All-County Cross Country: Onsted's Emmry Ross repeats as Girls Runner of the Year
ONSTED — Emmry Ross doesn't expect anything to be given to her.
Despite winning 14 of her 17 races this season, including both county meets, the LCAA meet and regionals, the Onsted junior claims she didn't expect to be named Lenawee County Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year for a second-straight season.
"I don't expect it at all," she said. "I thought maybe it would go to Sophy Skeels or Izzy Brooks because they both broke 19 (minutes). That's a really big accomplishment, so I'm excited to have it again. Especially going against some really great runners in the county."
Adrian's Skeels and Anastee Davis, LCS' Brooks, as well as Clinton's Cylee Elkins and Blissfield's Hope Miller all had great seasons and they are all First Team All-County honorees.
But Ross is in a class all her own right now. She won the county championship by about 34 seconds and the preview by 56 seconds. She's now a four-time honoree, winning two cross country titles and two track athlete of the year honors.
"The running community the way it is, you continue to meet people the more you continue to run," Ross said. "We've all ran together since like sixth grade. We've really got to know each other, even though we're not from the same school. I love congratulating people at the end because we all went through the same thing. It was probably painful, we all went through it, I enjoy doing it a lot because we've gotten to bond and that's great."
Ross capped the season with back-to-back all-state honors, although she did place two spots back from her sophomore run at Michigan International Speedway.
Ross ran 18:13 at the MHSAA Division 3 state meet this season, taking fifth overall. As a sophomore, she took third with a time of 18:20.
"It wasn't a bad experience," Ross said. "I wanted to place higher, but I wanted to go in and not be super nervous. Some meets I was so nervous for no reason and I didn't want to do that and jeopardize my race. I was weirdly not nervous. It was the weirdest thing. I was more excited than nervous and that helped me get through the race and have a more positive mindset. I raced how I wanted to."
Ross has one more season to get the state title in cross country and she has some numbers she's gunning to hit for her final year.
"I would love to get in the low 17s," she said. "I want to have consistent times. I've had some good times and my fair amount of not my favorite times. I want to have low 17s to mid-17s."
While next season will be her last in high school, she certainly has the opportunity to continue running at the next level in both track and cross country.
"I'm not going to say my top spots," she said. "I want to keep that within my family, but I've been on calls from Michigan State, Michigan, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Montana, Utah, Missouri and some other smaller schools.
"I think I want to go into health care and leaning toward nursing or dental. That's a big factor for what school I want to go into. I'm leaning toward something in that area."
ALL-COUNTY GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY
Runner of the Year: Emmry Ross, Onsted
Coach of the Year: Kurt Hillegonds, Clinton
First Team
Jr. Sophy Skeels, Adrian
Sr. Anastee Davis, Adrian
So. Hope Miller, Blissfield
Sr. Cylee Elkins, Clinton
Jr. Izzy Brooks, LCS
Jr. Emmry Ross, Onsted
Second Team
Fr. Ayda Skeels, Adrian
So. Hailey Sills, Blissfield
Sr. Samantha Coots, Clinton
Sr. Allison Bowles, Clinton
Jr. Madison Morris, Tecumseh
Jr. Stephanie Hernandez, Addison
Honorable Mention
Britton Deerfield - Jr. Aubrey Appleman
Clinton - So. Aurelia Bennett
Hudson - Jr. Jayla Bright, So. Annabelle Czeiszperger
Morenci - So. Emersyn Bachelder, Sr. Leah Rorick
Onsted - Jr. Allie England, So. Raegan Brosamer
Sand Creek - Jr. Faith Beardmore, So. Payton Steinke
Tecumseh - So. Claire Cousineau, Fr. Maya Whelan, Fr. London Landini, Jr. Jessica Warren, Fr. Leila Morris
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Onsted's Emmry Ross repeats as Lenawee Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year
