 20:46, followed by Haley Sponaugle (115th in 20:51.5), Zoe Ramsey (132nd in 21:12.7), Cameron Seckhar (154th in 21:51.2) and Maisy Stevenson (174th in 22:52.6), the lone senior of the top seven. Five of the seven are freshmen or sophomores.

“Three of our girls were individual state qualifiers. Avery, Leah and Haley were all individual state qualifiers, which is pretty cool,” said Eastwood coach Nathan Howard. “Those three are in the top 12 overall in school history. The other three are a freshman and two sophomores; hopefully they can keep improving. It’s a great group to coach; they get along, they work hard. They like each other and like coming out to practice.

“We are still a pretty young team. We figured a lot of things out. The previous year, there was no track season. This year, they came in right off of track, so they got to work a lot earlier,” Howard said. “There’s a first time for everything. Last year, we were 11th at regionals, and we were almost happy to be there. This year, we had a different mindset. It was very competitive at practices; they make each other better.”

The Eagles only got better as the season progressed, winning some invites and finishing well at others. Winning the Tiffin Carnival was one of the highlights of the season. At the meet, Bowman finished sixth out of 125 runners, followed by Sponaugle (12th), Emch (15th), Ramsey (33rd), Baum (38th), Stevenson (46th) and Seckhar (53rd).

At the NBC Tournament, all seven of Eastwood’s runners finished in the top 12, and Sponaughle, Emch, Bowman, Baum and Ramsey came in second thru sixth, respectively.

Howard expects even better things next season. A lot of his runners compete in indoor track and field and track and field in the spring.

“Last year, we made it to regionals; that was our ceiling. This year, to go second in the region against a pretty good Lexington team was good. Our goal (next year) is to be one of the best teams in the state,” Howard said. “They’ve seen some of the best teams. We’re not that far off. I just think we’re on the verge of being one of the top teams in the state next year. We feel pretty good about what we have coming back next year.”

Stevenson, a senior, was a captain with fellow senior Anna Brown and provided leadership.

“They’re a huge part of the attitude change for us. Anna got better over two years, and was a huge part of the culture,” said Howard. “Our top six are back next year. We had a lot of freshmen that got a lot faster over the course of the year; we have 22 runners. We have a lot of runners that would’ve been first or second on some teams.”

Stevenson talked about why the Eagles were so successful.

“I feel like our team was so successful this year due to our depth,” she said. “We probably had four to five girls that could have taken the sixth and seventh spots on the team, which is very impressive. We also had three newcomers this year in our top five.

“Being able to participate in the state meet as a senior was an amazing experience,” she said. “I definitely had to work for my spot, and I am so grateful that my team and I made it that far. Our team worked really hard throughout the summer and the season to get where we did. The team made it to the state meet because of our discipline and hard work that we put into our preseason workouts.”

Baum shared the sentiment.

“The team was successful because of all the hard training we did, and our determination. Everyone did their best and gave their all each meet,” she said. “When some of our top seven runners had injuries, other runners stepped up and filled their shoes. We were able to win and be successful because of our depth.”

Reflecting on competing in the state tournament, she said, “At first I was very nervous, but competing at the state meet felt very accomplished. The nerves went away when the race started and I thought we all ran great.

“All of our hard work had paid off and we were all very excited to have gotten the opportunity. It was definitely a fun experience,” Baum said.