Emch looking to finish out cross country career with a bang

Press Sports Editor
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Leah Emch’s resume would be impressive enough, even if she had graduated last year.
The Eastwood senior is a two-time, all-Ohioan who finished 14th in 18 minutes, 56.7 seconds in Division II last season, and took 14th in 19:14.0 the year before that. As a team, the Eagles were 16th last season and 12th in 2022, respectively.
At the Liberty Center Extravaganza last week, she finished second in 18:39, meaning she could be a little ahead of schedule.
As a team, the Eagles were seventh (out of 14 schools) at the invitational.
Emily Payne was 38th in 21:34, followed by Brynn Sheets (39th in 21:38) and Caitlyn Stiner (52nd in 22:23), Keira Dawson (57th in 22:41.00) and Emerson Sheets (58th in 22:41.95), and Savanah Stephens (62nd in 23:04) rounded out the top seven.
Eastwood coach Nathan Howard talked about where Emch and the team stands midway through the season. “Leah has been pretty consistent this year, (and) she had her best race of the year last week with an 18:40 last Saturday,” said Howard. “I think she’s getting into her groove. Leah is in great shape.
“We’ve got a lot more inexperienced girls. We want them to run with confidence and drop our times to have a chance to win the league, and I definitely think we’re going to do that. We still have a fairly large team; the kids love being a part of our program. We had to replace two of our top three runners, and new people have to step up. We’re working hard, coming together. Times haven’t been what they were in the last few years. Emily Payne is a pretty good runner, the number-two runner, and there are a couple of sophomores and juniors that are stepping up into new roles. I think there are good things to come down the road for our team.”
Emch has finished second in four invitationals (19:04; 19:13; 18:40; 18:39) and was ninth (19:09) at the Tiffin Cross Country Carnival. The Eagles finished first at the Battle of Turtle Creek, fifth at the Darin Goodman Night Meet, seventh at the Tiffin Carnival and eighth at the Mel Brodt Invite.
At the Battle of Turtle Creek, Payne was 10th (21:45), Brynn Sheets finished 11th (21:47), Stephens placed 15th (22:13), Dawson finished 16th (22:22), Stiner was 17th (22:30) and Emerson Sheets took 18th (22:30).
Emch wants to finish out the season on a high note.
“We need to trust our training because we’ve been training since June, and now we need to put everything we’ve worked toward into action,” she said. “We have to put in some extra work in the upcoming weeks and really encourage each other to push limits. It’s also for us to have grit, work together, and to perform not only for ourselves, but each other, too.”
Emch is seven seconds from her personal record.
“Her PR was at the Nike Cross Regionals in 18:32,” said Howard. “Now she’s at 18:39, so she’s set up to do that. We expect that she’ll drop some more time. She’s hoping to peak at the right time this year.
“She’s pretty consistent with what she does. She understands that there might be a couple of weeks where you’re down. She’s grown a lot over the last four years; she doesn’t let a bad workout get to her. She stays patient and knows the good times will come. I think in a couple of the earlier races, she wanted better times, but she’s been patient, and last Saturday, she had a great race.”
Emch is arguably the best distance runner in school history. She holds the school record for the 5K, the two-mile and has some indoor track records.
“I love how running challenges me mentally and physically. I love the sense of accomplishment that it gives you whether you have a good day or a bad day, you still have achieved success just by finishing the race,” Emch said. “I even love the connections that are made with your teammates and competitors from other schools. At the end of the day, your biggest competitor in running is yourself.”
Eastwood is hoping to win its fourth consecutive Northern Buckeye Conference title.
“We want to make regionals again, and keep getting better,” said Howard. “I think they’re going to do that.”
Despite getting some looks from Mid-American Conference schools, Emch decided to commit to Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana – an NAIA school with roughly 1,400 undergraduate students.
“They have a pretty good cross-country program,” said Howard. “She liked the feel of the small school and the atmosphere with the team and the coaches, I think she was looking at a couple of MAC schools, (but) she really liked the fit there.”