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Rochester boys pack puts 4 on all-TRC team in first conference win since 2016
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
AKRON –- In basketball, when multiple players on a successful team score in double figures, some might say that they have balanced scoring.
So is it possible for a high school cross-country team to have balanced running?
If such a thing exists, the Rochester boys cross-country team might be a paragon.
At the Three Rivers Conference meet at Tippecanoe Valley Saturday, Rochester put four runners on the all-conference team and won the title with 44 points. Manchester was second with 64 points.
Wabash, who had won the TRC each of the last four years, was third with 67 points. The conference title was Rochester’s first since 2016.
Meanwhile, the Rochester girls completed the TRC sweep – it’s their first since 2013 – by winning their third consecutive conference title with 35 points. Maconaquah was second with 44 points, and Manchester was third with 46.
Rochester won even though freshman Lucy Rangel did not run. Rangel was out due to pain after “dental work,” according to coach Eric Linn.
Every girl who ran 22:31 or better made the all-TRC team. Every boy who ran 18:16 or better made the all-TRC team.
Both individual champions hailed from Maconaquah: Abby Jordan won the girls race in 19:53, and Isaiah Wittenberg won the boys race in 16:46.
Five area girls runners made the all-TRC team: Rochester’s Madilyn Calloway, Zoe Seward, Araceli Ochoa and Kendyll Bradley and Valley’s Chesnee Miller.
Valley had incomplete girls and boys teams.
Boys
Rochester has run six races this year. Chris Rohr has been the frontrunner twice, Dylan Steininger has been the frontrunner twice, and now Peyton Hiatt has been the frontrunner twice.
And if that was not indicative enough of their balance, each has a season best of exactly 17:32.
Hiatt ran his 17:32 and finished fourth overall in a field of 61 runners behind Maconaquah’s Isaiah Wittenberg, Wabash’s Kaden Vogel and Manchester’s Raven King.
Steininger was behind Hiatt in fifth in 17:42, and Rohr took sixth in 17:52. Sophomore Wes Steininger took 10th and made the all-TRC team in a personal best 18:12. Adrian Ochoa was 20th in 19:10.
Other Rochester runners included Reece Johnson, who was 23rd in a personal best 19:36; Lane Shank, who was 34th in 20:37; Jacob Brubaker, who was 52nd in 22:15; and Pablo Lopez, who took 56th in 22:56.
Hiatt’s time was a 40-second improvement from his Culver Academy Invitational time one week earlier.
“I killed myself the first mile ... but in my third mile, I kind of started feeling my way back up,” Hiatt said. “I felt more confident in that third mile again. That second mile, I usually die off a little bit because I kill myself the first mile.”
Dylan Steininger said that he, Hiatt and Rohr view themselves as the three team leaders. He said that Adrian Ochoa, a freshman, has run more miles than when he was a freshman. And he also makes sure that younger brother Wes “follows along.”
“I’d say our first couple meets, we knew we had a good shot to beat Manchester pretty comfortably,” Dylan Steininger said. “We were kind of worried about Wabash, but we pretty much got rid of that today, I guess.”
Rochester coach Eric Linn answered in the affirmative when asked if the day met his expectations
“I had us ranked second for boys,” Linn said. “That was nice. We came out with a plan with what we wanted to do and just did it. The main one that we were looking at was Wabash.”
He credited Hiatt for having “the right mindset.” He also said that Hiatt had breakfast before a race for the first time this season.
“Today was the first one where I told the guys, ‘I don’t care about times. I don’t care about any of that. It’s just place. Where can you place? How many can we get in the top 10? How many can we get in the top 20?’ And we had five in the top 20 and ended up winning.”
Valley’s frontrunner was freshman Isaac Whetstone, who placed 28th in 19:56. Other Valley runners included Evan Myers, who was 35th in 20:49; and Eli Sterk, who was 45th in 21:48.
“He ran really well today,” Valley coach Mike Inglehearn said. “That’s a career PR (personal record) for him. That’s awesome going into sectionals next week with Manchester being a little bit flatter course. So we might be able to see a little better time out of him.”
Girls
Calloway and Seward zipped out to a lead along with Maconaquah’s Abby Jordan.
Three Manchester runners – Kadence Fox, Ayla Cashdollar and Josie Briner – followed close behind those three.
Miller was behind those three, and Araceli Ochoa was behind her.
Jordan would pull away and win in 19:53.
Calloway, running in her second race of the year after recovering from a stress fracture, was second in 20:09, a 12-second improvement from her Culver Academy time. Seward was third in 20:19.
Then came Fox, Cashdollar and Briner. Miller was seventh in 21:25. Ochoa, also running in her second race of the year after recovering from a stress fracture, was eighth in 21:34.
Maconaquah’s Lucy Loshnowsky, Samantah Jones, Lauren Driscoll and Aubrey McClain finished ninth, 11th, 13th and 14th, respectively.
Manchester’s Kambree Cashdollar was 12th in 22:31.
But Bradley was 10th in 22:09. That meant that the fifth Rochester runner had to finish in 23rd place or better to win the trophy.
That fifth Rochester runner was Elena Bode, who was 16th in 23:02. Game over.
Calloway made the all-TRC team for the fourth straight year. She was in a walking boot for about a month and started to run in early September. She said she wasn’t sure if she would be able to run this season.
“The pain first started after track state, and I wasn’t diagnosed until the end of July,” Calloway said. “It’s like a sharp pain in a certain spot, and sometimes it would be in different spots. I think that’s because I had multiple small stress fractures. But one was the worst.”
