By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

ANSONIA — Darke County has had their fair share of great runners compete in the county. Before they became world class athletes, Sam Prakel from Versailles and Clayton Murphy from Tri-Village made a name for themselves competing against each other around here. Fast forward to now, Ansonia sophomore Bennett Lehman is making his name known this season.

Ansonia cross country head coach Jason Wright said he first saw Lehman run when he was in elementary school. The cross country team always comes out to support the school’s elementary fun run each year. Wright could tell from an early age that Lehman had some potential.

“Watching him run in all of those through elementary, not going to lie as the cross country coach watching those you are kind of like, ‘Okay that kid is going to be running for us.’ His seventh grade year he didn’t run with us. He just played junior high football. But he saw his ability on this side and from an early age watching him in some of those little races we do here in the school it was quite evident this guy has got some real potential,” Wright said.

Lehman split time between junior high football and cross country during his eighth grade year. He said once he realized he had a God-given talent for cross country and experienced the energy around the cross country program, he knew cross country was the sport for him.

“This program has been great and our coaches are amazing. The teammates that I enjoy so much and the atmosphere of cross country has really been a big factor of why I have been doing this. The support around the whole program was the push to start cross country,” Lehman said.

Lehman had a successful freshman season that ended with a 49th place finish in the OHSAA Division III Boys Cross Country State Championship. After Lehman went through his freshman season of track, he was eager to get better for his sophomore cross country season.

Wright said Lehman’s track season, that included breaking a school record for the 3200 meter run and a trip to states, lit a fire underneath him that drove him during his summer workouts. Assistant coach Allen Newbauer echoed the same sentiment as he said Lehman wanted to take that next step in cross country after going through his freshman track season.

Lehman said the summer featured big changes to his training to get better. He tried different workouts and put in the time on his legs to improve on his speed and push himself to be better.

“We put on a whole lot more miles than I have ever before. Pushing and the amount of miles we ran was a lot more. We had to figure out how do we get to reach our goal and this is where our goal is at. What’s the workouts we need to do to get to our goal and be able to do what we’ve done this season,” Lehman said.

Newbauer said Lehman is a mentally strong athlete with a high intellect who knows his body well. While his athleticism is certainly a strength, Lehman’s mind is just as strong. He can push himself in training without burning out quickly.

“He’s pushing the envelope a little bit in training for his age because he has monumental goals. Him understanding his body and his mind is his biggest strength,” Newbauer said.

There were big shoes to fill from last season as senior and accomplished athlete Matthew Lee graduated. Lehman said Lee, along with senior teammate Ethan Sparks, helped him tremendously during his freshman season. They guided him through the challenges of running the high school courses and taught him what it took to be successful at that level.

“Matt Lee was a big leader and I looked up to him so much. That’s where I found out a lot about myself like this is how you run races. I learned a lot from him. Ethan Sparks is a big influence too. Just the amount of races they’ve ran and how they do things. That was a big part of how I started figuring out things,” Lehman said.

Newbauer said Lee had set the tone for hard work as Lee had to work his way to making states for cross country and track. That hard work paid off as Lee is now running at Wright State.

Newbauer also said this group of guys is a tight nit group that are in tune with what’s going on in the conference and around the state in cross country. They push each other and cheer for each other in every race.

Those bonds have stayed strong since Lee graduated. Lehman has taken on the role that Lee has left behind and is thriving.

“It goes deeper than the work outs. This is a very relational sport. Those guys are invested in each other. This year, Matthew has come to some of our races. We went down a couple weeks ago to Cedarville for the All-Ohio Intercollegiate. That right there is evidence of the kind of impact Matthew has had and he started. That torch has been picked up and Bennett is running with it full steam now,” Wright said.

To start the season, Lehman broke the school record at the Celina Dan Otten Rotary Invite with a time of 16:08.8. He said the goal in that first race was to get the school record and improve from there. Lehman then broke that record three more times this season. He reached under 16 minutes four times this season, with the first being at the Treaty City Invitational.

