SPARTA — Fredericktown’s Sarah Fowler and Emily Roberts finished first and second, respectively, among the high school girls at Tuesday’s Highland School Invitational Cross Country Meet.
Despite the Top 2 finishes, it was Northmor which took first among the girls as a team. There was still plenty to shout about, however. Fowler (20:12.3) and Roberts (21:12.5) beat Northmor’s Dani Blum (third, 21:48.5), who had defeated both of them in the Northmor Invitational two weeks ago. Tuesday, it was Fowler’s and Robert’s turn — and both gave an inspired performance.
“When we came out of the woods the first time, I really picked it up on the hill,” Fowler said. “It just worked. It was one of our strategies.”
In the final mile of the race, it was a few words from Roberts to Fowler that put the spark into both girls.
“When I finally caught up to (Fowler), I said, ‘Let’s speed up the race a little bit — make it fun,’” said Roberts. “I told her, ‘Go get it.’”
“I went out harder than normal, so I guess it worked,” said Fowler. “(Emily) wasn’t too far behind. We were a strong 1-and-2.”
It was a great gesture by Roberts, who has been under the weather and not feeling her best.
“Emily has been sick so that was great for her and both of them to dominate like that,” said Fredericktown coach Bob Geiger. “That was nice to see and our young girls really feed off of that.”
Some clouds rolled through but there was little rain to dampen Highland’s first home meet in several years. The course, which was only finalized on Monday, was an opportunity to show off the newly-remade Highland campus.
