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The Oak Harbor girls cross country team, a model of success for several years now, is up to its old tricks again.
The girls’ team, which has won its district meet the past three seasons, is looking to duplicate last season's achievements by repeating as Sandusky Bay Conference (SBC) and district champions.
For the girls, who came in seventh at the regional meet last season, the goals are always high.
"We want to be successful in the league and be one of the top-four teams coming out of districts to get that extra week at regionals,” said Rockets head coach Gina Warnke, now in her 13th season with the team.
Senior Kia Frank, who missed qualifying for the state meet by one place last year, is again leading the charge for the Rockets, who are in the midst of another successful season. The team has finished no lower than fifth at any invitational this year, including a recent second-place finish out of 21 teams at the Clay Eagle Invite.
With no team captains, Frank, because of her stellar running, serves as one of the team's leaders.
“Kia's being a great team leader by being a senior and by being out in front,” said Warnke.
For Frank, the goal is pretty simple: to get to the state meet in Columbus.
"As long as we keep her consistent and injury-free, she's definitely got a shot,” said Warnke. “19:40, she's been running consistently -- that kind of put her on the bubble.”
While competing at several large invitationals this season, Frank has finished fifth, ninth, second and second, respectively, cementing her status as an elite runner.
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The Oak Harbor girls cross country runners celebrate a champioship
at the Ottawa County Cross Country Meet last week. (Press photo by
Scott W. Grau) |
Oak Harbor has a quality set of runners to complement Frank. An experienced group, Allie Dresser, Megan Wistinghausen, Coral Petersen and Tory Wood round out the top-five for the Rockets.
Dresser, a sophomore, has run a personal-best of 20 minutes, 28 seconds, making her a solid No. 2 runner while Wistinghausen has been steady as the team's No. 3 runner.
The wild-cards are Petersen and Wood, who have rotated as the team's fourth and fifth runners, respectively. Wood, a senior who finished 32nd at the regional meet last season when she ran a 20:41, has fared well in her years as a runner, qualifying for regionals in her first three seasons. Her best finish at the regional meet came in 2007 as a freshman when she came in 25th place. If she and Petersen, a freshman, can perform well in the next several weeks, expect the Rockets to head back to the regional meet in Tiffin on October 30.
“Our one, two and three runners are where they need to be,” said Warnke. “We just need to move the fourth and fifth runner up to be a little more competitive.”
As with any successful cross country program, the hard work starts in the offseason.
During the summer, Warnke has the team undergo a conditioning program to help the team prepare for the season. That, along with some workouts that feature a mix of speed and long-distance training, helps to round the Rockets into shape every year.
“We put a summer conditioning schedule together – they can take advantage (of it),” said Warnke. “The ones that are doing well this season, those are the kids that ran in the summer.”
Despite the team's success thus far, there is still plenty of work to be done. The conference meet takes place in Huron on October 16th and the district meet is the following week.
“We've still got a couple weeks yet,” said Warnke.
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