Since his freshman season, Aurora Greenmen senior Nathan Eminian has always had lofty aspirations. He realized those big goals when he took 7th place with a personal record of 15:37.12 at the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II state cross country championship last Saturday afternoon at Fortress Obetz.
“I hoped I would be able to get somewhere high on the podium and propel Aurora to greater highs,” Eminian said. “I didn’t feel much more pressure than in any other race. This is a good last race and a good course in good condition.”
Although Eminian was the lone Aurora male representative at the OHSAA Division II state cross country meet, he took everything in stride, and it showed with a clinical race for his last cross country meet as a Greenmen.
On Saturday, after moving into the top 10 in the second half of the race, Eminian sat in 7th place as he approached the final few hundred meters. He was right behind West Geauga junior Ian Res and matched his stride as the pair approached the finish line, but Res fended off a late challenge from Eminian, edging him by .06 seconds, but Eminian still maintained his position to wrap up a top-10 finish.
According to the Greenmen’s senior, he had become well-accustomed to finishing races strong in tightly contested situations.
“It is not the first time I have experienced that,” noted Eminian. “In my sophomore year at the district meet, I got outkicked by a Chardon runner. That is when I was like ‘I have to figure out to lean in and combat against close finishes.’ From there I just learned new lessons every day.”
It capped off a race where Eminian had slowly but surely advanced to the front pack after he started the race in the middle pack.
As the entire field of runners was packed together at the start of the race, Eminian said he planned to hold back as his competitors kicked too early. Although he was not in the top flight of runners at the beginning of the race, he was confident that he could overcome a slow start and subtly made his move as he crossed the first mile mark in 18th place.
“Let’s not go too fast too early,” he noted. “When I got over the hill, that is when I started to pick off some guys and feeling it a bit. If I started and used up all of my energy to get boxed in and go after the guys, I would not have enough energy to finish so I made sure I conserved it well.”
Coach Laura Bell-Peters lauded Eminian for a strong finish in his last race and praised him for his mental focus that he shown in all four years with the Greenmen.
“The thing with all of these athletes is that they are very driven,” the 21st-year coach noted. “They do not let a lot of outside factors distract them. They are doing those little things, their diet and their sleep so they are very mindful of those little things.”
Aurora girls’ cross country land sixth place at D-II state meet
The 2025 season marked the first chapter of a new era for the Aurora Greenmen girls’ cross country team, which fielded six freshmen in their top seven. The Greenmen girls finished their breakout campaign by earning sixth place with a 10-29-34-87-113 finish to score 273 points at the OHSAA Division II state championship.
“They are a phenomenal unique bunch,” Bell-Peters noted. “They are close which is also helpful. The freshmen themselves are close-knit, they have run a lot of big meets. They are a very special and talented group.”
Freshman Claire Jenkins earned 13th place with a personal record of 18:36.87, capturing first-team All-Ohio, followed by freshman Evelyn Jenkins who placed 35th by clocking 19:11.68 to secure second-team All-Ohio honors, freshman Audrey Miller took 40th place with 19:13.30, freshman Mia Paech came in 130th place at 20.26.12, and freshman Haley Koch finished in 160th place with a time of 20:53.87.
According to Claire, the final race of the 2025 cross country season is only just the beginning for a young Aurora team that has not even come close to having left their mark.
“We have been running since middle school,” she added. “We all train together so our goal for the season has been making it to the state meet and we did it by pushing each other and practicing.”
Claire paced Aurora as its lead runner, moving into 13th place at the first-mile mark of the and although she slipped to 15th place at the second-mile checkpoint, she finished strong by crossing the finish line in the same position she maintained in her first state cross country race.
She said that it was another race where she employed the same strategy.
“I tried to take the first mile out a little faster and then relaxed in the second mile and gave it my all in the third mile,” she noted.
As the freshmen-driven Greenmen girls close the first chapter of their varsity cross country careers, Bell-Peters said that the story will only get better.
“There is talent coming up next year,” she said. “That culture continues to raise the expectations. That is that culture that breeds success.”
