John Marshall’s Siler Eyeing State XC Meet
MOUNDSVILLE — For this his first varsity season as a cross country runner, John Marshall sophomore Anthony Siler seems like he’s been running a 5K course for quite some time. Siler led his team last Saturday at the John Marshall Invitational at Grand Vue Park to a ninth-place finish, while personally ending fourth by clocking in at 18:14.96.
“I like this course a lot,” Siler said after the race. “It’s a tough course, but it feels good once you’re done. It was a good race.”
As a freshman, Siler was on the track team and was one of the top distance runners for the Monarchs. Beside him was former John Marshall runner Clay Thorne. Thorne ran cross country and track for the Monarchs and represented his school at the state meet in cross country last year. Thorne was one of few people that talked Siler in to running cross country.
“He had a really good race,” John Marshall coach Jenna Hartley said. “He’s kind of learning the ropes still, but (Saturday), it finally clicked.”
His time of 18:14.96 was shy of a personal record for the year. Aug. 20 at St. Marys during the Autumn Classic, Siler crossed the finish line at 18:04.8 as he finished 13th place overall.
At the Sept. 10 Chic-Fil-A Invitational in Mineral Wells, he ran a 18:13.4 good enough for 10th place.
Siler also had an impressive race at the Wheeling Park Fall Classic. He posted another Top-15 finish with at time of 18:42.64, which was good for 13th place.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Siler said about his first year of running. “It’s a lot more fun than I expected. My track coach (Nick Myers) was telling me how important it is to run cross country and I didn’t know if I wanted to do it. He then told me it would get me a lot better for track and I would be good at it. I then said I would try it out. My friends also convinced me too.”
With one of the convincers being Thorne, a runner that made it to the state meet last year, Siler said it would be a great honor to get to the state meet himself, a goal that he has always had in mind.
“It would be fun,” Siler said. “I always wanted to go to states for track. I think it would be a good experience if I could go this year.”
According to Hartley, Siler is on the bubble right now of making it to Ona. He is roughly 15th in the region.
“It all depends on how many have full teams,” Hartley said. “Right now, if we have all full teams, I think they will take the top 11 out of the region. He’s got to move up a little bit and have a good race.”
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