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Ansbach hosted a five school cross-country meet, Oct. 11, 2014. Here the boys take off for the 5k run that Black Forest Academy's Jacob Benjamin won with a time of 17 minutes, 52.23 seconds.

Ansbach hosted a five school cross-country meet, Oct. 11, 2014. Here the boys take off for the 5k run that Black Forest Academy's Jacob Benjamin won with a time of 17 minutes, 52.23 seconds. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)

Ansbach hosted a five school cross-country meet, Oct. 11, 2014. Here the boys take off for the 5k run that Black Forest Academy's Jacob Benjamin won with a time of 17 minutes, 52.23 seconds.

Ansbach hosted a five school cross-country meet, Oct. 11, 2014. Here the boys take off for the 5k run that Black Forest Academy's Jacob Benjamin won with a time of 17 minutes, 52.23 seconds. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)

Ansbach's Kelly McCaskill crosses the finish line all alone during a cross-country meet at the Cougars' home field, Oct. 11, 2014. McCaskill topped the girl's race with a time of 20 minutes, 26.22 seconds.

Ansbach's Kelly McCaskill crosses the finish line all alone during a cross-country meet at the Cougars' home field, Oct. 11, 2014. McCaskill topped the girl's race with a time of 20 minutes, 26.22 seconds. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)

Mikalia Bell crosses the finish line during the cross-country meet at Ansbach, Germany on Oct. 11, 2014. Bell finished with a time of 23 minutes, 48.25 seconds.

Mikalia Bell crosses the finish line during the cross-country meet at Ansbach, Germany on Oct. 11, 2014. Bell finished with a time of 23 minutes, 48.25 seconds. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)

Jacob Benjamin finished first for both Black Forest Academy and the boy's cross-country meet with a time of 17 minutes, 52.23 seconds at Ansbach, Germany on Oct. 11, 2014.

Jacob Benjamin finished first for both Black Forest Academy and the boy's cross-country meet with a time of 17 minutes, 52.23 seconds at Ansbach, Germany on Oct. 11, 2014. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)

Jeremias Serrao-Velez, a junior varisty runner for Hohenfels, crosses the finish line during a cross-country 5k in Ansbach, Germany on Oct. 11, 2014. Serrao-Velez finished with a time of 17 minutes, 50.30 seconds.

Jeremias Serrao-Velez, a junior varisty runner for Hohenfels, crosses the finish line during a cross-country 5k in Ansbach, Germany on Oct. 11, 2014. Serrao-Velez finished with a time of 17 minutes, 50.30 seconds. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)

Ansbach hosted a five school cross-country meet Oct. 11, 2014. Ansbach's Kelly McCaskill won the race with a time of 20 minutes, 26.22 seconds.

Ansbach hosted a five school cross-country meet Oct. 11, 2014. Ansbach's Kelly McCaskill won the race with a time of 20 minutes, 26.22 seconds. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)

ANSBACH, Germany – Almost six months ago, Nicholas Duplessie suffered a spiral fracture in one of his legs during the DODDS European baseball finals. That injury looked to be a major setback for the Ansbach athletic star, especially in the world of cross-country.

His showing at Saturday’s home field match showed that while the injury did indeed slow him down a step, it won’t keep him from this year’s European finals.

Duplessie finished first for the Cougars and fourth overall in the boys 5k. Most importantly, he qualified to move on to Europeans. He knows he has a tough fight ahead of him going into the last few weeks of the season.

“I didn’t do as well as I thought I’d do, I can tell right now that I have a real problem with my endurance. I got to build that up. I didn’t have the mileage base going into the season and that’s been apparent all season,” he said. “I want to get down to the 17 minute time frame for Europeans.”

The rest of the meet went more or less as expected. Black Forest’s Jacob Benjamin edged out Hohenfels’ Jacob Nantz by a little more than a second for first place among the varsity boys with a time of 12 minutes, 52.23 seconds. Benjamin had already qualified for Europeans and said this was more of a training session for that final race at Baumholder later this month. Vilseck’s Eduardo Castaneda rounded out the top three finishers, coming in at 18:11.57.

Ansbach’s Kelly McCaskill was the first place finisher in the girls 5k in 20:26.22, with Michelle Sanchez and Kaili Markley representing Vilseck in the second and third spots, respectively.

“I think I did pretty well,” McCaskill said. “I went out too fast, I learned my pace a little bit better than earlier. The motivation is that this is all a training course after you qualify. So what that means is that you learn different strategies … from all the other courses and you take that with you to Europeans.”

All three girls are moving on to the finals, though that almost didn’t happen for Sanchez.

Vilseck’s top runner almost had to miss the finals due to her father’s PCS move back to the U.S. Her mother made the decision to stay behind to allow her the opportunity go out on top. That move, she said, has given her an extra little nudge of motivation.

“It really makes we want to always do my best,” she said. “Not just for my team but for everybody. I think I’m going to do well [at Europeans] but we’ll see.”

She’s going to have some strong competition from McCaskill, who topped her nearest competition by 2.4 seconds and still had energy enough to run back to motivate fellow Cougar Amber Parker, who nearly couldn’t finish the race. That team cohesiveness is going to make the Ansbach girls squad a tough one to beat in the finals.

“In the end, it all comes down to a team effort” McCaskill said. “Cross-country is one of those sports where it’s a big family at the end. Everyone motivates everyone.”

darnell.michael@stripes.com

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