Hartman won last year after two years as the runner-up. She has four first-place medals for both district and region championships. She’s won numerous other races. Her next four-year career will be at North Carolina State. But this year, even with that sense of pressure, she says she has let her Type-A, be-in-control-of-everything personality relax.
“I’m generally very specific with rituals and stuff like that, but this year I have just been embracing the fact that this is my last cross country season,” she said. “So I joke around. I talk more at races. I’m not as serious as I have been in the past. So I’m definitely not stressing as much as I usually do. It’s made it a lot more fun.”
Hartman also gained an appreciation for the team dynamic the past two seasons. Last year her team finished second in the state meet on the Obetz course near Columbus, which is the site again for this year’s championships.
“I’ve never been part of a team sport, and I didn’t really think running was where you would get a team environment,” Hartman said. “But the last couple years has really taught me that. I’ve made by best friends through cross country.”
Last year’s team was paced by Hartman, fifth-place finisher Bella Butler and eighth-place finisher Hannah Moulton. Butler, a junior, is back and now ranked the No. 2 runner in the state, but Moulton graduated.
“I’m going to try to get second,” Butler said. “I just want to run my best race possible.”
Hartman and Butler could easily finish 1-2 as they have all season. The team, which is ranked ninth in the state on milesplit.com, got the third and final state qualifying position at last Saturday’s regional meet in Troy.
After Hartman and Butler finish, they will be watching for and rooting on young teammates Katy Butler, a junior, and sophomores Neave Lynch, Gabriella Kimbrough, Floey Biteau and Sarah Connell. They usually run in a pack for most of the race. At regionals they finished within 54 seconds of each other.
“Our team is peaking for state,” Hartman said. “We’re trying to place as high as we can, so I think we can do a lot better than we’re currently ranked.”
The team atmosphere means Butler is content to run second to her teammate. She has known Hartman since she was a seventh-grader on the junior high track team.
“I’ve always really looked up to Grace from when I was in seventh grade doing track – ‘Oh, my gosh. It’s Grace Hartman’ – because she’s always been so fast. I’m really honored to be on the same team with her and run with her all the time. I’m definitely motivated by that.”
Butler has long understood the team dynamic. She has played in the Oakwood field hockey program since seventh grade. She is one of the team’s top scorers and played both sports this fall until the field hockey team lost in state tournament play last week.
“It’s really fun because I love both sports,” Butler said. “Cross country’s really a team sport and everyone doing the best they can. I don’t really get competitive with my teammates because it’s just a team effort. If everyone does individually their best, then that’s all that matters.”
Hartman and Butler, even though they know how they will probably finish in the same order as always, are rooting hard for each other at state.
“I want Grace to win,” Butler said. “She absolutely can, and she’s been working really hard for this.”
They won’t see much of each other during the race. Hartman sets the pace from the start. Butler runs with the pack and works her way up to second in the final mile of the 3.1-mile race.
“I want her to go out from the gun,” Hartman said. “I think I have even more confidence in Bella sometimes than she does. We’re just trying to run fast times, and we want the best for each other at every point. No matter what season, what race, that’s just part of being a team.”
State cross country qualifiers
Division I boys
Centerville
Coach: Casey Clark
Troy Region: 5th
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 8
Springboro
Coach: Chad Adams
Troy Region: 3rd
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 19
Area runners ranked in Milesplit.com Division I top 50
No. 5 Connor Boring, Centerville, Sr.; No. 8 Seth Elking, Miamisburg, Sr.; No. 16 Innocent Ntwali, Miamisburg, Jr.; No. 29 Keegan Freyhof, Springboro, Sr.; No. 32 Keegan Souhan, Beavercreek, Sr.; No. 38 Dillon Wooten, Fairmont, Jr.
Division I girls
Centerville
Coach: David Dobson
Troy Region: 4th
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 4
Beavercreek
Coach: Howard Russ
Troy Region: 2nd
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 6
Lebanon
Coach: Mark Bierkan
Troy Region: 5th
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 14
Area runners ranked in Milesplit.com Division I top 50
No. 4 Mia Robillard (defending state champion), Centerville, Jr.; No. 11 Abby Drosdak, Northmont, Jr.; No. 29 Grace Dailey, Beavercreek, Sr.; No. 37 Cara Mooney, Springboro, Jr.; No. 41 Keely Moore, Springboro, Jr.
Division II boys
Dayton Carroll
Coach: John Agnew
Troy Region: 1st
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 3
Dayton Oakwood
Coach: Alex Brouhard
Troy Region: 3rd
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 9
Area runners ranked in Milesplit.com Division II top 50
No. 6 Jack Agnew, Carroll, Jr.; No. 28 Seth Tivakaran, Carroll, Jr.
Division II girls
Waynesville
Coach: Jimmy Barton
Troy Region: 1st
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 6
Tippecanoe
Coach: Byron Kimmel
Troy Region: 2nd
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 8
Oakwood
Coach: Alex Brouhard
Troy Region: 3rd
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 9
Area runners ranked in Milesplit.com Division II top 50
No. 1 Grace Hartman (defending state champion), Oakwood, Sr.; No. 2 Bella Butler, Oakwood, Jr.; No. 12 Samantha Erbach, Waynesville, So.; No. 15 Annie Sinning, Tippecanoe, Sr.
Division III boys
Fort Loramie
Coach: Dennis Prenger
Troy Region: 1st
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 4
Botkins
Coach: Ryan Gutman
Troy Region: 2nd
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 6
Anna
Coach: Dean Stewart
Troy Region: 4th
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 17
Area runners ranked in Milesplit.com Division III top 50
No. 2 Hayden Schmidt, Anna, Sr.; No. 17 Colin Gasson, Fort Loramie, Sr.; No. 13 Colten Gasson, Fort Loramie, Sr.; No. 21 Alex Albers, Minster, Sr.; No. 24 Kellen Reichert, Jackson Center, Jr.; No. 35 Asher Long, Covington, So; No. 36 Caleb Sultan, Cedarville, Jr.; No. 46 Ben Rodriguez, Legacy Christian Academy, So.
Division III girls
Minster
Coach: Jessie Magoto
Tiffin Region: 1st
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 1
Fort Loramie
Coach: Dennis Prenger
Troy Region: 2nd
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 5
Anna
Coach: Dean Stewart
Troy Region: 4th
Milesplit.com state rank: No. 11
Area runners ranked in Milesplit.com Division III top 50
No. 12 Margaret Hemmelgarn, Minster, So.; No. 18 Taylor Roth, Minster, Jr.; No. 30 Claire Rethman, Fort Loramie, Sr.; No. 34 Chaney Cedarleaf, Minster, So.; No. 42 Isabella Ferriman, Dayton Christian, So.; No. 44 Haley Alig, Coldwater, Sr.
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