Sophia Lanno and Riya Shah
eSomethin Staff
The wind was blazing against their faces. They were panting near the end, with freshly manicured hair and glitter. They were racing for the Ohio State Championship in cross country.
Crossing the finish line once again, Perrysburg High School has managed to win the state championship not for the first time, but for the second time in the past three years.
Nearly two hours away from home, the Perrysburg Yellow Jackets took home the win at Fortress Obetz memorial Park on November 4, 2023.
The Yellow Jackets clinched the first place victory through the efforts of the varsity team runners along with the support of the whole team behind them. Five of the Yellow Jackets placed in this championship race with Hannah Kersten coming in 8th place (18:19:37), Ava Beeks coming in 10th place (18:22.14), Natalie Sanders coming in 22nd place (18:39.05), Anna Dalton coming in 63rd place (19:28.42), and Kaelyn Becken coming in 65th place (19:29.46).
The team had won this esteemed championship title back in 2021, and managed to achieve it a second time this year. Hannah Kersten, a senior runner, reveals that, “[the team] went into the race with the knowledge that we were one of the top teams, but 1st place was not our end all be-all goal.”
Kersten credits the victory to the depth of the team, the strength of the program, and the experience of the coaches. She said, “our coaches willingly show up to run with us everyday and their words contribute to the strength in our attitudes and motivation.”
A love of running has bloomed in Kersten due to the healthy team dynamic at Perrysburg, inspiring to keep on running. She is set to continue her Cross Country/Track career at Cornell University next fall.
Kersten details the steps that were taken in order for the team to prepare for this difficult and demanding race.
Kersten said, “our coach told us to prepare to push through the race”, a tactic that clearly had immense success. The girls were also instructed to sleep, eat healthy, and drink lots of water. Kersten comments that, “I realized that I was not running for myself, but for my teammates and friends.”
Although some runners were not put in until the very last second, they managed to get prepared quickly.
Senior Taylor Moody, who ran as an alternate, said “honestly I felt like it gave me a whole new feeling of motivation to work harder in the sense that my position was in jeopardy.”
Finding a new found sense of purpose, Moody said she ran her hardest.
Moody stated that she, “…pushed [herself] to her fullest potential because [she] wanted to end [her] senior year of racing at the state meet.” Like most seniors, this was an accomplishment and a goal to meet. While Moody is not running in college she plans to run for fun.
Some members of the Cross Country team plan on continuing their season running indoor track in the winter and regular season in the spring. Even with some seniors saying goodbye to this team and moving onto bigger things, keep an eye on the Perrysburg runners next season!
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