On Sat 30 the Wildcats faced their toughest race of the year.
Running at the hardest ranked regional in Michigan was challenging. Last year’s state champions, Milford, ran at the regional, in addition to Just Switzer, the expected state champion. The odds were against the Cats.
In order to go to state, one needs to place in the top 15 at regionals. Only one runner was in that range ? Adam Richmond. Top runner for Oxford, Richmond was ranked 14th in the region.
As if the competition was not hard enough, the weather conditions were terrible. Cold, rain, and mud made for a challenging day. The course was flooded with rain from that morning and the night before. Ankle high mud suctioned runners feet to the ground and made for an excruciating race. Wet leaves on the ground cause several runners to slip and fall. Heavy wind gusts created an invisible wall that runners struggled to break through.
With a blast of a gun, a mob of a 126 runners took off. The Wildcats were in last place.
‘Run smart? ? the words of Coach Sutherland ran through the heads of the Oxford boys.
Leading the mile for Oxford was Germ’n Guerrero with a time of 5 minutes, 34 seconds. Teammates Adam Richmon and Kenny White followed closely with a 5 minutes, 35 seconds. At this point the boys had caught up to 31st, 32nd, and 33rd place ? still a long way from placing. ‘At the mile, I didn’t think I was going to make it,? said Germ’n Guerrero.
The second mile of the race was even harder then the first. Kenny White and Todd Davidson both wiped out in the second mile.
For the first time this season, the top three Oxford runners worked together to gain spots. The extreme second mile was a piece of cake compared to the last mile.
The landscape of first two miles was fairly fat, but the last mile was hilly. The Wildcats are not afraid of hills, after all their high school sits on top of a hill. Todd Davidson is Oxford’s best hill runner.
German Guerrero with a half a mile to go was in eighth place. A knee injury had bothered him the whole season. When he hit the hills, he lost a few places.
The final results were Guerrero leading the Wildcats in 12th place, Kenny White in 14th place, Adam Richmond in 22nd place, Todd Davidson in 42nd place, Brad Haney in 46th place, Adam Heskitt in 58th place, and Greg White in 69th place. The team took 5th at regionals with a 136 points. Germ’n Guerrero and Kenny White placed, and qualified for state, which is Nov. 6 at the Michigan International Speedway.