Season ends for Oberlin cross country

ELLSWORTH, Kan. -- The season came to end for the Decatur Community-Oberlin boys and girls cross country teams Saturday at the Kansas Class 3A regional at Ellsworth, Kan.

The Oberlin girls placed 10th and the boys 13th in their races.

The top three boys and top three girls teams qualified for the state meet next Saturday at Wamego.

The Oberlin girls were paced by a 20th-place effort by Becky Helm, who posted a time of 14 minutes, 1 second.

Whitney Beinke was 29th, 14:23; Lora Marietta, 51st, 15:11; Nikki Lincoln, 65th, 16:33; Anne Wasson, 72nd, 17:19; Danica May, 73rd, 18:07.

Kellen Doeden led the Red Devil boys with a 48th-place finish. He was timed at 20:21.

Andy Leitner placed 53rd, 20:53; Aaron Helm, 70th, 21:47; Zeke Ruzicka, 77th, 22:28; Corbin Sherlock, 85th, 23:41; and Brent Stallman, 86th, 24:37.

"Kellen Doeden had a good race -- a full minute faster than last year's regional and on a tougher course," said Oberlin cross country coach Dick Ahlberg.

"Becky Helm had a competitive race, running faster than last year's qualifying time. That gives you some idea of the level of competitive cross country at the 3A level. We will just have to step up our level of running to be more competitive next year.

"In summary, this season was somewhat difficult for us, but there was some development. The rewarding thing about this season was having seven first-year runners.

The scary thing about preparing for next year is that we graduate 10 runners who will have to be replaced. We, of course, would like to encourage more participation.

"Our leadership core runners will be fine and competitive with Andy Leitner and Aaron Helm for the boys and Becky Helm for the girls."