His best time so far this season is 15:24.71 at the Coldwater Lions Invitational. That time broke the course and meet record time set by Prakel back in 2013.

Lehman said being able to consistently reach under 16 minutes is something he is proud of and speaks to how great and helpful his coaches have been for him. Seeing that 15 minute time was an exciting feeling for him.

“When I saw under 16, I was pumped. There was a lot of people from my training group this summer, a lot of college athletes, that were there watching. It was cool to see that number and know that wasn’t the easiest course ever. The competition around was great. It was an awesome feeling. We were happy, but we knew we can go faster,” Lehman said.

With all of his individual success so far this season, Lehman always mentions his team’s success and goals first. Wright said he gets to see Lehman be a team player in the classroom and on the course. Lehman has grown into a leader this season.

“I don’t know if you’re going to find a guy who is as people oriented and team oriented as Bennett. You see what he is capable of doing out here on his own. You come out and watch these practices and you see somebody who is all in for his team,” Wright said. “The way that he leads this high school boys group, encourages them and pulls them along. From that personal stand point, I don’t think you’re going to find anybody much better than Bennett.”

The boys team is coming off back to back WOAC championships. Lehman said everybody on the team comes out and works hard each day for the team. Newbauer said that team success that Lehman saw from previous teams during his junior high and freshman year has driven Bennett to want more.

Lehman credits his teammates for getting the conference title and puts them ahead of him.

“Credit to them, they were a big reason why we won the conference. It wasn’t because I got first, but it was because they did their job. Personal records came on a tough course. They’re in the shadows but I put them in the spotlight all the time,” Lehman said.

The success Lehman has had so far this season does come as a bit of a surprise. Everyone knew Lehman had the work ethic to accomplish his goals this season. Newbauer said he saw Lehman during his eighth grade track season want to break the school record for the 1600 meter run and watched him put in the time and effort to get that record. That drive and willingness to put in the work helped Lehman shatter his goals this season.

“I don’t know if we even saw this to be honest with you. We kind of knew he’s going to make some noise this year. He is just having a stellar year,” Wright said.

“We talked about running 15:37 by the end of the season. He’s already ran a 15:24 and he did that on his biggest training week of the season. I’m still scratching my head on that one,” Newbauer said.

With the postseason coming up, there are new goals to accomplish and to update. Lehman first said as a team, they are happy with their WOAC title but want to try and win districts to move on to regionals together.

As for his individual goals, he wants to make it to states and see how he stacks up against the top runners in his division.

“At states, the goal is to go top five. I feel like the times this season that I ran have been more tactical races. We’ve been trying to win those and not go out and push and see where we land. At state, hopefully I can go out and hang with the leaders. If I blow up, I blow up. I think we haven’t found that top level yet this year. I think we shoot for the stars,” Lehman said.

Lehman and Newbauer wrote out his goals prior to this season. They noted some key races which included states. The main goal for this season was a top ten finish at states. With how things are looking now, they are going to aim for a better finish.

“Early on in June, we wrote down on a document some time goals and some personal goals. We circled some key races: Fortress Obetz, Troy regionals, states and the Troy night race. He wanted to win that and he did. Our top ten goal at State has kind of been the goal. But at this point, I think coach would agree, he’s probably going to shoot for a little bit higher than that. He’s going to go out with the leaders and see what he can do. He’s set currently at number five in the state right now in Division III. Our top ten goal might be a little modest,” Newbauer said.

Lehman does have some long term goals he is always working towards. Newbauer said some of the goals Lehman has is to go to a power four school, take the school record to places nobody can imagine and be a national class runner.

As he works towards these goals this season, Lehman has his long term goals in mind.

“My goal is to keep working and there’s a lot of colleges out there. Coaches love Wright State and they both went there. A dream school of mine is for sure Auburn. That’s my ultimate dream, that’s the goal. I hope we can keep working toward it,” Lehman said.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].