Demons cruise at Fairfield

The Washington cross-country team took advantage of the beautiful weather on Thursday night, and came away with a great night of results in Fairfield.

The Demon girls? team sent 15 runners to the meet, and came away with 15 personal bests (PRs) as they combined for a third-place finish in the varsity meet.

Washington was led by sophomore Brooke Stout, who took eighth place with a 21:15, while senior Emme Keith ran a 21:20 to take 10th.

Washington freshman Molly Sparks knocked off 42 seconds from her previous best time, running a 23:06, good for 17th place at the meet.

?Molly has always been a good longer runner,? Washington cross-country head coach Steve Roth said. ?Her speed hasn?t always been there, but she?s starting to get used to this. Her confidence level is high now, and it was a good night for her. It was a good night for the girls altogether. We had 15 girls run, and every one of them PR?d. Some of the girls even ran faster at 3.1 (miles) than they did at 2.5.?

Maggie Voss ran a 23:51 (21st) in her first meet of the season, followed by Meredith Raber, who took 23rd with a 24:10.

Lexi Redlinger finished in 30th place with a 26:33, while sophomore Morgan Brinning took 34th place with a 27:05.

This race marked the third time the Demon girls ran at the new 3.1 mile race distance which was changed in the offseason, and Roth said the team is really warming up to it.

?It hasn?t affected them,? Roth said. ?It?s just the beginning (of the season), but it doesn?t seem that much farther. That?s out of their mind right now, and we are trying to improve their times each week they go out. It?s nice to have one meet a week. It really helped us to have a solid practice and rest for a week.?

The Demon boys finished in sixth place as a team, but had five members PR at the meet.

Owen Horak ran an 18:40 to lead the Demons, taking 16th place overall at the meet, and was followed up by sophomore Brennan Horak, who ran an 18:57 for 21st place.

Jacob Van Osdol had a strong meet, finishing with a time of 19:39 to take 30th place overall, on a night that Roth said had no negatives for his teams.

?There are no negatives in cross-country,? Roth said. ?When you finish 3.1 miles, there is no negative. Jacob is stronger than he was last year and he?s really performing at the level we thought he could. We are trying to run our own race.?

Ben Loy and Ben Schiefer finished back-to-back, with Loy taking 44th with a 21:11 and Schiefer taking 45th with a time of 21:18.

Andres Gutierrez finished in 47th place with a 22:18, while Kiowa Keith rounded out the top 7 with a 22:20 for 48th place.

?We didn?t get out as fast as I would like them to,? Roth said. ?We lose contact (with the leaders) earlier than we should with the boys. You have to stay with that top bunch longer.?

After a strong set of meets for the Demons, Roth noted that his young squad will have to stay mentally mature so they don?t experience any setbacks later in the season. If they can do that, they have the chance to jump out and surprise teams later in the season.

?They have to keep on top of things,? Roth said. ?We have to find some different workouts to keep them fresh, but we are excited. The way everyone is competing, it?s not that they haven?t been fun to watch, but these kids expect more out of themselves. Their confidence is pretty high.?