Frosh Conliff drops 3:22 off previous time, leads Rochester girls to 7th place at Oak Hill

Pryor on frosh DuBois after 17:17 leads to 7th place team finish: ‘He’s just beginning to get comfortable’

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Rochester runners Adison Hayes, left, and Katelyn Conliff finished 25th and 21st, respectively, at the Oak Hill Invitational Saturday. Both earned ribbons by finishing in the top 25. Conliff’s time of 21:43 and Hayes’ time of 22:10 were both personal bests

The youth movement is on with the Rochester girls and boys cross-country teams.

The frontrunner for each team is a freshman.

The Rochester girls cross-country team scored 171 points and seventh out of eight complete teams at the Oak Hill Invitational Saturday. Freshman Katelyn Conliff was 21st in 21:43, and junior Adison Hayes was 25th in 22:10, and both earned ribbons for finishing in the top 25.

Heritage Christian won with 38 points.

The Rochester boys scored 163 points and finished seventh out of 10 complete teams at Oak Hill. Freshman Warner DuBois was the frontrunner for the third time in as many high school races, finishing 10th overall in 17:17.

Senior Leandro Javier was 23rd in 18:15 and also earned a ribbon.

Oak Hill won on their home course with 37 points.

Fairfield’s Layna Stoltzfus, who ran an 18:40, and Oak Hill’s Brantley Blair, who ran a 15:18, were the individual champions.

Girls

Conliff did not run at the Jacob Graf Invitational at Logansport Aug. 24 because she was presenting at the dog show at the Indiana State Fair.

Her time drop was an astounding 3:22 from her previous meet at the Twin Lakes Invitational on Aug. 18.

“I have no doubt just with her talent that she’ll be in the mix to be our top runner every race,” Rochester coach Troy Pryor said. “I think between her, Adison Hayes and Daniela Ochoa – those three are probably going to go back and forth all year. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Katelyn as a freshman, as she gets better conditioning and gets used to the 5K, that she separates herself from those two and becomes our number one. But it wouldn’t surprise me if one of the other two was our number one either. They’re all kind of right there.”

Hayes ran a 24:14 at Twin Lakes and then missed the Logansport meet due to illness. She beat her previous personal best, set at last year’s regional at Huntington University, by 41 seconds.

“She ran very well, and she had a good strategy coming out,” Pryor said. “She said she just wanted to start conservative and start picking people off the second half of the race. I thought she executed that really well. I think it’s a good racing style for her to be even throughout the 5K instead of getting out too aggressively, and so I thought she executed her plan really well. And she’s seeing that she’s fit.”

Other Lady Z times included freshman Addisyn Malone, who was 37th in 23:08; senior Vivian Miller, who was 44th in 24:01; freshman Chloe Tyler, who was 72nd in 27:04; junior Jane Gottschalk, who was 81st in 28:51; Jocelynn Shafer, who was 87th in 33:21; and Addyson Hake, who was 88th in 37:09.

Ochoa did not run.

Last year’s top runner, Allyson Calloway, graduated and is now running at Olivet Nazarene University. Without Calloway, Pryor sees the girls developing into more of a pack running team.

“I’ve told the girls we contend for conference with the pack,” Pryor said. “And I think we have a really good, strong front four right now. If we can get them all together in the same race, I think they’ll show that, and then it’s just about getting that fifth runner up. Right now, my favorite for the fifth spot might be somebody like Chloe Tyler, who’s brand new to this. She’s improved every single meet. She’s down to 27 minutes, and I think she’s got the potential to go sub-25 or even faster.”

Boys

Rochester runners Leandro Javier, left, and Warner DuBois finished 23rd and 10th, respectively, at the Oak Hill Invitational Saturday. Both earned ribbons by finishing in the top 25. DuBois’ time of 17:17 was the fastest by any Rochester runner since 2022. Javier ran an 18:15.

DuBois has sped up in his three prep meets. His previous times included a 19:01 at Twin Lakes and an 18:10 at Logansport.

No Rochester runner has broken 17 minutes since Chris Rohr ran a 16:59 at the 2022 regional, but DuBois could be challenging that time.

