While the golf set and the parks and rec crowd certainly are enjoying the recent stretch of weather, cross country runners? Not so much. The 50th running of the Strongsville Cross Country Invitational was held Sept. 21 on a beautiful, clear, sunny day.
Problem was, the temperature was in the 80s, which is not conducive to distance running, especially on a course that has numerous stretches in direct sunlight. Avon’s Kaitlyn Reese managed to do what she does best, winning the girls race by more than 10 seconds, but it wasn’t easy. The junior took the lead from the beginning and opened a huge gap on eventual runner-up Hannah Jicha of Strongsville, only to slow noticeably in the latter stages of the race.
She managed to run a time of 17:49.99, but by the time she crossed the finish line, she was struggling. “It’s really hot out here,” she said.
That statement was made about 20 minutes after she finished, but Reese still was somewhat unsteady and said she was close to losing her breakfast. The good news is that she led her team to victory, as the Eagles scored 105 points to 140 for runner-up Rocky River. Defending Division I state champion Perrysburg was third with 150, followed by Solon with 157, Woodridge with 191 and Lexington with 199.
All of the teams listed above are ranked in the state cross country poll in either Division I or II. “I was happy,” said Avon coach Justin Carroll. “It’s a different course with more twists and turns and pavement running, and also with the hot weather.
But I think we did well. Cross country is always about place and always about effort. If you can get a PR it’s just a cherry on top.
There were a lot of good teams here from all divisions. It shows us where we’re at, and I’m proud of how we did.” Reese took the lead right from the start, with Jicha on her shoulder 90 seconds into the race and Woodridge’s Marissa Boone another 10 meters back.
That was eventually the top three at the end of the race, but Jicha crossed the line in 18:01.54 and Boone was more than a minute behind with a 19:04.56 clocking.
It was a new course that was used this year, and it involved a drastic narrowing about 400 meters from the start. The girls race was run first, and while there were some crowding issues at the bottleneck, it was nothing compared to what happened in the boys race, where several runners got tangled in the ropes that lined the course and a runner from Chardon had to drop out after being spiked on his heel. “I’m trying out different tactics at different races, depending what race I’m at,” Reese said.
“I’m trying to figure out what works best for me. This race I decided to lead early. After seeing what happened in the boys race, I guess it was good to get out hard.
” Avon, which has 21 runners on its roster who have broken 21 minutes, used its depth to its advantage to easily win the race. Reese was followed by Carolina Reed (16th, 19:42.08), Ava Melott (17th, 19:46.
26), Olivia Pajak (34th, 20:24.56) and Juliana Stein (37th, 20:29.05).
Close behind the top five were Anika Singh (42nd, 20:33.10) and Alison Krischer (44th, 20:37.84).
Come the first weekend in November when the state meet will be held, the Eagles are hoping to improve on last year’s sixth-place finish. “It’s really exciting how we can pick up from last year,” Reese said. “We had great seniors last year who really led us in a good way, and that set us up for success.
I think we’ve had a good transition to this year and we have some good young girls coming in.” The Rocky River girls are ranked seventh in the latest state poll, so their runner-up finish was not a huge surprise. However, coach Dee Zeurcher said there were two runners who were below par, meaning things could get even better.
“With how the girls raced, I think they did well to get second,” she said. “Two of our girls were a little off. One was just coming back from a little time off, and the other just had a bad race.
We hope we can turn that around moving forward. But we had some underclassmen really step it up today and move into those spots to help the team. It’s good to see that.
” The Pirates were led by Grace Lavelle in fourth place with a 19:14.11 clocking. She was backed by Jane Rathbun (18th, 19:58.
40), Jane McCann (19th, 20:00.56), Katie Stirm (49th, 20:43.76) and Brooke Hogan (52nd, 20:46.
63). Bay’s Erin Belveal had another outstanding race, placing seventh with a time of 19:27.55.
Things didn’t go as well for area boys teams, with Hudson running away with the team title with 68 points to 160 for runner-up Woodridge. The individual title was won by Mount Gilead senior Will Baker, who posted an outstanding time of 15:28.14.
The top area boys team was Avon, which was 10th with 353 points. Next came Rocky River in 15th with 412. Top area individuals were Henry Lange of Rocky River in seventh (16:07.
39) and Westlake’s Jeremy Snyder in 12th (16:16.58)..
