Let's talk Ohio HS XC

Is the course the same as it has been in recent years? Exceptional times if the course has not changed. Lancaster has always been a challenging course compared to most.

Sorry Ohio T&F. I posted before seeing your post pointing out the same as me.

Yeah, but you ask a good question I didn’t think about - was the course the same?

Same hills, same bridges, same loops. Different start and finish though. Last year was the 1st year with this new layout.

I love it! Go Warriors!

juYouranobservorYo

Your guys continue to look good. However, I see Kilbourne gaining on you guys (Miller now firmly ahead of your 2-5, and Hawkins ahead of your 3). AND, Coffman moving past Kilbourne, who beat them at Pick N. Oh Yeah, AND Lancaster is basically even with both.

I'd be careful... WN was the rage early last year in Central OH after Davidson, but then was nowhere to be found in the postseason.

You don't want to be moving backward...

Was waiting for someone to mention this. North wasn’t as dominant today vs Coffman and Kilbourne. If Kilbourne had a runner with Knuth(which they normally do), they would have been within 20 points of North. That 2-5 pack that North has seems to be slowly coming back down to earth. Still the #1 team in Columbus, but Kilbourne Coffman and Lancaster are inching closer.

So you think WN has already peaked? Hopefully they've learned from last season and will not repeat the same mistakes.

I didn’t say that, but like you said, they have a history. It is only 1 race, but it’s hard to not mention it when North has the reputation they have.

It's not like it's August. Six weeks from now we will have crowned the 2023 State Champions.

I'll say that Westerville North looked as good as ever in the Lancaster meet with their placement of their 2-5 runners. They remain the team to beat in the SE Regional.

I have been waiting a while to make the prediction on the individual champ at Obetz in November: Ricchiuti or Gabelman?

At this point, I will say . . . Gabelman.

It’s Gabelman for sure. Ricchuiti hasn’t quite looked like, well…Ricchuiti. Couple individuals losses already this season to guys he probably should have beat, while Gabelman has looked untouchable. Those 2 + Smith McMahon Trapp and maybe Landon Kimmel will all battle for it.

I am considering a prediction of the top 5-6 and indeed, am thinking Kimmel could (should?) be included in that mix. Day may be sixth or just outside of it. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am considering Day as finishing somewhere in the range of places 7-12 at Obetz in November.

I know that McMahon had that top race and beat Ricchiuti but I want to wait on including him in the top six: What is his history? He is a new name to me and I wasn't even aware of him before the MSU meet.

I see now--McMahon qualified as an individual to the state meet last year and finished #67 with a time of 16:35 at Obetz in November. Wow, he has really stepped it up from junior year to senior year. Is his story like an Innocent Ntwali story?

A brief aside: I was looking at the CC roster for the University of Cincinnati and I am curious to see how they do in the next 2 to 3 to 4 seasons. They've picked up a lot of local prep standouts who were big on the state stage in the past 1-2 years: Gianni Allwein, Seth Elking, Bobby Ganser, Wyatt Houchens, Santino Ramos (not local, but still), Isaac Schachleiter.

Yeah I honestly agree with your hesitation on McMahon. I included him more because he is a hot name at the moment after beating Ricchuiti.

If I’m predicting the individual results right now, I’d go

1. Gabelman

2. Ricchuiti

3. Smith

4. Trapp

And then it gets a little crazy. McMahon and Kimmel are running well as of late, but like you said, they aren’t as proven as some other names in the mix. Is anyone going to argue that Eli Ilg doesn’t have a shot at the top 5? He beat Trapp at the Hot Summer Bash. Or Rudraraju, who admittedly seems to be having issues at the moment(lost to his teammate a week ago?), but is obviously a proven name with solid results in the past. Tons of time left before it’s all said and done, I personally would only lock Gabelman Ricchuiti and Smith in the top 5.

I completely agree, hence, my hesitation to declare a top six prediction just yet.

I would include those three names in my top 5/6 as well (I am leaning towards including Trapp in my top six). I can agree with your top four in that order. It seems that Smith has largely gotten over his dropping out issues, which is a very nice thing to see.

I want to wait and see but I should commit to a prediction before we get into the championship gauntlet of conference-district-regional by mid-October.

Maybe give it one more week since we'll see Ricchuiti race Gabelman and Smith next week at Berlin

Nice! Thanks for the heads-up on that. We'll see how Berlin plays out.