Said of Linn of Calloway: “There’s still more in there. I don’t think she’s done a real workout yet. It’s just what can she do? Once she starts doing a few workouts, that time will continue to drop.”
Bode was asked if she put more pressure on herself with Rangel out.
“She was going to be our fourth person, so then it was either me or Maddie (Heinzmann) to be the fifth, so I wanted to make sure that we did win and not accidentally lose to Maconaquah or Manchester,” Bode said.
Other Rochester runners included Heinzmann, who was 19th in 23:22, and Maddy Brouyette, who was 46th in 31:06.
Heinzmann said she has been dealing with right knee pain all season. But she added that “everything is mind over matter.”
“It feels pretty nice to win it three years, and next year maybe winning it for the fourth time in a row,” Heinzmann said. “It was stressful because I was like, we have to do good or we will lose it. Elena obviously picked it better than me, which I’m happy for because she’s a senior and it’s her last year. So I’m not so upset because I didn’t do as well as I wanted to.”
Linn said he expects Rangel back for this Saturday’s Manchester sectional. Rangel has run a season-best 21:28.
“She’ll be back next week,” Linn said. “It’s just some dental work that she had on Monday. It was just too painful for her to run.”
In addition to Miller’s time, freshman Bailey Bussard was 15th in 22:50, and Maria Henderson was 38th in 26:48.
“Bailey’s coming on strong,” Inglehearn said. “A top 15 finish today is awesome for the competition that the conference has right now.”
TRC girls meet results (points in parentheses): Rochester 35, Maconaquah 44, Manchester 46, Northfield 96, Whitko 143
Incomplete teams: Peru, Tippecanoe Valley, Wabash, North Miami
No team: Southwood
Rochester results (35 points, champions)
2. Madilyn Calloway – 20:09 (2), 3. Zoe Seward – 20:19 (3), 8. Araceli Ochoa – 21:34 (7), 10. Kendyll Bradley – 22:09 (9), 16. Elena Bode – 23:02 (14), 19. Maddie Heinzmann – 23:22, 46. Maddy Brouyette – 31:06
Valley results
7. Chesnee Miller – 21:25, 15. Bailey Bussard – 22:50, 38. Maria Henderson – 26:48
All-TRC girls (top 12): 1. Abby Jordan (Maconaquah) – 19:53, 2. Madilyn Calloway (Rochester) – 20:09, 3. Zoe Seward – 20:19, 4. Kadence Fox (Manchester) – 20:47, 5. Ayla Cashdollar (Manchester) – 20:57, 6. Josie Briner (Manchester) – 21:13, 7. Chesnee Miller (Valley) – 21:25, 8. Araceli Ochoa (Rochester) – 21:34, 9. Lucy Loshnowsky (Maconaquah) – 21:38, 10. Kendyll Bradley (Rochester) – 22:09, 11. Samantha Jones (Maconaquah) – 22:23, 12. Kambree Cashdollar (Manchester) – 22:31
TRC boys meet results (points in parentheses): Rochester 44, Manchester 64, Wabash 67, Maconaquah 89, Northfield 138, Peru 139, Southwood 148
Incomplete teams: Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko, North Miami
Rochester results (champions, 44 points)
4. Peyton Hiatt – 17:32 (4), 5. Dylan Steininger – 17:42 (5), 6. Chris Rohr – 17:52 (6), 10. Wes Steininger – 18:12 (10), 20. Adrian Ochoa – 19:10 (19), 23. Reece Johnson – 19:36, 34. Lane Shank – 20:37, 52. Jacob Brubaker – 22:15, 56. Pablo Lopez – 22:56
Valley results
28. Isaac Whetstone – 19:56, 35. Evan Myers – 20:49, 45. Eli Sterk – 21:48
All-TRC boys (top 12): 1. Isaiah Wittenberg (Maconaquah) – 16:46, 2. Kaden Vogel (Wabash) – 16:56, 3. Raven King (Manchester) – 17:25, 4. Peyton Hiatt (Rochester) – 17:32, 5. Dylan Steininger (Rochester) – 17:42, 6. Chris Rohr (Rochester) – 17:52, 7. Kaden Miller (Maconaquah) – 17:58, 8. Daylen Schrock (Maconaquah) – 18:06, 9. Cade Jones (Manchester) – 18:10, 10. Wes Steininger (Rochester) – 18:12, 11. Lane Stetzel (Manchester) – 18:16.0, 12. Aiden Stewart (Peru) – 18:16.8
The Rochester girls and boys cross-country teams swept the Three Rivers Conference titles at the conference meet at Tippecanoe Valley on Oct. 2. It was the girls team’s third straight conference title and the boys team’s first since 2016. It also marked the first time Rochester swept both titles for the first time since 2013.
Rochester’s Peyton Hiatt, right, and Dylan Steininger come out of the woods during the Three Rivers Conference meet at Tippecanoe Valley on Oct. 2. Hiatt and Steininger finished fourth and fifth, respectively, and joined teammates Chris Rohr and Wes Steininger on the all-TRC team.
Evan Myers
Rochester’s Madilyn Calloway (3713) and Maconaquah’s Abby Jordan (3680) and Rochester’s Zoe Seward (back) run in the lead pack at the Three Rivers Conference meet at Tippecanoe Valley Oct. 2. Jordan won the race while Calloway was second and Seward third. Calloway made the all-TRC team for the fourth straight year, and Seward made it for the third straight year. Rochester won their third straight team title.
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