Emily Stites wins Division II Regional Cross County Meet

Emily Stites, aka The Shadow (14th paragraph), came into her own light on Saturday to win the Regional Cross Country Meet held at Troy.  The team finished ninth.

Individual results, girls 5K Run CC Division II
Place, Name, Year, Avg Mile, Time
1 Emily Stites 12 5:58.3 18:33.03
30 Sammy Schwartz 11 6:35.5 20:28.55
70 Amelia Irvine 11 6:58.2 21:39.11
77 Noel DeMott 12 7:01.7 21:49.90
86 Katie Spray 9 7:05.8 22:02.82
91 Cynthia Reinecke 11 7:10.9 22:18.74
95 Margaret Manley 9 7:13.1 22:25.58

Enquirer article here.

TROY, Ohio – Wyoming senior Emily Stites had never beaten fellow senior Elizabeth Heinbach of Indian Hill in cross country before. Lebanon sophomore Jacquelyn Crow hadn’t been beaten in race all season.

Both of those streaks came to an end in dramatic fashion Saturday.

Stites broke away from Heinbach over the final 200 meters of the Division II race, while Princeton senior Claudia Saunders outdueled Crow at the finish line to win the Division I race at the regional meet at Troy Memorial Stadium.

The top four teams and top 16 individuals in each race qualified for the state meet at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, outside of Columbus.

Stites and Heinbach were at the front of the pack throughout their race. They were joined briefly by Celina senior Hannah Fleck but the last mile was between the two Cincinnati Hills League runners.

Heinbach won her fourth consecutive district title last week and a third straight CHL title two weeks ago. She’ll be running in her fourth consecutive state meet next week. Heinbach is the top returning runner from last year’s meet, having placed fifth.

“We know how each other runs but towards the end I had the determination and I thought this was my race and that I could do it,” said Stites. “There is obviously always been competition but it’s been a healthy competition. She’s such a great runner and I’m just thankful I get to pace off of her. But it’s definitely nice to be first.”

Stites won in 18 minutes, 33 seconds. Heinbach finished at 18:39

Full meet results here.

Next up: Emily runs in the state Division II Cross Country Championship, next Saturday at Hebron (outside of Columbus) at the National Trail Raceway.  NTR is located at 2650 National Road SW, Hebron, Ohio 43025.  Emily runs at 11:45.  Full info here.