By Skip Weaver

Contributing Writer

CLAYTON – Despite challenging weather conditions during Saturday’s Division I district cross country meet at the Miami Valley Career Technology Center, Middletown’s Will Parsons felt like it was just another day at the beach.

Parsons described running in the rain and mud as “running in wet sand on a beach,” but whether or not he was freezing cold or sweating in the sun, the senior will get another opportunity to put an exclamation point on his final high school season.

Parsons qualified in ninth place with a time of 17 minutes, 43 seconds in the Division I B Race to move onto next week’s regional meet at Troy’s Hobart Arena.

“It was definitely an interesting race,” Parsons said. “Some people pay $50 to run in races like and we got to do it for free.”
Parsons said he actually feel at the start of the race, but was able to recover quickly.

“I miss-stepped, but I was able to get up quick enough to not hurt anything,” Parsons said. “I qualified for next week and that’s what is important.”

Middletown coach Dave Fultz said Parsons is the “perfect example” of what hard work will do for an athlete.

“He has grown both physically and in maturity since his freshman year,” Fultz said. “He has really worked hard and had a heck of a year. He came into this meet in ninth place on paper and that’s exactly where he finished. I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Parsons was a regional qualifier last season as a junior, but did not make it to the state meet as he finished in 66^th place in a time of 17:13.78.

The season also will continue for Middletown Christian’s Becca Wheeeler. The senior finished sixth overall in the Division III district race at the Voice of America Park in West Chester Township on Saturday. Wheeler ran the race in 20:43.01.

She has been to the regional meet three straight years now and was a state qualifier as a junior when she placed 57^th overall (19:53.15).

The Fenwick cross country teams’ didn’t fare as well. Their seasons came to an end Saturday in the Division II district meet at VOA Park.

The Fenwick boys scored 216 points to place ninth out of nine teams. Individually, Eric Leyda was the top finisher in 19^th place in a time of 18 minutes, 37.21 seconds. Ryan Kolb (20:01.08) in 50^th place was the second-best placer for the Falcons.

The Falcons girls scored 128 points to finish fifth in the team standings. Sophomore Haley Hayek was the top placer in 18^th place overall with a time of 22:49.36. Elise Earhart (23:28.2) and Gracie Grimes (23:38.89) finished 24^th and 25^th respectively for Fenwick.

Click on Parsons, Wheeler returning to regional cross country meet to see more on this story.