SETTING THE SCENE: The Eagles finished 8th of twelve teams at the Kings Invite last week. Now, the Milford boys cross country team will take a relatively rested team to the Ross Invitational, the last regular meet of the season prior to the Eastern Cincinnati Conference Championship.
A LOOK BACK: Clayton Virzi led the Eagles at the Kings Invitational last week, as he crossed the finish in 18:03, good for 34th place. In what could be called a photo finish, teammates Sean Vonderhaar and Luke Schneider both are listed with times of 18:15.160, but the edge went to Vonderhaar who was listed in 41st place, followed by Schneider in 42nd. Karl Chavez, who set a new personal season best (19:42) placed 68th overall. The trio of Cooper Stooksbury (73rd), Casey Rhoades (75th) and Will Stout all finished within ten seconds of each other.
Indian Hill ran away with the team championship, past the three ECC teams of Kings, Loveland and Anderson. Turpin finished sixth, and Milford ended the day in eighth. For the second week in a row, Joseph Ingram of Anderson won the top individual spot.
THE WEEK AHEAD: The Eagles, who have been idle since the Kings Invite, will have had some rest before heading into the final regular season run at the Ross Invitational. The Ross invite is scheduled for Saturday, October 8th, and racing will begin at 9:00 am.
INSIDE THE ECC: The top five runners for Milford rank in the top fifty of the ECC Standings for boys cross country. Harris Craycraft (11th) and Clayton Virzi (t-12th) held their positions this week. Peter Kroeger is now 20th, while Sean Vonderhaar ranks 22nd in the ECC. Fifth man Luke Schneider ranks 40th in the conference.
POLL WATCH: Just one change occurred in week six of the Cincinnati Enquirer area coaches’ poll and it involved Kings of the ECC. The top four remain unchanged; St. Xavier, Mason, LaSalle and Elder. Kings, previously ranked sixth, moved past Lebanon for fifth. Loveland maintained their eighth place ranking, and Turpin fell to tenth from ninth. Milford re-entered the poll this week with four votes, joined by Walnut Hills (3) and Anderson (2).