Teays Valley High School Athletics

“Gold medals aren’t really made of gold. They’re made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”– Dan Gable Three weeks ago, the TVXC girls left Pickerington Central with more questions than answers. They didn't run bad, but after a week off racing and returning against tough competition, the results, both individually and as a team, were perhaps something the Vikings wanted more from. Fast forward to the OCC Championship race. Same course and even tougher competition. With the defending state champions in Lancaster and two teams ranked in the top seven in their respective State Polls (Lancaster #6-Division 1, Canal Winchester #7-Division 2) toeing the line, along with other great OCC teams, the Vikings knew a tough task lay ahead of them. With much respect to their opponents, the Vikings chanted their new starting chant with their drum and Viking horn loud and proud to stir up themselves but also a buzzing crowd. The Vikings would then be led by their fearless top 4 who put themselves at the front of the race along with some of their counterparts from Lancaster and Canal Winchester. In a race that involved a switching of positions throughout, it was anyone's guess as to how the final result would end up amongst some of the most talented teams in the state. It would be Katy Zang (18:06), who would start the scoring, defending her Individual Championship from the year before to become a back to back OCC Individual Champion as she edged out her future teammate at Indiana, Harper Allen, from Lancaster, who battled and showed courage the whole race. Reese Galinger (18:48), running a confident race with a determined attitude would cross the line 3rd and Addison Keplar (19:11) would battle and show her courage and ability to hand in any race, even with the best in Central Ohio by placing 5th. Grace Thanasack continued her strong season, by driving forward and gapping the pack behind her and placed 7th to put the fourth Viking across the line before any other team could get their third across. The gap started to close as all eyes came to the next pack of runners. Charging forward over the last mile were two sisters, Kate and Julie Charter, who have sacrificed so much for the team, and it would be fitting as they passed several runners, making key moves over the 1/3 of the race, that they would secure the first OCC Championship for the Girls XC team, with Julie running a personal best of 21:06 to place 19th and Kate running a season best 21:08, placing 20th. Finishing the scoring for the Vikings would be Khloe Maxwell, who ran 22:27 (34th), who has learned so much this season as a runner and provide an energy to the team that helps get them ready each and every week. In the end, history would be made as the Vikings would score 35 points, defeating Lancaster (40 points) and Canal Winchester (56 points) in a great battle and race. The sweat, determination, and guts it took to make this happen and to make the change from where the Vikings were three weeks ago to where they were today is immeasurable. It is a testament to a group of young ladies who challenged what it was to be a person and decided that they were not afraid to be great, found their opportunity, and decided to be who they could be they would be more than what anyone thought and put together a historic race. In addition to those scoring for the Vikings, there were many personal achievements for the Vikings on the day. Also competing were the Vikings were: Josephine Bowerman (43rd-22:59, setting almost a minute PR with a strong tough race showing her talent and drive) Iris Lanas Garcia (53rd-23:47-PR) Bethany Wickline (59th-24:03-Season Best) Rialynn Carver (61st-24:06-PR) Hannah Darst (62nd-24:06-PR) Lila Merritt (66th-24:41-Season Best) Ayla Martinez (74th-25:25-Great Senior Effort) Bailie Peters (78th-25:53-Awesome and Tough Race) Maddy Greer (85th-26:48-Season Best) Kylee McClure (87th-27:16-PR) Ellie Smith (88th-27:20-PR) Mikaela Frabott (91st-27:43-PR) Hannah Daniels (92nd-27:46-PR) Chloe Brunton (98th-30:53-PR) Shaeden Wymer (99th-32:23-PR)