On Friday, Sept. 13, State High Cross Country competed in the Spiked Shoe Invitational on Penn State’s campus. 13 high schools competed in the boys’ team race, and 12 high schools competed in the girls’ team race.
After an intense battle for the lead with Lewisburg’s Jonathan Hess, senior Isaac Oppermann won the boys’ race.
“My overall strategy was to sit on the top guys, which [Hess], that I raced there, the guy that I beat, who got second. I’ve raced him before. It was the same thing last two weeks prior, I raced him and I sat behind him with the same strategy, but it did not work that time,” Oppermann said. “So I looked at it as I’m really strong on the hills, so whenever we got to that last hill, there is when I kicked past him.”
Oppermann’s brother, sophomore Theo Oppermann, placed fourth overall and second for State High. Isaac Oppermann said they motivate each other every time they run, which helps them to succeed.
“It’s great. I love it because having two people in the same household that are fast and both motivated to do the hard work and do everything that it takes to be fast is great. We keep we keep each other pushing. When he came in, it’s when I started improving a lot more,” Isaac Oppermann said.
Along with the Oppermann brothers, sophomore Luke Bradbury (11th place), sophomore Kyle Fritzsche (12th place), and senior Griffin Selber (13th place) contributed points to lead to the win for State High. 15 runners completed the course for the boys’ team, all of them finishing in under 19 minutes.
In the girls’ race, junior Devon Jackson was looking to come away with a top-5 performance. She started off strong in second place but faced some adversity against tough competitors.
“I’ve been just trying to stick with the leaders and run with them for the first two miles, and then after that, just tried to pick it up,” Jackson said. “And they eventually pulled away from me, but I just tried to keep the pace, and it ended up working because I ran a 20-second personal record.”
Jackson’s personal best scored fourth overall in the race, and she was the top runner for State High. Just like the boys, the Girls’ Cross Country team also picked up the win, thanks to Jackson’s impressive performance. Freshman Evelyn Younkin (12th place), junior Julia Bigger (14th place), senior Devyani Wadhia (15th place), and junior Lacey Sheaffer (22nd place) also contributed points towards the State High win.
Jackson commended her teammates for their resilience throughout the season. “We have a really young team. We only have one senior in our varsity, so we have a really young team. I think we have really good shot at placing [well in the playoffs],” Jackson said. “I think our team has done a good job this year of communicating with each other and just overall, being supportive. So I think this year we’re doing pretty good.”
In regards to playoffs, Oppermann shared Jackson’s sentiment. “I think our team is going to be the state champions this year,” Oppermann said. “Last year we got third, trailing first by eight points. So close there. But this year we’re really strong, we’re looking really good, and we’re hoping to win.”
After a successful race for the boys and girls teams, State High Cross Country will compete at Circleville Park near Park Forest Middle School on Tuesday, Sept. 24. They will be taking on Chambersburg and Cumberland Valley and are looking to keep this momentum to close the regular season and begin the playoffs.
