Mount Vernon News

JOHNSTOWN — Johnstown High School’s Jeremy Hornick and Stephanie Loshbaugh won the boys and girls races, respectively, at the 2008 Northridge Invitational Cross Country Meet, held at the Sportsman’s Club on Wednesday.

Loshbaugh led the Johnstown girls to a team victory with the win. The Johnnies’ 32 points bested Heath (64) and New Albany (93). Utica (103) was fourth in the girls division, followed by East Knox (171) and Northridge (181).

In the boys division, Utica and East Knox finished tied with their top five runners scoring 61 points.

In the tiebreaker, Utica’s sixth runner finished 26th, beating East Knox’ sixth runner, who was 34th, so the Utica boys took home the gold. Johnstown’s boys were third with 68 points followed by Northridge (fifth, 127 points).

Hornick, who ran a 17:53, looked as though he was in complete command of the race by the halfway point as he started stretching his lead over the rest of the pack.

“It didn’t feel like it,” he said. “I felt worse than that. This race is one of the hardest right now. The heat was a big factor. You see, I have asthma. I was breathing hard over by the woods. I think that was the part that killed me the most. I took my inhaler before the race. I think it helps.”

Dylan Wheeler of Utica was second with a time of 18:27 and Michael Derringer (18:44) of Northridge was third. Matt Wall of Johnstown (fourth, 18:51), Joey Montoya of East Knox (fifth, 19:13), Tyler Harriman of Utica (sixth, 19:16), Paul Blanchard (eighth, 19:42) and Steven Gilbraith of Utica (ninth, 20:03) round out the local runners finishing in the top 10.

Loshbaugh, a freshman who chalked up her first high school win with this race, ran with a great deal of poise and passed a few runners in the second half of the race to capture the top spot for girls.

The fact that she is also playing soccer and trains everyday has to help her endurance.

“At the end, I thought that the girl was going to catch up to me so I sprinted,” said Loshbaugh. “I usually sprint, but it is hard. Erin (Radigan) and I ran in a pack, then I left the pack and took off. I just kept thinking, ‘This is all I have to do today, and then I can go home and sleep.’”

Radigan was third with a time of 22:30. Kelly Dobbins of East Knox was fifth with a 23:22 finish. Following her were Ashley Mast of Johnstown (sixth, 23:28), Jessie Leaman (eighth, 23:22) and Karlee Michel (10th, 23:51).

Johnstown coach Eric Hamner was pleased with his whole team.

“We raced well on Saturday and we were a little banged up,” said Hamner. “Today, we had them do the first mile a little slower and run as a pack — a little more like a team — and work through it. On that third mile, they are on their own. We need to work some injuries and stay healthy. If we do, I think that we will be tough at the end of the year.”

Utica coach Elizabeth Eddinger, whose boys team took top honors, could not have been more pleased.

“They did awesome,” Eddinger said. “It was hot and air quality was bad. They stuck together throughout the race; their time showed up pretty well.”

For Northridge coach and meet organizer Mike Dudgeon, there was little time for coaching.

“It went real well,” said Dudgeon. “We had 10 schools. The weather is a little hot, but the kids are doing well, The Sportsman’s Club provides the facility and they provide all the awards. All of the kids earn a reward of some type. They provide bottled water for the kids. The parents and kids bring in refreshments. Every kid who runs here gets plenty of cookies and fruit. It is a good friendly event.”