Maplewood, McDonald streak into state

By Joe Scalzo

The streak technically started 11 years ago, when the McDonald High cross country team won the Division III title less than six months after capturing the state track crown.

But the legend begins one year earlier, when many of those same Blue Devils came achingly close to Columbus, only to fall a half-dozen points short at the regional meet.

“It was a heart-break kind of thing,” said McDonald coach Chris Rupe, who was in his second year leading the program in 1998. “Afterward, a lot of people made a lot of commitments to their running.

“That was probably our most significant year.”

Back then, Rupe’s older brother, Ted, was already in the midst of his own streak at Maplewood. A former standout runner himself — he won individual and state championships at Maplewood in 1972 — Rupe led the Rockets to Columbus in two of his first four years. Then, in 1990, they broke through, finishing second to Caldwell.

On Saturday, they’ll make it 20 straight state meet appearances.

“I think since regionals [last weekend], it’s become more apparent that this is a bigger deal than I thought,” said Ted, who’s been besieged by former runners over the past week. “There have been a lot of good guys and I think the things they’ve done [in cross country] were important in shaping the direction of their lives.”

The two Trumbull County schools have become synonymous in cross country circles, but it wasn’t always that way. Both coaches took over for legendary coaches — Chris for Barry Clute, Ted for Oscar Grant — and both programs won state titles before their arrival. (Maplewood in 1972, McDonald in 1982 and ’83.) But when Chris started, he was looking up at the Rockets.

“I’ll be honest — I always held Maplewood’s program up on a pedestal,” he said. “And they deserved to be on a pedestal.”

He wasn’t sure he could consistently compete with the Rockets, but he knew one thing: He wanted to try. So when he was hired as head coach after 11 years as an assistant, he jumped into the job.

“I put in everything I could to build things up,” he said. “I just trusted God had good things in store for us here and he certainly has.”

Since 1999, McDonald has won three state titles and finished runner-up four other times. The Blue Devils enter Saturday’s meet as the state’s third-ranked team.

Fifth-ranked Maplewood has been just as good, winning four state titles since 1997 and finishing second twice more.

The two programs are linked by more than family and success, Ted said. There’s a shared respect.

“There’s a camaraderie in this sport that you don’t get in other sports,” said Ted. “These guys have been running 10 miles a day since the middle of June and there’s been some 90-degree days and, lately, there’s been some snowy days.

“There’s an empathy there.”

And while neither team is expected to add a championship trophy this weekend, both coaches have enjoyed seeing their teams develop over the months.

“The thing about these guys is, no matter how unassuming or unintimidating these guys are, when the gun goes off, they really love to race,” said Chris. “That’s why our team has been much better this season than a lot of people expected us to be.”

scalzo@vindy.com