“It’s like a pre-state meet for us basically,” Tipp coach Byron Kimmel said. “It actually may be a little bit better than state for us.”
Centerville’s girls enter ranked No. 1 in the D-II state poll and are followed by No. 7 Beavercreek, No. 8 Springboro and No. 13. Troy. Troy won the GWOC overall championship last season to snap Centerville’s three-year reign. Troy, Centerville, Springboro and Xenia won division titles last season.
In the boys meet, Centerville enters as the favorite. The Elks are ranked No. 7 in D-I and running on their home course. Tipp’s boys are also ranked in the state poll at No. 12 in D-II.
“This meet on the girls side is the deepest conference meet in the state both in the team race but also individually,” Centerville coach Dave Dobson said, adding the league has 16 girls runners that have posed sub-19 minute times on 3.1-mile courses this season.
The Red Devils have been running without one of their top runners in junior Kaili Titley. The Red Devils hope to have her back for the postseason run to form a powerful 1-2 punch with junior Katie Taylor.
“(Kaili) makes a difference. She and Katie are pretty much interchangeable,” Kimmel said. “We’ve got some girls if we can get everybody back healthy, I think we do have a shot (at winning state). We just haven’t had everyone 100 percent at the same time. … I feel like a juggler trying to keep things together until the postseason.”
Tipp returned five of the top seven runners that helped the team finish fifth at the state meet last season with Taylor, Titley, senior Makenzie Dietz, senior Laura Fink and junior Jillian Brown. Junior Stephanie Fink, who ran on the 2015 team that finished second, has been a consistent top-five runner for the Red Devils after missing the end of last season with an injury.
“They were decimated last year,” Kimmel said. “If you would have saw our tent after we finished fifth, there were a lot of tears. They take a lot of pride in maintaining this program and where it’s been. They feel a sense of obligation. That’s awesome when you get a program like that and the kids feel a sense of tradition and want to continue it.”
In addition to Gigandet, the defending GWOC champion, Springboro senior Lindsey Coffin, Centerville junior Grace Kilroy and freshman Emma Bucher, Beavercreek sophomore Taylor Ewert and Lebanon freshman Faith Duncan are among the favorites.
“I love that the GWOC meet is so strong,” Beavercreek coach Howard Russ said. “The girls’ race this year has to be the greatest race in GWOC history. Racing the best teams in the state at GWOC really gives us an advantage because when you get to regionals, and especially state, you are not as nervous because you have already raced the best. These girls all know each other and love to just go out and compete.”
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