KINSMAN — The final time belongs to the runner, but the final score belongs to the team.
To Lake View High School coach Sean Voorhees, cross country is the ultimate team sport: There are no substitutions, no substitutions or timeouts. Runners just have to figure out how to win.
His Bulldogs carried that spirit onto the course at the Trumbull County Cross Country Championships on Tuesday night.
Lakeview won its second consecutive county title by scoring 44 points at Badger High School in Kinsman.
“I’ve put in a lot of hard work over the last three or four years, so to win it two years in a row is really gratifying.” Trent Miller said. “I’m happy to finally win.”
The Bulldogs took first place with 44 points. Maplewood was second with 65 points, Howland was third with 84 points, McDonald was fourth with 109 points, Mineral Ridge was fifth with 123 points, Hubbard was sixth with 183 points, Champion was seventh with 210 points, LaBrae was eighth with 238 points, Girard was ninth with 239 points, Chalker was 10th with 242 points, Newton Falls was 11th with 334 points and Niles was 12th with 339 points.
“They put in a lot of miles and this is the end result.” Voorhees said. “We’ve been working on this for the last four years and it’s finally happening.”
McDonald’s Carson Klass was the top runner with a time of 16:18.9. He finished 20 seconds behind Lakeview’s top runner, Anthony Mabel-Salem, who took second in 16:39.7.
“Personal best time” Clase said. “I just got the lead and kept going hard the whole race.”
Howland’s Levi Armitage (16:45.3) took third, Mineral Ridge’s Dominic Papagaro (16:48.6) took fourth and McDonald’s Joey Capuzzello (16:52.0) took fifth. Maplewood’s top runner was Andrew Donaldson (16:55.7) in sixth, followed by the Lakeview Bulldogs’ Jake Langmeyer (16:58.0) and Trent Miller (17:00.5) in seventh and eighth. Maplewood’s Ethan Nevinsky (17:03.1) took ninth and Howland’s Ryan Ballinger (17:18.1) took 10th place.
Lakeview has a veteran-filled roster this season: The Bulldogs’ top six players are all seniors.
The group of Marble Salem, Langmeyer, Miller, Mason Wheeler, Luke Whitmore and Griffin Oravec (Oravec’s time didn’t count because it was outside of Lakeview’s top five times) all finished in the top 16.
“Before the race, my coach said to me, ‘There’s no light between us,'” she said. Wheeler said. “It’s good to keep all those top five, top seven guys together.”
girl
It didn’t take long for Naomi Sheesley to make a name for herself in the cross country world, and her talents were on display again on Tuesday.
The McDonald High School freshman won the girls race to lead the Blue Devils to their second Trumbull County championship in three years. She finished in a time of 19:12.7, beating runner-up Chalker’s Abbey Castle by more than 30 seconds.
“Considering the weather and the course, I think it was a pretty good result.” Sheesley said.
The Blue Devils finished with 39 points. Rivals Maplewood took second with 47 points and Howland took third with 64 points to close out a great day. Lakeview (117) took fourth place, Girard (130) fifth, Mineral Ridge (159) sixth, Badger (188) seventh, John F. Kennedy (190) eighth and Niles (240) rounded out the scores in 10th place.
“One of the top five did not compete today due to a little bit of pain and fatigue.” “We’re thrilled to be able to take this opportunity to win,” McDonald’s head coach Robin Capalco said. “We kept the game going and still managed to come back and win the tournament.”
In addition to Sheesley and Castle, Lakeview’s Jalynn DeLeon was third in 19:59.0, McDonald’s Kylie Flair was fourth in 20:15.0, Maplewood’s Mackenzie Edgar was fifth in 20:27.4, another Blue Devil, Selah Sheesley, was sixth in 21:14.4, Bristol’s Jenna Peris was seventh in 21:25.6, Maplewood’s Reagan Mahan (21.40.6) and Ava Liptak (21:50.4) were eighth and ninth, respectively, and Howland’s Lily Lussier rounded out the top 10 in 21:57.1.
The season is nearing its end, with district tournaments starting in a few weeks and the state championships taking place on Nov. 6.
Capalco said the Blue Devils “Bridge the gap” She said while the top runners were getting the job done, the lower ranking runners were dropping out.
On Tuesday, she watched the Blue Devils finish closer than they did at the Spartan Invitational a few weeks ago at Boardman, with every official McDonald’s runner finishing in the top 15.
“I think we’re doing well.” Naomi Sheesley said. “We’re really trying hard to get to the state tournament and do well.”