Amelia freshman Maddie Walker poses after coming in fifth place at the Division I regional meet.

Amelia freshman Maddie Walker poses after coming in fifth place at the Division I regional meet.
By Chris Chaney
Sports Editor

Amelia’s Maddie Walker and Felicity-Franklin’s Jared Boeckmann will represent Clermont County at this weekend’s state cross country championships at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio east of Columbus.

Both Walker and Boeckmann finished in the top-16 of their respective regional races at Troy to earn the right to run for a state title on Nov. 7.

Walker, a freshman, finished in fifth place in the Division I girls race. Her time of 18:17.7 was one second slower than her district-winning time of 18:16.6, but also a lesson learned as she prepares to race for a state title.

“(Maddie) went into the (regional) race with a different goal than most of the other people in the race,” Amelia head cross country coach Shane Heikenfeld said. “She hasn’t lost all year. We knew there was the girl from Troy (Morgan Gigandet) who was No. 1 in the state and we knew the girl from Centerville (Lainey Studebaker) was the returning state champion from last year. We went in with the idea that we hadn’t raced these two people before, so we discussed it and (decided) our goal was to try and win it, not sit back or do anything different, just stick with the usual strategy and learn a little bit about the competition.”

Heikenfeld said that Walker’s expended energy in the beginning part of the race in an effort to keep pace with Gigandet may have cost her some spots in the final standings, but more importantly, it gave her a better idea of what it would take this coming week to compete for a state title.

Gigandet would end up setting a regional record, finishing with a time of 17:38.6, by far the best time in the state across the Division I regionals.

“At first, (Maddie) was upset with her place, but we explained to her that it was just her and (Gigandet) who were trying to win,” Heikenfeld said. “It probably hurt her overall place a little bit, but it also taught her a lot about what she’s going to be competing against.

“I think we have our best ahead for the state meet because now she’s got a better idea (of what is needed) and it took a lot of pressure off of her to not win a race.

“We’re going in there to try and win state — that’s the goal — but we’re going to try to approach it in a different way now that we know what we’re up against.”

Walker’s race is slated for 12:30 p.m.

Immediately following the Division I girls race, Felicity-Franklin’s Boeckmann will line up for his chance at a state title.

Boeckmann finished in 10th place in the Division III Troy regional, running the 5k in 16:40.0, 34 seconds behind regional champion Brady McBride of Newton Local.

Boeckmann is trending in the right direction after shaving more than 20 seconds off of his district time.

The Division III race is at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 7.

Three other local runners qualified for the regional tournament individually — Amelia’s Morgan Walsh, Felicity-Franklin’s Kaitlin Sharp and Bethel-Tate’s Jackson Coates — and the New Richmond girls’ team qualified as a team.

Walsh finished in 41st place in Division I. Sharp finished 111th in DIII and Coates finished 27th in DII.

The New Richmond girls came in 14th place and were led by Caitlin Biehle who finished in 31st individually.

Complete regional meet results are available at ohsaa.org.