Tipp Boys XC Team Advances to Regionals

There were no real surprises at the District race at the Miami Valley Career Technology Center on Saturday, October 18th. The boys finished where everyone thought they would, in first place, and scored just about as many points as the previous weekend against similar competition. They won the race with 33 points, 46 points ahead of 2nd place Kenton Ridge and 57 points ahead of 3rd place Bellefontaine. Their top 5 average time of 16:36, although 6 seconds slower than last weekend, was the 2nd fastest average out of all the 6 boys races for all divisions run on that course, trailing only to Centerville.

Jason Salyer and Kevin Fink repeated their CBC performance by finishing 1st and 2nd once again. They took the lead a half mile into the race and led a pack of about 8 runners, including Tyler Feitshans and Jason Bruns, through the mile mark in 5 minutes flat. They gradually put some distance between them and the rest of the field on the second mile and ran through the 2 mile at 10:11 and 10:14. Kevin’s 2 mile split was actually faster than his 2 mile personal record in track. Jason finished with a time of 15:58 and Kevin finished with a time of 16:13, 4 seconds ahead of 3rd place finisher Gareth Graver from Greenon. Jason’s win defended his district title from last year, and Kevin’s 2nd place finish was a huge improvement on his 16th place finish last year.

Tyler Feitshans and Jason Bruns earned 1st Team All-District honors along with Jason and Kevin by placing 6th and 7th respectively. Tyler just missed edging out Bellefontaine’s Micah Hatcher, who barely out kicked Bruns the previous weekend, and finished only half a second behind him with a time of 16:37. Bruns finished right behind Tyler in 7th with a time of 16:45. Matt Zuzolo stepped up as the team’s 5th runner and just missed qualifying to regionals individually, finishing in 17th (top 16 qualify individually) with a time of 17:26. Had he been in the other D2 district, he would have finished 13th. Luke Zerkle finished right behind Matt in 18th with a time of 17:32. Andrew Wharton finished 24th with a time of 17:47 after not practicing the last two weeks due to a nagging hip injury. 82 runners competed in the race.

The boys team enters the Troy Regional with the goal of winning by a large margin to capture their second straight regional title. Individually, the boys will try to qualify their top 4 runners to the state meet by placing in the top 16. Jason Salyer and Tyler Fietshans accomplished that feat last year, and Kevin Fink and Jason Bruns hope to accomplish that as well. Salyer will also be looking to win the race individually after placing 2nd last year, but he will have his hands full with teammate Kevin Fink, Oakwood’s Peter Hix, and Carroll’s Andrew Trick. Andrew Trick is the defending champion and ran a 16:16 on the same district course to qualify. Peter Hix was the 1600 meter champion in track and ran 0.5 seconds faster than Salyer on the same district course to qualify. Fink has the 3rd fastest qualifying time and will be in the mix as well. It should be a very close race and a very exciting one to watch.