For many cross country runners, the district meet held at McNair Park on Oct. 26 marked the end of the season. Representing FHC at McNair were seniors PJ Brown and Jake Plevnic; juniors Zach McKinley, Jake Drnec, Walter Lembeck; sophomore Nate Limbaugh; and freshman Zach Painter.

The only FHC runner to qualify for sectionals was Lembeck, who came in 23rd place with a time of 17:22.98 in the 5k. He is excited about his first time at sectionals.

“Everyone from the other schools got fast times, and I didn’t do as well as I had hoped, but I managed to qualify,” said Lembeck. “Im excited I get to make up for last week’s bad time. It feels good, but I had hoped that more Central runners would’ve made it; they really helped me do as well as I did.”

According to cross country coach Mrs. Michelle Breuer, the results were bittersweet.

“We only had one runner qualify which was at first disappointing,” said Coach Breuer. “When I looked afterwards, I saw that probably half of the runners had better times. They tried the best they could. In any case, last year none of the runners qualified, so I’m glad that Walter made it this year.”

For Lembeck, this season has been an eventful one. Finishing the 2012 season with a personal record of 18:39.40, Lembeck improved his time to 16:58.60 this season.

Walter will be the sole FHC runner at sectionals held at Blackburn Park on Nov. 2.