Winner: Christian Passerini

School: Olentangy Berlin

Quote: “Wooster is one of my favorite courses of the season, so going into it, I knew that I would perform the best if I just had fun with it… I hope to… qualify to the state meet.”

Highlight:

After opening his season with a 17:03 at the GlenOak Invite, Passerini sat out the Hot Summer Bash due to injury, but returned with a bang at the Wooster Invite, breaking the 16-minute barrier for the first time in his career. This rapid comeback from the Berlin senior earned your vote for Runner of the Week. Passerini had good vibes heading into the race.

“Wooster is one of my favorite courses of the season, so going into it, I knew that I would perform the best if I just had fun with it.” Last year at Wooster, Passerini had a massive breakout, running a PR of 16:19. This year, he made sure lightning struck twice. Following that breakout in 2023, he strung together a few more strong performances before petering out during a disappointing postseason stretch. But this year, the senior has different plans.

“I hope to keep chipping down my time throughout the season and qualify to the state meet. It is going to be such a fun season.” While qualifying for States out of the Pickerington North region is no easy task, he currently sits ranked 27th in the region- and that’s including the inflated times from the Watkins Memorial short course. Passerini will surely be one to watch throughout the rest of the season and into the postseason.