The bar has been set. High. But senior Dan Kuhman and the Elyria Catholic boys cross country team plan to measure up to the challenge.

EC is ranked No. 2 in the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches (OATCCC) Division II boys state preseason poll. Four-time defending champ Peninsula Woodridge is No. 1.

Kuhman is confident Elyria Catholic will answer the bell. The Panthers return five runners from last year’s squad that finished second at the state meet at Scioto Downs in Columbus.

The past four summers, Kuhman trained with teammate Marty Coolidge, a three-time All-Ohio cross country runner and state track champ in the 3,200. Coolidge graduated in June and is already off to Iowa State for his freshman year.

“I’ve done a lot of basework,” said Kuhman, who has a 3.6 grade-point average. “It feels good (being No. 1). I’ll miss having Marty around, but I’m looking forward to being at the top in most of my races. I hope to get a few wins.”

Kuhman and Coolidge typically averaged around 80 miles per week this summer, up from about 60 a year ago. It was a workload Kuhman said he needed to handle.

“I like running races on strength, hitting a very solid pace all the way throughout,” said Kuhman, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 128 pounds. “I’ve done a lot different surfaces in my training. Last summer, I ran on the roads a lot. Now I’m doing a lot more on the grass, gravel and different kinds of trails.”

Kuhman learned that lesson about surfaces the hard way. He came down with a stress fracture in January, which delayed his start into track. Kuhman came back mid-April and qualified for regionals in the 3,200, taking sixth in a personal-record time of 9:50.8. He missed the state meet by nine seconds.

“Dan’s running about the types of times Marty had last summer,” EC coach Chuck Lynch said. “I think he’s going to have a pretty good year. He doesn’t have that extra guy to feed off of this year. He and Marty aren’t going at it. It’s a little bit different for him. He knows that. He understands that. There’s a little bit of a gap between him and the next group, so he’s doing a little bit more on his own.”

Kuhman was All-Ohio (top 25) last season, finishing 16th overall at state and ninth in the team race in a time of 16:31.32. Hen ran 16:37.08 to finish 11th at the Tiffin regional.

EC nearly derailed Woodridge at state, losing 93-98 in a battle of the top-ranked teams.

It was Elyria Catholic’s best finish at the state championship since a second at the 1983 Class AA meet. The Panthers were eighth (1984), ninth (2008), 10th (2001) and 11th (1999) in their previous four state meet appearances.

“Last year’s state meet was tough,” Kuhman said. “We gave it our best shot.”

The leadership role now belongs to Kuhman and he’s happy to have it.

“I think I’m going to have a good experience,” he said. “Last year I was more competitive than I was sophomore year, so I know what it felt like at the top of the pack. I can see myself at the top of every race we’re going to run this year.”

Kuhman is following in the footsteps of his dad, Tim, a 1974 graduate of Elyria Catholic, who had back-to-back fourth-place finishes at state as a junior and senior. He led EC to its first-ever state cross country title in 1973 after a second-place finish in ’72.

“I usually explain to my dad how my workouts go,” Dan said. “We usually talk about them. If I had a bad workout, we’ll try to figure out what happened and try to fix it the next time around. I always tell people I’m fortunate to have wisdom like my dad, my coach and other alumni. Their insight helps.”

Dan played hockey for five years through the ninth grade and was a member of the EC hockey team freshman year. He dropped hockey to focus on running.

“Things went well my sophomore year in cross country,” Dan said. “I was running just under 17 minutes. I just thought if I trained at running year-round that I could be pretty good at it.”

Chuck Lynch made Kuhman and Coolidge team captains when Kuhman was a sophomore. It was a bit unusual since the honor typically goes to seniors, but Lynch recognized their leadership ability.

“Dan used to tell people he was a hockey player,” Tim said. “During a mass at St. Jude’s, Father (Frank) Kozem asked him who he was. Dan said, ‘I’m a runner.’ That the first time it occurred to me that he’s turned the corner in his own mind.”

Elyria Catholic won the Elyria district and Tiffin regional meets in 2009, but isn’t expecting to roll over teams this season. The Panthers expect to be tested at most meets.

“Dan is a lot like Marty,” said Tim, who coached the EC distance runners during track season. “Both of them read. If they have a question, they’re going to go find an answer for it. For the last couple of years, they would come to me with an idea for a type workout they found. If it was something we felt could help them and the rest of the team, would find a way to incorporate it into our structure.”

Seniors Matt Wiehe, Ryan Lynch (Chuck’s son) and P.J. Foreman, along with sophomore Greg Nagy, also return with state meet experience.

“We have a good group of seniors so there’s a good work relationship,” Chuck Lynch said. “It’s a good group of kids. It’s not like he’s not getting pushed at all, but it’ll be a little bit different for him as the season goes on than what he’s use to. He’ll have competition every week. We’ll be going to good meets every week where he’ll be racing against good people.”

Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

TOP BOYS

Dan Kuhman, Elyria Catholic
Division II All-Ohio, All-North Coast League and all-county last season
Tyler Kvach, Avon
Division II state qualifier and first-team All-West Shore Conference last year
Mike Parsons, Avon Lake
A Parsons project. His dad, Steve, was All-Ohio for the Shoremen
Miles Pittak, Amherst
Three-time regional qualifier and 2008 Division I state qualifier
Jack St. Marie, Westlake
Three-time regional qualifier and junior world triathlon qualifier

TOP GIRLS

Katy Link, Avon Lake
Two-time SWC champ and county MVP and state qualifier as a sophomore
Abbie Marquard, Magnificat
Westlake resident was All-Ohio last year, taking 20th at state for the state champion Streaks
Ali Pittak, Amherst
Led the Comets at regionals as a freshman in 20:06
Alexis Rick, Elyria Catholic
A top-21 finisher at regionals, NCL champ and all-county
Kasey Schuler, Amherst
Finished two seconds behind Pittak at regionals

TOP BOYS TEAMS

Elyria Catholic Panthers
Second at state in ’09, led byDan Kuhman, Matt Wiehe and Ryan Lynch
Avon Lake Shoremen
Mike Parsons, Justin Housley and Trevor Norris lead team as it takes another crack at state
Avon Eagles
Barely missed Division II regionals last year, but should have another good shot with Tyler Kvach and Sam Bickley

Top girl teams

Amherst Comets
Kasey Schuler, Ali Pittak and Emily Johnson led last year’s
regional-qualifying team

Avon Eagles

Led by Liz Bruno, Emily Starr and Kayla Welch, they bring back six of last year’s top seven

Avon Lake Shoregals

Have a great 1-2 punch in Katy Link and Maddie Furrer

TOP EVENTS

Tiffin Distance Carnival, Saturday
Lightning-fast course and loaded with great competition; one of the largest prep meets in the country

SWC meet, Oct. 16

Avon Lake boys go for two in a row

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