FREDERICKTOWN – Thomas Caputo came as close to gold as humanly possible at last year’s Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference championship meet.
He finished one second behind Mount Gilead’s Liam Dennis – posting a 15:54 to Dennis’ 15:53 – and his team followed suit, taking second to the Indians by just 24 points.
This year, in his senior campaign, Caputo made sure things went differently.
Caputo took first place by a landslide on Saturday, posting a time of 15:45, and his Freddies won first by 53 points over Centerburg and Highland. It marked Fredericktown’s second KMAC title in the last four years.
“I think we ran really well,” said Caputo, following his first individual KMAC championship. “Some guys weren’t feeling their best – there’s been a little head cold going around the team – so we’re kind of just gearing up for districts, regionals and state. I think I’ve said this before, but this team, we have quite a bit of potential, so we’re all really excited to see what we can do.”
After trailing Cardington’s Mason White through the first mile, Caputo caught him in the second and created distance in the third. White finished second with a time of 16:02.
Caputo, who has not lost a race this season, said his race strategy is often not dictated by his opponents. He has specific personal goals he wants to reach, regardless of where his opponents stack up. But having White out front through the first mile on Saturday didn’t hurt, either.
“I just kind of stick to the same thing every week,” he said. “I kind of go out my speed and just kind of track people down as I go – keep that second mile hot and then really hammer that third mile. So it just kind of worked out that I eventually caught him and passed him. But I also don’t like to lose, so that also added a little bonus to catching him.”
Behind Caputo, fellow senior Titus Krabill placed sixth with a time of 16:31. Junior Evan France came in seventh at 16:57. The rest of the Freddies’ top seven all finished at or below the 18-minute mark. Senior Grant Shrimplin finished 10th with a time of 17:13; junior Xavier Platt placed 14th with a time of 17:30; sophomore Owen Krabill finished 23rd with a time of 17:59; and sophomore Peyton Hogg placed 24th with a time of 18:02.
Centerburg and Highland tied for second place in the team standings with 91 points apiece, while Northmor placed fourth with 93. Cardington finished fifth (120), Mount Gilead finished sixth (131) and East Knox finished seventh (133).
Saturday’s conference meet was supposed to be a showdown between Fredericktown and Mount Gilead, particularly on the boys’ side. The Indians are ranked sixth in the latest Div. III state poll, while the Freddies are ranked eighth. The teams raced each other Sept. 29 at the Denny Stevens Invitational, and Mount Gilead won by just six points.
But COVID-19 spoiled those plans. Mount Gilead High School is currently experiencing a coronavirus outbreak, causing the school to shut down for deep cleaning and remote learning. While Coach Jake Hayes said none of his runners tested positive or were symptomatic, several had to miss Saturday’s meet due to contact tracing. They had been ordered to self-quarantine as a precautionary measure and would not be able to compete.
This held four of Mount Gilead’s top seven runners out of the boys’ race, Hayes said, including the team’s first two placers. As much as Fredericktown enjoyed winning, runners and coaches lamented the fact that Mount Gilead was not at full-strength.
“I mean, we’re a bunch of competitors. So it kind of sucked that we wouldn’t be able to have that really close team competition …” Caputo said. “I would say we missed them. It kind of takes a little of the wind out of the sails.”
Hayes said he was proud of his runners who did compete Saturday, and that several recorded personal-best times. The entire team is expected to be quarantine-free and ready to compete at the district meet on Friday. Those under quarantine have been running at home, Hayes said, with coaches sending them workouts and communicating daily.
“It’s definitely a weird time,” Hayes said. “A first in my coaching career – it’s a short coaching career so far – but hopefully a last.”
If all goes according to plan, and both teams remain healthy, Fredericktown and Mount Gilead will likely compete twice more this season: at the regional and state competitions. Caputo seemed excited about the opportunity.
“We’ll be seeing them down the road,” he said with a grin. “We want them to get healthy so we can figure out who the actual KMAC team champion is. Because you can’t really tell when the whole squad’s not here.”
Mount Gilead suffered similarly on the girls’ side as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Indians, who won the Denny Stevens Invitational handily in late September, were without three of their top seven runners. While seniors Allison Johnson (18:35) and Emily Hanft (18:47) took first and second, the team didn’t have its typical firepower from 3-7 (the entire team is expected to be healthy by districts). Mount Gilead still managed to place fourth in a tight field, just 18 points behind champion Cardington.
“I thought they did great,” Hayes said. “One of the things that we try to do all season is we coach every kid as though they’re the fifth runner, the last person that is scoring for the team. And we tell them that often, that we never know what’s going to happen. So if we have 40 kids, we’re going to coach 40 kids to be ready on any given day. And the kids that we had today stepped up.”
Hanft, who ran a personal-best time Saturday, said her team dedicated the race to those who couldn’t make it.
“We really raced for our teammates that weren’t here today,” Hanft said. “And I feel like that really motivated us to race for ourselves, but also for our team that’s not here. I know we’re very excited going into the postseason stronger, and just building off of today.”
Cardington won its first KMAC title on Saturday with 75 points, as four Pirates finished in the top 20. Fredericktown placed second with 84 points, and Highland finished third with 92. Mount Gilead (93), Northmor (95), East Knox (110) and Centerburg (111) rounded out the standings on Saturday.
Following Johnson and Hanft, Cardington’s Louie Hallabrin placed third with a time of 19:07. Fredericktown’s Elsa Hoam wasn’t far behind at 19:14, and Centerburg’s Abigail Dickhof finished fifth at 19:38.
Fredericktown coach Bob Geiger said the team rested its third runner, Sydney Wilson, on Saturday, and he was pleased with the team’s ability to respond.
“The thought that we would be first or second without her is (crazy),” Geiger said. “We ran really well. Couldn’t be happier.”
The Freddies will head into the postseason ranked 23rd in the latest Div. II state poll. Mount Gilead is currently ranked sixth in Div. III, while Northmor is ranked 21st, Cardington is ranked 23rd, and Centerburg is ranked 26th.
Geiger said training plans will differ slightly for his boys’ and girls’ teams moving forward. While the boys will prepare for a three-week journey to state, the girls will have a more immediate focus, given the challenges ahead of them in Div. II.
Both teams will begin their postseason voyages this weekend at districts, hosted by Hilliard Darby High School. The boys will run Friday at 3:45 p.m., while the girls will run Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
“For our boys right now, our goal is three weeks away, so they’re still hammering pretty hard and are pretty tired,” Geiger said. “Our girls, we’re trying to freshen up a little bit because they’re Div. II, and their road is a lot rougher. So our goal is to get everybody healthy on the girls side, so that we can run – I think we make it to the regionals, and I think we’ve got a shot at making it to state.
“So we’re forging on ahead. It’s exciting.”
Here are the full results for Saturday’s boys and girls KMAC races.
