CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Walsh Jesuit boys and Field girls cross country teams made the best of a challenging course as each team won their respective divisions in the McDonough Invitational at Forest Hills Park in Cleveland Heights on Saturday.

 

No one expects to get slapped around at a cross country meet, but that might have been the case for some innocent runners who ran into the “windmilling” arms of competitors trying to keep their balance down a steep vertical hill during the first mile. A sharp turn and climb right after was enough to knock some runners out of their rhythm in the early part of the race.

 

In the Red Division, Walsh placed three runners in the top 10 to take first place with a score of 48. CVCA transfer Tony Howkins, a junior, placed second with a time of 16:30.95, followed by sophomore Brian Brennan in third at 16:35.93 and junior Matt Krakora in fourth at 16:36.79.

 

Anthony Car, of Akron North, finished fifth with a time of 16:58.35. North finished third in the meet.   See complete boys’ Red Division results.

 

In the White Division, the Field girls finished first with a score of 69, placing two runners in the top 10.   Junior Destiny Cosentino finished third with a time of 20:36.19. Junior Rachel Salberg finished seventh with a time of 20:52.24.   See complete girls’ White Division results.

 

Meanwhile, the Walsh girls, competing in the Blue Division, finished second with 45 points, just one behind winner Beaumont, led by freshman Melinda Renuart, who was the sole runner to break the 20-minute mark at 19:54.35, to win the event.   Fellow Warrior Moe Sinko, a sophomore, came in at fourth at 21:36.76, and senior Jamie Neal came in ninth with a time of 22:13.84.   See complete girls’ Blue Division results.

 

 

BOARDMAN, Ohio – St. Vincent-St. Mary took top honors at the Boardman Spartan Invitational as the boys and girls cross country teams finished first in Division II.

 

Senior Jacob Swords and junior Patrick O’Brien paced the St. V-M boys’ squad, finishing second and 10th respectively with times of 16:30.48 and 16:55.80. The team finished with a score of 96.

 

Four-time defending state champion Woodridge, coming off a Perfect 15 win at the Portage Trail Conference Super Duals four days ago, finished second with a score of  132. Junior Drake Sulzer was the lone Bulldog to place in the top 10, at fourth, with a time of 16:34.97, besting his second-place PTC Super Duals time of 16:41.29.  See complete Division II boys’ results.

 

In girls’ Division II, St. V-M senior Maria Arnone, junior Tessa Wiegand and sophomore Marissa Rossetti placed fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, with times of 19:34.22, 19:46.53 and 19:50.18 to help put their school on top with a score of 60.

 

Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy finished second with 87 points and had three runners in the top 10 as well. Senior Christina Blair finished third with a time of 19:05.61, while teammates senior Irene Frangos finished ninth at 20:03.30 and senior Joy Talbot finished 10th at 20:04.23.

 

Woodridge, which took top honors at the PTC Super Duals, finished fourth with 178 points and had two runners in the top 10: senior Maria Moore in second at 18:57.82 and senior Morgan Willis in eighth at 19:59.39.   See complete girls’ Division II results.

 

Two Pennsylvania runners were all that kept senior Josh Sabo of Revere from winning the first-place medal in boys' Division I.  Sabo, running a time of 16:10.55 finished third, followed by Nordonia junior Pat Osborne in fifth at 16:32.22 and Wadsworth senior Russell McCune at 16.34.42.

 

Four runners from North Allegheny High School in Wexford, Pa., finished in the top 10 at first, second, seventh and 10th place, giving their school a commanding win with 37 points. Hudson placed second with a score of 156 in Division I.   See complete boys Division I results.

 

In girls Division I, Hudson sophomore Caroline Sauers finished first at 19:10.93, followed by junior Krista Roehlig of Green in third at 19:17.22, Stow-Munroe Falls senior Katie Betts in fourth at 19:22.01 and Brunswick junior Selena Pasadyn in fifth at 19:24.94. See complete girls’ Division I results.