Plymouth’s Kyle Thoden (30) leads this pack of runners at last night’s Marshall County Cross Country Meet held at Triton High School. Pilot Photo/Anthony Gadson

BOURBON - There was no conference or sectional championship on the line, only county pride.

Marshall County boys and girls cross country teams convened at Triton High School last night, taking part in the county meet.

For Plymouth, a Northern Lakes Conference school, the county meet remains on the schedule, even after the NLC meet was moved to the following Saturday.

“It's a matter of heritage and prestige to stay in the county meet, although, I thought, for us in conference,
it may be better to pull out and not be here,” Plymouth coach Allen Shockney said. “But it's just a matter of honor, I guess, to stay here. And it's fun to run against your fellow Marshall County people.”

By staying in the meet, Shockney's squad took first place on the boys side, and second on the girls side, behind an Alex Banfich-less Culver Girls Academy team. In both races, Plymouth sported the number one finisher - Dan Neidlinger (17:15) for the boys and Morgan Hite (15:27) for the girls.

“It's been fun to have two frontrunners of their caliber, out there,” Shockney said of Neidlinger and Hite.

Along with Neidlinger's first place finish, Plymouth also placed five other runners in the top 10 en route to a team score of 18, 29 points better than the second place John Glenn Falcons' 47.

Though Neidlinger has been a strong runner all season, the first place finish was needed.

“Daniel is a frontrunner, but has been getting a lot of second (places), just because someone's coming up and nipping him at the end,” Shockney said. “So it was good for him tonight to get out in front.”

Neidlinger and the rest of his Plymouth teammates weren't only there to better themselves, but perhaps others.

John Glenn's Austin O'Connor took fourth place in a time of 17:35, while using the meet as a test to see where he stands against other elite area runners.

“We kind of wanted to see him up there with Neidlinger, and see where he was,” John Glenn coach Kent VanDyne said of O'Connor.

“Austin was up there, in good shape tonight,” the coach added. “He looked a little sluggish, compared to what I've seen him run earlier this year. He's been fighting a little bit of a hip problem, and now, a little bit of a foot problem. He hasn't made that as an excuse at all, but he's made me aware of it.”

And in the cross country world, injuries just in time for the postseason aren't very welcomed.

“At this time, we want things to be going good, rather than hurting,” VanDyne said about injuries when October is just on the horizon.

If anyone knows about injuries, it would be Bremen coach Mic Gardner, who's currently without his two top female runners, Anna Zeltwanger and Samantha Hartsough, because of injuries.

“Without a lot of miles under our belts over the summer, it seems like the longer we're running in the season, the more injuries we're getting,” Gardner said.

Bremen was healthy enough to take third place in the boys meet, behind Plymouth and John Glenn, while taking fourth on the girls side (88 points), behind Culver Girls Academy (28), Plymouth (48) and John Glenn (85).

With the likes of Plymouth and John Glenn on the boys side, Gardner was realistic about his team's chances.

“Coming in here, I thought we'd probably finish in fifth (for the guys),” Gardner said. “But (Culver Military Academy) didn't have a full team, which helped us out and Triton's lost a couple of runners, so off the gun, I figured we'd have a chance to jump up to third.”

Regardless of where their teams finished, the meet was mostly used as a barometer of where each team stands.

“Plymouth and Culver Academies usually have strong guys here,” VanDyne said. “So we can kind of base our performance off what they're doing. So that kind of helps us see where we're at, and what we need to do to improve in the next few weeks to run conference and sectionals.”

BOYS
PLYMOUTH 18, JOHN GLENN 47, BREMEN 75, TRITON 101
At Marshall County Meet (Triton)
Top 15
1. Dan Neidlinger (P) 17:15; 2. David Caldwell (P) 17:16; 3. Peter Johnson (P) 17:32; 4. Austin O'Connor (JG) 17:35; 5. Calvin Cook (P) 17:37; 6. Jake Singleton (JG) 17:49; 7. Matthew Galt (P) 17:52; 8. Justin Podell (JG) 17:59; 9. Brendan Fox (P) 18:03; 10. Nate Avery (B) 18:10; 11. Kyle Thoden (P) 18:17; 12. Austin Nielsen (B) 18:19; 13. Neal Meyers (LaVille) 18:36; 14. Robert Martin (CMA) 18:36; 15. Jerry Schaffer (B) 18:40.

GIRLS
CULVER GIRLS ACADEMY 28, PLYMOUTH 48, JOHN GLENN 85, BREMEN 88, TRITON 98
Top 15
1. Morgan Hite (P) 15:27; 2. Mary Margaret Peter (CGA) 15:53; 3. Kiley Trennepohl (CGA) 16:01; 4. Jeanna Sell (T) 16:05; 5. Chara Ballog (P) 16:21; 6. Willow Smith (CGA) 16:22; 7. Elise Hoover (CGA) 16:56; 8. Amy Jacobs (P) 17:02; 9. Lauren Shaffer (Culver) 17:05; 10. Cassey Holcomb (JG) 17:14; 11. Kelly Norton (CGA) 17:29; 12. Katie Day (P) 17:34; 13. Beth Hochstetler (B) 17:42; 14. Alisha Stevens (JG) 17:47; 15. Kim Podell (JG) 17:49.