DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY Salem boys, girls sweep Div. II titles

McDonald's boys and Maplewood's girls won the Division III championships.
By MARK W. MILLER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BAZETTA -- The Salem High boys and girls ran off with Division II district cross country titles Saturday at the Trumbull Fairgrounds.
McDonald's boys and Maplewood's girls did the same thing in Div. III.
Sophomore Joe Shivers of Salem was the difference as he placed 40th (18 minutes, 18 seconds), a better time than Mooney's Sean Finnerty (18:49), to provide the tiebreaker after both teams tied with 60 points with their first five runners.
The Cardinals' sophomore, Colin Durina, won the race in 16:36.4.
"My strategy was to get out fast and get the lead at the start in order to win," he said, "because there were a lot of good runners here today.
"There were three kids that ran in the sixteens [16 minutes] last week at the Sim Earich Invitational, and I just wanted to get out there and stay ahead of them."
Top three runners
Salem's top three runners were sophomore Paul Shivers (16:55.6), who was third; freshman Patrick Gorby (17:02.9), who was fifth, and sophomore Aiman Scullion (17:05.7), who was sixth. The two Shivers are brothers.
Deirdre Clary, a sophomore, won the girls race in 19:24.5, as Salem took the crown with 64 points. Tallmadge was second with 77 and Poland was third with 94.
"I knew what competition was coming here and set my goal that way," said Clary. "I started out a little slow, took the lead at 1000 meters and raced against the clock."
Although Streetsboro had its runners place second, third and fourth, Salem's Erin Murphy (20:29.1) was fifth and Kimberly Kenst (20:54.9) was 14th.
Mike Almond, the Quakers' coach said, "We had beaten Mooney twice this season so we knew the boys race would be tight.
"Our boys are running terrific right now and our goal is to make it out of regional to state."
Like the boys, Salem has a young girls team and Almond said, "We knew we had a good chance, so we came here to win.
"The girls are right on track and if they continue to improve next week, we feel we'll have a chance at one of the spots out of here to state."
Other regional qualifiers
Seven boys teams and those individuals not on qualifying team who finished in the top 28 advanced to the Boardman regional next Saturday, as did the top six girls teams and those individuals not on a qualifying team who placed in the top 24.
As usual, it came down to Trumbull County's top two boys teams in Div. III, with McDonald scoring 39 points, Maplewood placing second with 46 and South Range earning third with 112.
Luke McCluggage of Jackson-Milton took first place in 15:58.5, while six other runners were in the 16-minute category.
"I wanted to run [15:40]," said McCluggage, "but I started out to slow."
Dan Nemergut (16:29), a junior, placed second for South Range.
"McCluggage will be unstoppable until state," said Nemergut, "but he'll have a chance at placing high there."
About his finish, Nemergut said, "I knew it would be a chase, but I knew I could do it. I hope to make it to state, have a good time and finish in the top 10."
Kunkel leads McDonald
Senior Jim Kunkel led McDonald as he placed second (16:37.4); Jason Corman (17:01.5) was seventh.
"We had a nice pack today," said McDonald coach Chris Rupe. "It was nice to see them come through. We had a good week of training and had some good times.
"The kids are a blast to work with, fun because they are experience and do what they need to do to win."
Maplewood took the girls Div. III title with 47 points. Pymatuning Valley was second with 61 and Badger third with 64.
Andrea Sanders (19:26), a sophomore, took first place for South Range and said, "I was hoping to be in the low 20s so it was surprising to get in the 19s."
Rochelle Rupe (20:42.7), Krista Humphrey (21:02) and Nikki Grant (21:15) led Maplewood to its title.
The top four boys and girls teams and those individuals not on qualifying team who finished in the top 16 advanced to the Boardman regional.