Meeting one of Ohio's best runners...

Meghan Vogel (left) and the Big Orange

It's no secret that I'm a fan of high school cross country.  I've blogged about it on these pages before and I imagine some of the Fish Report readers get enough of the 'over-coverage' I give it on the website during the fall season.  I've officially moved on to high school basketball now and I'm enjoying the start of an exciting season for both the boys and the girls.  However, this past weekend presented me the chance to blog about one more cross country story before 2011 is over.

Thanks to my neighbor (and Fish Report LIVE! co-host) I had the opportunity on Saturday to meet one of next years top returning D-III girls runners in the state of Ohio.  West Liberty-Salem junior standout Meghan Vogel was in Russia with her parents to visit Russia junior standout Lauren Francis and her parents.  Meghan individually finished 6th at the state meet a little over a month ago and led her junior class dominated team to a 3rd place finish overall.  Meghan's mother, Ann, is the coach of the Big Orange and her father, Jason, is her biggest fan.  The trio came to Russia for the first time Saturday night with some map guidance from their GPS.  Once they found our village, they attended the Russia-Minster boys basketball game and Meghan had the good fortune of sitting in the Raiders rowdy student section.  During halftime of the varsity game I was walking by the student section when I recognized Meghan and she appeared to recognize me as well.  I shook Meghan's hand and asked her if she knew who I was.  She said, "you're the guy from Fish Report, right?"  I had to smile as I'm not sure I've ever been identified that way.  I told Meghan I would catch up with her and her parents after the game and I was looking forward it.

Later that evening, after the Raiders victory, I did catch up with the Vogel's and we talked about everything from running to work to food to religion.  Meghan, Ann and Jason have a lot in common with us Russia folks, including a freshman brother and son that attends the University of Dayton.  I would also like to add that Jason is a pretty fair ping pong player, as I witnessed him giving quite a game to a Russia basketball player that is pretty good himself.  I did my personal best to convince the Vogel's how well they would fit into our community, particularly our cross country program, but I understand they have plans of their own back in West Liberty.  Oh well, I tried.  It was a real pleasure spending time with them and of course talking running.  My neighbor and I even managed to invite ourselves to West Liberty next summer to run the hills around Ohio Caverns with Meghan, Lauren and anyone willing.  I'm not suggesting we can keep pace with a couple of the best runners in Ohio, but perhaps we can say we did for a few minutes.

So, my blogging about cross country in 2011 has finally come to an end and I'm thrilled I was able to get one more post in before the year is over.  In 2012 you can bet Fish Report will 'over-cover' high school cross country again.  We'll follow the Russia Raiders and all our favorite area teams...and yes, that now includes the Big Orange from West Liberty-Salem!