Tippecanoe Boys win the Tiffin Carnival

The target on the Tippecanoe boys cross country team’s back became even larger after their impressive win on Saturday, September 6th at the Tiffin Carnival, the largest meet in the state of Ohio. The team felt like they had something to prove after their runner-up finish at Greenville the week before, and prove they did. They beat out a field of 50 teams consisting of 352 runners in a race where 9 of the top 18 state ranked teams competed. Tipp scored a total of 151 points, 34 ahead of runner-up CVCA, and 96 points ahead of Defiance who finished third.
In a meet of this magnitude, depth was the most essential ingredient to success. Tipp’s whole team stepped it up today 1-7, but it was their 4-7 guys that really made the difference. Tyler Fietshans improved his time from last week by 45 seconds as Tipp’s #4 runner. He finished in 46th place with a time of 17:05. Matt Zuzolo scored as the team’s #5 runner after placing 6th for the team at Greenville. He went way under his goal of cracking the 18 minute barrier by running a 17:26, placing 70th, and was the fastest 5th runner in the entire field. Luke Zerkle also accomplished his goal of breaking 18 by running a 17:40, and Zach Werts finished with a solid time of 18:23.
With 352 runners at the starting line, going out fast was a must unless you wanted to be completely surrounded by a pack of runners going elbow to elbow and constantly clipping at your heels. Tipp’s Jason Salyer, Kevin Fink, and Jason Bruns all ran their first mile faster than they have before. They came across the mile marker in 4:55, five seconds off the leaders, but only in 10th-15th place. Then the large pack gradually turned into three groups. Jarrod Eick of Alliance Marlington, the eventual winner of the race, and Kyle Sullinger of CVCA, the eventual runner-up, separated themselves from the second pack of around 8-10 runners in which Salyer and Fink were in.
Fink and Salyer gradually moved their way up and started picking some runners off. It wasn’t an easy task considering 9 of the top 13 fastest returning individuals from the state meet competed in the race. Salyer eventually separated himself from the pack and ran stride-for-stride with Bay Village Bay’s Michael Bradjdic for the last mile of the race, outkicking him by only a second and finishing with a personal best time of 15:42, 7 seconds off the winning time. Fink finished strong and ran a 16:13 for 11th place, as did Bruns who ran 16:34 for 21st place.
Anything less than victory would not have settled well for Tippecanoe who departed from their bus at 5 in the morning for a slightly less than 3 hour trip. No matter how long the ride, the chance to compete against great competition along with the excellent atmosphere will keep Tipp a regular participant in the meet year after year. The atmosphere of the meet is rivaled by very few, if any, other meets in Ohio. There were a total of 22 races, and 6,585 athletes officially competed. Many devoted volunteers helped direct traffic and aid athletes in the finishing area. Team tents were lined around the whole park giving it a carnival like atmosphere, thus the meet name. The great weather, flat course, and tremendous competition led to many personal best times, and a plethora of trophies, plaques, medals, and ribbons were handed out, giving many runners the feeling of success.
Tipp will be in action next Saturday at the Alliance Invitational on Saturday, September 13th.