Cross Country: With Page leading the way, Brookville eyes state berth

He’s won a national championship with his Drum Corps Associates team. He has better than a 4.0 grade-point average. And he’s been the team captain for the Brookville High School cross country team the past three seasons.

But senior Jeremy Page’s best performance may be yet to come.

It’s been seven seasons since the Blue Devils have qualified for the state cross country championships. Brookville coach Jon Bland thinks this could be the year the Blue Devils return.

Brookville finished 17th at the district championships in 2015. The team finished sixth last season. With solid senior leadership and an infusion of young talent the Blue Devils are making a run for Columbus.

“A lot of that has to do with Jeremy’s leadership,” Bland said of his nephew. “He gets the kids warmed up, makes sure they do their warm downs, the little details a lot of captains don’t do, he does. He understands if you work hard you get better and cross country is that kind of sport.”

These days cross country isn’t the only thing that has Page running.

He’s played trumpet with the Brookville marching band since the eighth grade. He’s a three-year member of the Dayton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. And in September, Page’s Cincinnati Tradition Drum and Bugle Corps won the DCA Class A World Championship in Rochester, N.Y.

As for cross country, Page is a two-time regional qualifier, two-time All-Southwestern Buckeye League selection and was named team MVP in 2015.

“It’s two completely different feels,” Page said of competing on the course and in concert. “Both give you such an adrenaline rush but in different ways. Cross country has training all season but you don’t get to see your progress until the end. With drum corps you get to admire your progress all the way through. You feel better every round.”

A trio of Blue Devils have traded turns being the lead runner this season. Senior Spencer Schick, sophomore Justin Bland (the coach’s son) and Page can finish in any order any given meet. All three qualified as individuals for the regional meet in 2016 and Schick and Bland both competed in the state meet.

Sophomores Tommy Dafler and Ethan Lankis and freshman Andrew Watt and Paul Takhar typically round out the team’s top seven.

Page is thrilled to have the company. When he was a freshman the team had about eight runners. The Blue Devils have as many as 15 runners this season.

“Having these runners come up and having them let me lead them has been a great experience,” Page said. “I want to help them learn more than I ever did by their seniors years.”

Schick is also glad to have the younger runners on his heels this season.

“We’ve got a lot of young guys but they’re really good. Better than I was when I was a freshman and sophomore,” Schick said, smiling. “They’ve put in a lot of work through the summer. They put me to shame sometimes.”

Brookville scored team victories at Graham, Valley View and won its own Brookville event, and has finished third in three other meets. The Blue Knights have also started receiving votes in the Division II state poll, cracking the top 20.

“I feel like I’ve done my best to keep them all motivated,” Page said. “There’s a lot of talent coming up that’s really exciting. They make me want to work with them more and make them want state more.”

Brookville qualified for state in 2010, the sixth trip overall. Before that the last state appearance came in 1984.

In addition to setting his example, Page and his senior teammates have provided race strategy advice like not starting out too fast and setting a good pace.

“I want to help them learn more by their senior year than I ever did,” Page said. “I want to help inspire some of the kids to be good. When I was a ninth grader I looked up to the juniors and seniors. I got to run with them during practice and that made me want to get better. I want to try and be like that with the middle schoolers. If they have someone to look up to like that it’s even more motivating.”

Coach Bland said Page was a middle of the pack runner in junior high. By his sophomore season he was the team MVP. Page has also been the team captain the last three seasons.

“This year if we run like we have been we have a great chance to make it to state,” coach Bland said. “We’ve got a great balance of younger kids and older kids. They bring the middle schoolers along because they’re the future of our program. That comes from senior leadership.”

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