LAKEWOOD The late Scott Skiles would have been proud of the way the 23rd annual Hole in the Wall cross country meet was run under beautiful sunny skies Saturday, Oct. 7.
Skiles, who died in a car accident after being voted captain and shortly before the 2006 season began, finished fifth overall in last years 5K (3.1-mile) race.
A total of 39 schools and close to 1,300 student-athletes participated on the campus of Lakewood High School.
The term hole in the wall came about from a hole that students carved in a separating fence between Lakewood High School and the former Lakewood Middle School.
Jeff Sowards, one of Lakewoods co-head coaches, said he was pleased with the results in addition to the meet as a whole.
The boys and girls that I did get to see ran lots of PRs (personal records), Sowards said. We are real pleased with that. I think more than anything what I was pleased with is the way that Lakewood ran the event. There was a lot of good sportsmanship and fun.
Public address announcer and head girls soccer coach Jeremiah Wohlgemuth led the students, parents and crowd in a moment of silence for Skiles before the beginning of the boys varsity race.
The varsity boys placed sixth out of 17 as a team with 171 points and were led by the 17th overall place of freshman Taylor Guskes time of 17:16.
Senior James Ervin finished 26th in a time of 17:31, followed by juniors Terrence Ordonez (40th place, 17:48) and Trevor Walker (46th, 17:54).
Senior Davis Dye came in 51st with a time of 18:01 to round out the top five.
The junior varsity squad finished seventh out of 16 teams with 166 points and were led by freshman Chad Skiles.
Chad, Scotts younger brother, placed ninth overall in a time of 18:26.
The friendly teen said he felt good and was happy with his time.
I am really familiar with this course as we train on it nearly every practice, he said with a large smile. Overall I was very happy with my time.
Senior JC Shafer placed 15th in 18:41 and junior Austin Young came in 41st in 19:23.
Junior Matt Scheffer came in 52nd in a time of 19:37, senior Matt Coyne 61st in 19:48 and Kyle Hayton 66th in 19:55.
The Lady Cougars were well represented with a fourth-place finish among the 16 teams with 253 points.
Senior Corrine Gogert led the squad with a 15th overall finish fime of 20:22. Senior Danielle Osti and Sarah Dunn finished 30th and 31st, respectively, in an identical time of 21:09.
Osti, who is fighting plantar fascitis, described her race as not that good.
Gogert and Osti are both senior co-captains and said they ran the first mile together before Gogert broke away.
I thought it was a good race, Gogert said. I had a PR by about 45 seconds on this course. Overall, it was a good day.
Freshman Chelsea Sowards, the co-head coaches daughter, finished 38th in 21:30.
The girls junior varsity squad finished ninth out of 17 teams with 236 points and were led by the 28th place overall finish of sophomore Yvette Kelp.
Kelp finished in 23:30, freshman Amber Burnell was three places and nine seconds behind her and senior Kristen Edeen came in 50th in a time of 24:47.
Coach Sowards, who was serenaded by all those in attendance in celebration of his birthday, joked afterward whoever brought the weather you can come back every day.
Overall, I was real pleased with the way things went, he said