The Seashore Striders made its 30th consecutive trip to the Cross Country Coaches Youth Nationals last weekend in Shelbyville, Ind., as the team enjoyed one of its best performances in club history. The Striders had 12 runners finish in the top 25 in their age group, and six of them were in the top 10.
“For many years a lot of our kids were just content with making it to Nationals, but now we have runners who not only want to make it, but want to race well and finish up top in the race,” said coach Dan MacElrevey.
Coach Derek Shockro has handled the 9-10 girls for the past few years, and this year the Striders ran a team of six 9-year-olds and one 10-year-old, finishing eighth overall among teams.
“Most of the teams that beat us were heavy on having 10-year-olds, and we were heavy on having 9-year-olds,” said Shockro. “When looking at scoring just the 9-year-olds, we had the best team in the meet.”
The top individual place for the Striders was 6-year-old Nolan Furlong, who finished sixth overall in a time of 10:10 for 2,000 meters. The Striders had five runners who finished seventh overall, which seemed to be the lucky number for the team. Six-year-old Addie Dean was first to grab the lucky seven, as she ran 10:39 for the 2K distance.
Loralie Freese, out of Nebraska, but a Striders runner from Dover Air Force Base, joined us to finish seventh in the 8-year-old girls’ race in a good time of 8:54, while Allison Ortiz moved up to the 3K distance to lead her team with a seventh-place finish in 12:45. Ortiz ran her second mile 155 seconds faster than her first and moved past 25 girls in the process to earn her first appearance on stage among the 9-year-old girls.
Ryan Baker was seventh as well among the 14-year-olds in a personal best 4K time of 13:47, while Caughnery Freese was seventh in 14:13 in the 13-year-old race. Brady Sherman finished 18th among 8-year-olds in a time of 8:49 as he made his first trip to the Nationals.
Emmi Swope was 22nd in 13:34 among 9-year-olds. Alexander Zabel finished eighth in 11:21 among the 11-year-olds, while Faith Mitchell was 12th in 15:23 in the 13-year-old girls’ race, which converts to a 19:23 for an impressive 5K in tough rainy conditions. Katie Kuhlman was 15th in 15:41, which would have put her at 19:52 for the 5K distance. Blake Fitzgerald was 24th in 11:54 in his race.
All 12 Seashore Striders runners were involved in the Youth All-American Ceremony following the race as they were announced on stage in front of the crowd.
Other Striders running well in the meet were as follows: Mia Thompson, 28th in 13:51; Olivia Montini, 28th in 20:28; Erin Noonan, 30th in 13:56; Bri Thompson, 30th in 16:21; Justin Friscia, 30th in 14:32; Shiloh O'Grady, 33rd in 13:17; Chris Friscia, 34th in 13:00; Ariana Adili-Khams, 35th in 16:47; Liza Williams, 37th in 14:10; Gretchen Maughan, 38th in 14:11; Elizabeth Melson, 38th in 20:49; Abigail Zabel, 40th in 16:54; Jakob Hayes, 40th in 14:47; Julian Calloway, 40th in 17:48; Jorga Willey, 41st in 16:55; Emily Trout, 42nd in 21:07; Mia Nuebling, 44th in 21:13; David Wootten, 46th in 18:04; Caleb Bradley, 47th in 18:13; Josephine Ledford, 48th in 21:16; Lilly Noonan, 51st in 12:37; Ainsley Fitzgerald, 56th in 10:11; Cody Kuhlman, 67th in 10:19; Izaac Willey, 69th in 10:32; Alexander Arnold, 69th in 15:45; Joel Denham, 70th in 13:50; Tristian Willey, 71st in 13:15; Bennett Brumbley, 90th in 12:14; Hunter Mitchell, 98th in 20:32; Braden Trout, 107th in 17:16; Jack Louden, 117th in 14:16; and Stephen Hart, 129th in 19:03.
