Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Northwood’s cross country program enters its fourth season under the direction of head coach Gina Warnke, who has nearly 30 years of experience coaching runners at the high school level.
On the girls side, the program earned a spot in the regionals last year in what Warnke said is believed to be the first such appearance in program history. The team established a new school record for fastest team average among its top five runners consisting of Emily Reichow, Miriam Fowler, Megan Stone, Mikki Corl and Veronica Fowler.
In SBC play, the Rangers finished runner-up, just three points behind Woodmore.
This year’s team will have to replace Fowler, a Second Team All-SBC selection who was a three-time regional qualifier, and Stone, a Second Team All-SBC selection.
However, the Rangers return their top performer in Reichow, a junior who was First Team All-SBC last year. Also back are sophomores Corl, Fowler and Hazel Shields, who were all part of the regional qualifying team.
The squad will also add a pair of talented freshmen in Juliana Moon and Emma Kovacs. Moon finished 11th in the SBC’s middle school meet and could compete to be one of the team’s top runners. Kovacs dropped two minutes and eight seconds off her time from the start to finish of last year, and Warnke said she shows a lot of potential.
On the boys side, last year’s team didn’t have enough runners to score, but were led by Mitchel Fowler, who just missed qualifying for regionals. He returns this year, along with junior Alex Mannon, while Warnke is excited to add junior Kaleb Mata and freshman Christian Herrera.
Warnke said the program is looking to recruit one or two more boys, and she’s looking for Fowler to make strides to become a regional qualifier.
