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Rain forces cross country postponement

A state cross country course with low-lying areas and a majority of the parking on grass with very few gravel or pavement spots, was considered by some a disaster waiting to happen

Then came what some saw as the inevitable.

Mother Nature finally got the best of the state cross country meet at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, as the Ohio High School Athletic Association on Thursday’s postponed Saturday’s state meet to Nov. 10.

Constant rains and flooding conditions on the National Trail Raceway course prompted the move by the OHSAA to delay the meet one week.

“While I wholeheartedly understand the impact this move has for all those involved in the event, this is the best solution for the safety and well-being of our participating student-athletes,” OHSAA Executive Director Jerry Snodgrass said in a news release. “National Trail Raceway has closed the course due to flooding with the ongoing rain we have had in central Ohio, so the conditions will hopefully be much better by next weekend.”

The state meet was moved from Scioto Downs after the 2010 state event to National Trail Raceway, about 40 minutes east of Columbus, because the OHSAA opposed live gambling on the site. Scioto Downs halted gambling operations during the cross country event in previous years, but said it wouldn’t do so going forward, which prompted the change in venue.

The postponement is stunning to some coaches, like McDonald girls mentor Mike Richards, whose team placed second at last week’s Division III Boardman Regional.

“We always tell our kids, expect the unexpected,” Richards said. “During races we tell them to expect the unexpected. I guess this is a great example of it.”

Both Mineral Ridge coach Ron Toth, whose girls team finished third at the D-III Boardman Regional, and Richards said adjustments have to be made due to the change.

Hotel reservations have to be altered. Richards said the president and vice president of the McDonald booster club was on the phone making those changes. Thursday’s annual pasta dinner before the state meet was put on hold. Basketball coaches have to wait longer for distance runners to come to practice.

“Those are little things, but it’s a lot of stuff like that you don’t think about,” Richards said.

“There has to be phone calls all across the state of Ohio that are happening at this time,” Toth said.

McDonald is embracing the extra time. The Blue Devils, both boys and girls, are running some of their best times of the season. This helps for the recovery time from running in the mud at Boardman last Saturday, something none of the other three regional sites experienced.

“We’re going to take the approach that we’re liking it,” Richards said.

Howland boys coach Dan Libert said his senior Vinny Mauri, one of the top Division I runners in the state, is no longer competing at the Nike Cross Regional Midwest Meet Nov. 11 in Terre Haute, Ind.

The move does not affect the Mideast Meet of Champions, where top seniors from Ohio, Michigan and Indiana face off against one another. This year, it is Nov. 17 in Kettering, Ohio.

“Nothing like this is ever good,” Libert said of the postponement. “There’s no sense focusing on the negative. We’re going to look at the positive. We’re going to get in a little bit of work in this week and work on pointing toward the meet.

“It’s like anything that goes on during the race, you learn to overcome and adapt. We’re going to be all positive about this because negative won’t help you.”

If the course is not ready by Nov. 10, will the OHSAA find another site?

“All I know is we’re going to prepare to run on this course,” Libert said.

Is there a possibility the OHSAA finds a new state venue for 2019 and beyond? Toth hopes that happens.

“There are other venues that could host and host well across the state,” Toth said. “I’m going to plead ignorance, personally, about which of those venues would be better than others, but certainly there has to be something.”

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