Woodmore harriers getting back to the bigger stage

Woodmore senior Ava Beam finished seventh at the Division III regional cross country meet, propelling the Wildcats to a fourth place team finish and qualifying them for the state girls meet for the second straight year.

Woodmore coach Lacy Seamans said her girls were in high spirits heading into the state meet.

“It went really well on Saturday. They are excited. Our last practice was on Friday and they had a theme to dress up and we are just trying to keep it loose,” Seamans said. “They definitely have their eyes on the prize and they’d love to take that victory lap. They have some goals that they want to hit. So, we’re going to keep the volume up, but with just a couple light workouts and hopefully can hit it on Saturday.”

In addition, Woodmore junior C.J. Buchanan finished 14th in 16:52.5, good enough to qualify him as an individual for the D-III state boys meet.

“This week, we cut him down a little bit. We do not want to take too many miles out of his routine because they tend to get little bit flat if he does that — just a couple more workouts. C.J. rides his bike a lot so that will remain part of his program and he delivers papers — that definitely helps the cardiovascular.” 

The state meet was held Saturday at Fortress Obetz in Obetz, Ohio, just south of Columbus.

“It looks like a couple loops — it looks a little like the National Trails course where they kind of repeat an area over and over again. It is kind of fan friendly but I am not sure if it will be the kids’ favorite course or not,” said Seamans, adding that she is told it is a flat course, which might have been favorable to Northwest Ohio runners.

The Woodmore cross country program, once a state perennial small school power, is getting so good once again that Seamans has begun researching the history of the program online and is getting plenty of feedback.

“We have a Facebook page that a couple years back I was trying to compile some of the top times for Woodmore, because that was something that we were keeping track of,” Seamans said. 

“We are still missing some of that in there, but since we started the project a lot of the alumni became active on that page. They’re cheering on the kids, and when (former Woodmore record holder) Montana (Garcia), he’s coaching at Lake saw that, he sees a lot of what C.J. is doing and on the girls side, it’s ‘Hey, if any of the girls want to break our records, let us know, we’d really love to come and see that.’”

The Woodmore girls cross country team won three straight state championships from 1992-94, finished second in 1995 and 1999 and also qualified for state in 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2007. 

In 1992, the Wildcats scored 114 points to finish ahead of state runner-up Chagrin Falls (127) in D-II, and in 1993, the Wildcats scored 76 to finish ahead of Peninsula Woodridge (115). In 1994, the Woodmore girls scored 75 points to finish ahead of Liberty-Benton (99) in the first year the D-III race was held. In 1995, Woodridge defeated Woodmore 69-94 to claim the state title, and in 1999, the ‘Cats were edged out by Minster, 104-107.

In 1976, the Woodmore boys team finished as Class A state runners-up, scoring 94 points to finish behind West Liberty-Salem (55). The Woodmore boys also qualified for state in 1977, 1985, 1999 and 2001.

Ava Beam has good run

In this year’s regional at Tiffin’s Hedges Boyer Park, Beam, last year’s Alan Miller Jewelers All-Press Runner of the Year, finished in 19:26.6 as the Wildcats scored 208 points to finish behind Liberty Center (46), Minster (54) and Fort Recovery (204).

One week earlier at the district meet, Buchanan finished sixth in 17:19.93, but Seamans thought both tournament runs were not his best appearances and is confident he would do better at state.

“Actually, the last couple weeks he has been a little bit disappointed,” Seamans said. “Districts, he fell in the very first turn — he had a wipeout in the mud and wasn’t really able to get back in the race (lead pack), but got far enough to survive and make it to the next week. I think it just shook him up a bit.

“Regionals, it was just another case of after not having people around him all season, he got bumped around a little bit, but again, he advanced and he’s got another week to prepare for what I hear is a really fast course (at state).”

For the girls team at regionals, sophomore Olivia Vogelpohl (19:54.1) was 17th, senior Olivia Thatcher (20:52.5) was 44th, freshman Emma Hammer (21:41.6) was 83rd, freshman Madi Hammer (22:13) was 111th, junior Kristen Davis (22:16.1) was 114th and freshman Kylie Cordie (23:52) was 151st out of 178 competitors.

“The girls dealt with the same thing — the Tiffin course was a little bit slower than it normally runs because it was wet. It was a little better in the morning when we got there about the time the races took off because it had melted. The course was a little bit sloppy,” Seamans said.

“The Hammer girls both PR’d (personal record) on the fourth and fifth position, and for the fourth and fifth week in a row our fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh runners all finished in different order again which is really a strength for us that any of those girls can step up on any day and take over depending on whoever is feeling good.”

At the district meet, Woodmore finished second, scoring 71 points to finish behind champion Liberty Center (29). Beam (19:31.2) was fourth, Vogelpohl (19:53.85) eighth, Thatcher (20:37.17) 13th, Emma Hammer (21:43.96) 20th, Davis (22:04.05) 26th, Madi Hammer (22:28.3) 31st and Cordy (23:18.59) 43rd out of 93 runners.