“He is just learning how to race is what I would say,” Pryor said. “He’s really learning how to handle a 5K, so coming up as a freshman, he’s got some experience with the 3K. I think he’s comfortable with that distance. He’s just beginning to get comfortable with the 5K. I think he’s just starting to scratch the surface. He’ll plateau eventually, but he’s just learning how to suffer through a 5K. He’s just getting some 5K-specific training this year for the first time.

“And so it doesn’t surprise me that he’s improving a lot. I would expect a plateau sometime, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he were somewhere in the 16s by conference.”

Javier, whose teammates call him by his nickname “Arlo,” is starting to “settle into that number one, number two role,” according to Pryor. Javier ran an 18:04 at last year’s regional and is already approaching that time in August.

“He ran really well today,” Pryor said. “He had a good bounce-back mentally. So I think he’ll be there. I’ve got no worries about ‘Arlo.’ He’s just getting faster.”

Other Rochester runners included sophomore Caden Biernacki, who was 44th in 19:12; sophomore Tyson Wachtmann, who was 52nd in 19:39; freshman Parker Smith, who was 53rd in 19:41; sophomore Lucas Scorsone, who was 59th in 20:23; and freshman Tommy Schwenk, who was 82nd in 24:25.

The key for the Rochester boys getting their best score could be getting Wachtmann and Smith to catch up to Biernacki.

“I think our goal on the boys team is we have a really strong front two with Warner and Arlo, and then we really want that pack of four to include Lucas Scorsone as well, if we can push him up there a little bit,” Pryor said. “And I think Lucas has a breakout race in him at some point. But for Parker and Tyson, they absolutely need to be closer to Caden. We’re working on closing that gap. I think Tyson had a good time overall. I felt like he could have been faster. He’s got a little bit more experience having a year under his belt relative to Parker. I feel like he should have been closer to Caden today at least. … In that last mile, Tyson needs to be a little bit mentally tougher, and he can hang in there with Caden. And Parker’s doing the right things. He’s going to close that gap by the end of the year. I think he’s on the right track.”

Middle school

In the season-opening middle school meet at Oak Hill, the Rochester girls scored 126 points and placed fifth out of 10 teams. Vanessa Miller, a seventh-grader and the younger sister of Rochester High School runner Vivian Miller, finished seventh in a field of 114 runners in 13:08. Maggie Helt, a sixth-grader, was 10th overall in 13:14.

In the boys middle school race, Rochester scored 252 points and finished 10th in a 12-team field. Parker Forry and Gates Newton, both fifth-graders, were the top two Zebras in the field of 124 runners.

High schoolers lined the course and cheered on the younger runners.

“I think that’s awesome, and I think it’s great for them to see this is what you’re running for later in life too,” Pryor said. “There is another step after middle school, and I think it’s really neat for them to see the high schoolers out there on the course cheering for them. I think this is an awesome way to start the season. We’re all together. We’re one team.”

OAK HILL INVITATIONAL GIRLS RESULTS (POINTS IN PARENTHESES): Heritage Christian 38, Fairfield 62, Bluffton 73, Oak Hill 98, Southern Wells 131, Frankton 152, ROCHESTER 171, Delta 186

Rochester results (171 points, seventh place)

21. Katelyn Conliff – 21:43 (21), 25. Adison Hayes – 22:10 (25), 37. Addisyn Malone – 23:08, (35), 44. Vivian Miller – 24:01 (39), 72. Chloe Tyler – 27:04 (51), 81. Jane Gottschalk – 28:51, 87. Jocelynn Shafer – 33:21, 88. Addyson Hake – 37:09

Individual champion: Layna Stoltzfus (Fairfield) – 18:40

OAK HILL INVITATIONAL BOYS RESULTS (POINTS IN PARENTHESES): Oak Hill 37, Heritage Christian 69, Bluffton 87, Fairfield 103, Delta 108, Southern Wells 143, ROCHESTER 163, Elwood 247, Frankton 247, Madison-Grant 285

Rochester results (163 points, seventh place)

10. Warner DuBois – 17:17 (10), 23. Leandro Javier – 18:15 (23), 44. Caden Biernacki – 19:12 (39), 52. Tyson Wachtmann – 19:39 (45), 53. Parker Smith – 19:41 (46), 59. Lucas Scorsone – 20:23, 82. Tommy Schwenk – 24:25

Individual champion: Brantley Blair (Oak Hill) – 15:18