David Kindall isn’t trying to outrun mistakes or near misses, only the rest of the field as he strives for his goal of qualifying for the Division II state cross country meet.

The senior runner has endured his share of both, and it has fueled his and Black River’s success this season.



Heading into the Lorain County Com­munity College D-II district meet today, Kindall appears primed to qualify for the Tiffin regional for the first time in his career.



The Pirates are one of six excep­tional teams— along with Bay, Elyria Catholic, Avon, Rocky River and Buckeye— that will likely vie for the four regional team qualifying spots.



“We know it’s a tough task,” Black River coach Adam Laskos said.



“Looking at the teams, we feel like we can do it. If our guys show up and give it their all, you’ll see us at regionals.”



Kindall is a major reason why the Pirates feel like they’ll return to the regional level, though Kindall was partially a reason why Black River failed to at least contend for a regional birth last season when it fin­ished 13th out of 14 teams at the LCCC district.



Last season the Pirates sought their third consecutive appearance at the Tiffin regional, but Kindall was ruled academically ineligible, which barred him from competing in any meets last season.



Kindall, who wanted to remain sharp for his senior season, still trained with the Pirates as if he was running on the weekends. But when Saturdays came around, Kindall would show up in street clothes to root for his teammates. “I was pretty mad at myself,” Kin­dall said.



“People told me all during my sophomore year that I needed to be doing my work. I blew it off and I learned the hard way. I so was mad at end of season. I missed my junior year, which usually is everybody’s best year.”



Kindall started his senior season on a tear with a first-place finish at the Patriot Athletic Conference Pre­view and a sixth-place finish at the New London Invitational, which accounted for two of his four top-10 finishes this season.



He has won three meets this year — the PAC Meet last week, which earned him conference MVP honors and the Pirates’ J.B. Firestone Invita-tional— yet Kindall will not point to those as the turning points.



The pivotal points came midway through the season when the Pirates competed at the Tiffin Carnival and the Galion Festival in successive weeks. The meets are two of the toughest on Black River’s schedule.  The following week, he set his per­sonal best time at Galion, finishing 12th in 16:45.



“Right after that meet, me and my coach started looking at the (regional) meet times last year,” Kin­dall said. “When I saw the times (the final qualifier out of the Tiffin regional last season finished in 16:40), I knew I had a good shot to make it if I put forth the effort the rest of the season. Now I’m hoping to go to Columbus the first weekend in November.”



Before Kindall packs his bags for Columbus, the senior will have to face an LCCC course that provided him with a close miss his sophomore season.



In Kindall’s last district meet, Buckeye’s Brad Ferguson, who had run similar times to Kindall that sea­son, passed him in the final 200 meters and finished with the final individual qualifying spot, 13 sec­onds ahead of the Pirate.



Black River ended up qualifying for the regional meet as a team with a second-place team finish.



“I kind of wanted this year to make up for last year,” Kindall said. “I trained hard everyday and haven’t really slacked off a lot. I’ve focused more on running this year— more than my freshman or sophomore year. I realized I can do good stuff and I had to make the season count.”