FREMONT — It was a Royal sweep in the Suburban Lakes League Cross Country Championships Saturday at Walsh
Park, as Elmwood’s boys and girls teams both won league titles.
The Elmwood girls had four of the top 10 finishers — including third-place finisher Darla Heimann and
fifth-place finisher Bethany Flage — to win the championship with 36 points. Woodmore was second with
47.
Elmwood’s boys had three top 10 finishers — including runnerup Nick Goebel — to slip past Eastwood with
54 points, while the Eagles had 64.
For the Royals, it is their first-ever sweep of the meet, as they are the first team since Eastwood in
2001 to earn both wins.
“It’s a big day for this program,” Royal coach Chris Hailey said. “It was the mission and goal we had and
it’s really nice to achieve what we set out for.”
Heimann, a senior, who had recently suffered a sprained ankle, ran a time of 20:32 to finish behind
Woodmore’s Lacy Nagy (19:49) and Bailey Ulinski (20:16). It was a repeat performance for the Wildcat
juniors, as Nagy was also the individual winner in 2008.
Flage a senior, ran a 20:38 for the Royals, who also had top 10 finishes from Miranda Wagner (eighth) and
Ashley Wolfe (ninth).
“The girls ran outstanding,” said Hailey. “We worried about that race with Woodmore being really tough,
but we ran our race and there was a lot of personal bests out there. The pack mentality made up for
Woodmore taking the top two spots.”
“This is awesome,” said Heimann. “Individually I wanted to do well, but this is history for our school
and we’re all very excited about it.”
Otsego junior Leah Wagoner was sixth in 20:42, while sophomore Kylee Bernthisel was 11th in 21:19.
Eastwood, who finished third with 92 points, was paced by 12th-place sophomore Madi Renollet.
The top seven runners were named first-team all-league. Nagy was named the SLL runner of the year, which
goes to the first-place finisher in the league meet.
Goebel, the defending individual champion in the boys’ race, ran a 16:17, five seconds behind Lake’s Zack
Powell.
“I couldn’t catch him,” said Goebel. “Coach told me to follow him and go at his pace for the first two
miles, but when I tried to pick it up and pass him he just had more in him.”
“I’m definitely happy with today’s race,” said Powell. “I was 16th here last year and I’ve worked hard
since then and it’s really started to pay off.”
Dexter Lee and Wes Lee finished eighth and ninth, respectively, for the Royals, who narrowly edged out
Eastwood led by a fourth-place finish from junior Nick Twining (17:09). Twining’s teammate Chase Baldwin
finished sixth in 17:13, while Lake’s Louis Szilagyi was seventh in 17:15.
For the Royals, it was their second straight SLL title, but as the favorites to win the league it was a
little too close for comfort.
“The guys knew they were favored and we were kind of strung out today and looking ahead of ourselves a
little too far maybe,” said Hailey. “We’re glad to win, but Eastwood really stepped it up today and they
tested us pretty good.”
SUBURBAN LAKES LEAGUE
CROSS COUNTRY
At Fremont/Walsh Park
BOYS
TEAM STANDINGS: 1) Elmwood, 54; 2) Eastwood, 64; 3) Gibsonburg, 69; 4) Woodmore, 96; 5) Lake, 103; 6)
Otsego, 143; 7) Genoa, 167.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
ELMWOOD: 2) Nick Goebel, 16:17; 8) Dexter Lee, 17:21; 9)Wes Lee, 17:30; 15) Josh Boes, 17:49; 20) Travis
Wagner, 18:01; 24) Conlan Varty, 18:16; 31) Trey Wilhelm, 18:32.
EASTWOOD: 4) Nick Twining, 17:07; 6) Chase Baldwin, 17:13; 16) Darin Goodman, 17:50; 17) Michael Bratton,
17:52; 21) Dustin Herrick, 18:03; 32) Jacob Henry, 18:33; 34) Johnny Shumay, 18:43.
LAKE: 1) Zack Powell, 16:12; 7) Louis Szilagyi, 17:15; 18) Nathan Scanlan, 17:56; 38) Riley Breese,
18:47; 40) Steve Stanley, 19:12; 64) Drew Northcut, 21:03; 82) Tyler Coutcher, 24:12.
