Horter was running second by about 20 yards to Olentangy Orange senior Hunter Moore when Moore collapsed. Moore got up, but it gave Horter more than enough momentum to sprint past him and to East’s second cross country title, joining Brian Godsey, who won in 1999.
“He’s just kind of the perfect storm,” East coach Adam Thomas said. “He’s obviously a very talented athlete. An athlete that has a harder work ethic than anyone I’ve ever coached. The sportsmanship that kid has is second to none.”
Horter — who routinely sticks around to shake hands and congratulate as many competitors as he can after a race — finished in 15:02.8 for a 6.1-second victory over Pickerington Central junior Matt Scrape. Horter raised his index fingers to the sky as he crossed the finish line as the state champion.
“I spent a lot of time in the hotel room praying. Meditating on today and visualizing what was going to go down,” Horter said. “My dad told me from an early stage that if you visualize what is going to happen, your muscles in your body will just know what to do. It’ll be that muscle memory.”
Horter said Moore made a strong move about 1.5 miles into the race, establishing a lead of about 20 yards. It more or less remained that way until those final 600 meters when Moore fell. Moore finished eighth.
“All of a sudden, a beam of light popped up. I was like, ‘I can reel him in. I can catch him,’ ” Horter said. “I was concerned for Hunter too. When I passed him, it was a mix of absolute excitement and feeling so bad for Hunter.”
Middletown sophomore Conant Smith finished third in 15:13.2 and met the challenge of the leaders who set an aggressive first-mile pace of 4:40.
“That was crazy,” Smith said of the blazing start. “My goal coming in was Top 10, so I surprised myself. I felt good. I have so much confidence (from this). I know what I can do now.”
Horter doesn’t know if he could have caught Moore had the leader not stumbled. But he thinks it would have been a heck of a finish. And it nearly was with Scrape’s final kick that Horter eventually matched.
“I took a deep breath and said you have got to go if you want this,” Horter said. “All I could do was thank God. I wouldn’t be where I am today without God and all His support.”
East also competed as a team and finished 14th. Fairfield senior Zach Birdsall was 60th as an individual.
In D-II boys, Badin finished eighth in its sixth trip overall and first since 2008. Seniors Josh Wolpert and Kyle Manuel led the way with finishes of 55th and 56th, respectively.
In D-I girls, Lebanon senior Jessie Hartman was 30th.
Monroe’s 1-2 punch of junior Rachel Ploeger and senior Alayna Garver secured podium finishes with Ploeger seventh and Garver grabbing the final medal spot at 20th. Both qualified for state in 2015 and are the only two runners to compete at state for the Monroe girls program.
“State meet and seventh-place overall as a junior? That’s great,” Monroe coach Seth Darrell said. “We brought two runners and put two on the podium.”
Ploeger finished 27 seconds behind the race winner and has hopes of closing that distance next season. Last year, Ploeger said she started to fall behind at the two-mile mark. When she felt herself in that same position on Saturday, she knew to pick up the pace.
She plans to build on Saturday’s additional experience for a final run at state in 2017.
“Like I did last year, I might have run a little too hard the first mile trying to be ahead of the group I was in. Next year I’m going to hold myself back a little more so I can run better late in the race,” Ploeger said. “I’m hoping to get top-five next year, if I can’t win,”
About the Author