Whiteoak Lady 'Cats earn 4th consecutive trip to regionals
The Whiteoak girls cross-country team participated in the Southeast District Division III cross-country race held at the University of Rio Grande on Saturday.
Whiteoak was voted the No. 6 seed by the coaches out of 34 SE District Div. III schools and proved worthy of that seeding by finishing fourth, and along the way qualifying for the regionals for the fourth consecutive season.
WHS head coach Doug Hughes spoke highly of his team.
"Trying to keep tally of eight different teams in contention during the actual race was difficult, and I honestly thought we were edged out for the fourth qualifying spot," he said. "It was a very competitive race and very little space between second place and fifth place.
"As the top four teams were announced, we were pretty down until we heard that we were indeed the fourth-place team, and then the jubilation hit, mixed with some teary emotions.
"We work all season for the district race with our No. 1 team goal for the season of advancing to the regional meet, and the surprise of the results made it all worth it."
The final team standings were: 1. Manchester 55, 2. Nelsonville-York 78, 3. West Union 84, 4. Whiteoak 94, 5. Rock Hill 102, 6. Huntington 125, 7. Piketon 158 and 8. Lynchburg-Clay 179.
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"Each and every girl upped their game and gutted it out," Hughes said. "We even had two girls run their best times of the year, and the Rio course is simply not a course set up to get a personal best."
Ashleigh Harless finished eighth overall with a time of 22:20 to lead WHS and earn first-team All-District. Kattie Taylor was next at 19th place, running her career-best time at 23:15.
Maggie Carr was 26th overall at 24:23 and Morgan Thompson 34th place at 25:05. Regan Bohrer was 44th at 26:34 and Katie Ames 57th with a time of 28:14.
"We had some things we couldn't control go against us, but the girls never flinched and did it again," Hughes said. "This is about as proud as I've ever been of one of my teams. This is the fifth trip overall for Whiteoak to the regionals, and (Saturday) we had a better average time than any of the previous other four teams.
"Saturday was very stressful but ended up perfectly. Next week at Pickerington North, we are going to have a blast representing our school, league and district."