Patrick won the girls race by more than a minute while Boggs had a comfortable 17-second win in Division IV.
GALION - Mansfield Christian coach Marty McKenzie took away senior Riley Patrick's watch just before she took her spot at the starting line in Saturday morning's Division IV district meet.
"He was like — I don't want you to run with it today, just trust your fitness and trust people," Patrick said. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be because I look at my splits on my watch religiously because I'm all alone most the time. In no man's land, it gets hard if you zone out, so I try and lock in on that.
"But today there was a nice breeze, the shaded trees, then you get into the sun, and there were so many supporters ... it was all OK."
It was more than OK as Patrick (19:11.8) won the race by more than 75 seconds ahead of New London's Valery Henry. Though it wasn't her best time, it was enough to power the Flames to a fourth place finish and secure a return to regionals. The boys finishing sixth later in the morning for a team regional qualifying spot made it even sweeter.
"Everyone's going to want more ... but I'm content with where we're at right now and we have two more weeks — God willing — so I hope to hit some goals in the next weeks," Patrick said. "I am super super excited for my team. We made it out for the second year in a row ... having one more week with all these athletes will be amazing."
And as soon as Patrick crossed the finish line, she rushed through the exit gate and back toward the course to cheer on her teammates as they were coming into the home stretch.
Junior Leah Robinson placed 24th overall, freshman Leah De Lorenzo was 29th, juniors Adalyn Dean and Stephanie Baughman 34th and 46th respectively, sophomore Livia Harriger 52nd as the Flames totaled a 97, one point ahead of New London in the team standings.
"My team means so much to me," Patrick said. "They did not choose running by nature, they got pressured into it to try it and fell in love. They don't all love running like some of us have a passion for, so I just want to honor their efforts. It's hard to keep showing up, keep eating the right things, keep their sleep well, sharing training or rehab. I make them do weird things at practice and they just trust me that it's for their benefit.
"So I want to reward them showing up for me by going and cheering them on and make sure they know how much I love them."
Bucyrus' Boggs breezes to boys title
Much like Patrick, Karter Boggs has had to learn to run alone as a senior. In the Division IV boys race he had Huron's Sage Edgerly-Bork to keep him company for a portion of the race, but that wasn't long as he pulled away for a 17-second win.
"Sage is always a great competitor, so it's fun to race him," Boggs said after clocking a 15:56.9 for a district title. "This course isn't always the best to run on just because the roots, if you're not careful, you'll fall. But overall I'm not disappointed with the race, I just wanted to win and I didn't really care about time.
"The goal right now is to win regionals and get to state ... if I can do that, I feel I'll be in a good spot to compete for a title."
And again, he'll be joined by his teammates as the Redmen placed fourth as a team. It's the third consecutive season Bucyrus has qualifier for regionals and the first time it has done that since the 1980s.
"They're all hard workers, they're racers, and they're willing to hurt unlike a couple years ago when they were afraid to run quick," Boggs said. "But the team is looking very good right now and I'm very happy with how we're doing. We got a lot of kids in the low 18s, high 17s which we just have not had.
"It's exciting to see how we'll progress and hopefully get the team to state."
Junior AJ Griffin was eighth, senior Carter Bierce 30th, freshmen Micah Spears and Tyson Beck 33rd and 40th, senior Kyle Pifer 42nd, junior Dustin Feck 54th.
"It was a good performance from the team today," coach Kevin Boggs said. "As a group they all had the goal to make it back to regionals ... it has been a while. Tyson and Micah had great races, and they were a little nervous coming in as freshmen running with the top seven. My veteran guys knew what it was going to take, and they stepped up.
"They took them out with them from the beginning, and they all dropped time for us."
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This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: OHSAA XC: Mans. Christian's Patrick, Bucyrus' Boggs district champs
Category: General Sports