OTSEGO: ) 12) Josh Wazelle, 17:33; 27) Eli Cheney, 18:25; 33) Jeffery Hoffman, 18:39; 35) Jonathan
Fowler, 18:43; 36) Sam Johnson, 18:43; 37) Hunter VanHorn, 18:45; 43) Jacob Stephens, 19:26.
All-SLL first-team (top seven finishers): 1) Powell (Lake); 2) Goebel (Elmwood); 3) Elias Dandar
(Gibsonburg), 17:01; 4) Twining (Eastwood); 5) Brock Avers (Woodmore), 17:13; 6) Baldwin (Eastwood); 7)
Szilagyi (Lake).
All-SLL second-team (finishers 8-14): 8) Dexter Lee (Elmwood) ; 9) Wes Lee (Elmwood); 10) Gavan Benadum
(Genoa), 17:31; 11) Jordan Rosenberger (Gibsonburg), 17:32; 12) Wazelle (Otsego); 13) Austin Utendorf
(Woodmore), 17:41; 14) Miguel Flores (Gibsonburg), 17:43.
All-SLL honorable mention (finishers 15-21): 15) Boes (Elmwood); 16) Goodman (Eastwood); 17) Bratton
(Eastwood); 18) Scanlan (Lake); 19) Holden Sondergeld (Gibsonburg), 17:57; 20) Wagner (Elmwood); 21)
Herrick (Eastwood).
GIRLS
TEAM STANDINGS: 1) Elmwood, 36; 2) Woodmore, 47; 3) Eastwood, 92; 4) Gibsonburg, 110; 5) Otsego, 111; 6)
Lake, 118; Genoa didn’t field a full team.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
ELMWOOD: 3) Darla Heimann, 20:32; 5) Bethany Flage, 20:38; 8) Miranda Wagner, 21:00; 9) Ashley Wolfe,
21:07; 14) Addy Mathias, 21:51; 16) Becky Heimann, 21:59; 19) Hayley Rinearson, 22:13.
EASTWOOD: 12) Madi Renollet, 21:26; 13) Lauren Caris, 21:35; 18) Missy Caris, 22:04; 25) Julie Russell,
23:04; 32) Kelsey Long, 23:29; 35) Samantha Decker, 23:41; 39) Erin Nelson, 24:09.
OTSEGO: 6) Leah Wagoner, 20:42; 11) Kylee Bernthisel, 21:19; 29) Kira Businger, 23:23; 38) Alexis Levin,
24:01; 43) Peighton Hagemeyer, 24:38; 60) Carmen Cano, 29:18.
LAKE: 17) Hunter Johnson, 22:01; 20) Stormi Roelle, 22:23; 27) Amber Soncrant, 23:17; 31) Caitlin
Stickler, 23:26; 33) Hailee Greenlese, 23:38; 37) Destiny Coutcher, 23:56; 46) Kandie King, 25:50.
All-SLL first-team (top seven finishers): 1) Lacy Nagy (Woodmore), 19:49; 2) Bailey Ulinski (Woodmore),
20:16; 3) Darla Heimann (Elmwood); 4) Samantha Hoffman (Gibsonburg), 20:37; 5) Flage (Elmwood); 6)
Wagoner (Otsego); 7) Elizabeth Mosher (Genoa), 20:51.
All-SLL second-team (finishers 8-14): 8) Wagner (Elmwood); 9) Wolfe (Elmwood); 10) Angelica McCoy
(Woodmore), 21:10; 11) Bernthisel (Otsego); 12) Renollet; (Eastwood) 13) Lauren Caris (Eastwood); 14)
Mathias (Elmwood).
All-SLL honorable mention (finishers 15-21): 15) Taylor Avers (Woodmore), 21:58; 16) Becky Heimann
(Elmwood); 17) Johnson (Lake); 18) Missy Caris (Eastwood); 19) Rinearson (Elmwood); 20) Roelle (Lake);
21) Lauren Kirwen (Gibsonburg), 22:37.
