GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY Sanders leads solid area showing

McDonald finished a surprising third to advance to the Division III state meet.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOARDMAN -- Not to bring up bad memories, but in order to put Andra Sanders' success in perspective, you have to first understand what she went through at last year's regional meet.
Sanders was a freshman. She was still recovering from tendinitis in her hip. She was running just her third race of the season.
It did not go well.
"The weather was terrible and I was just going to start the race, then pull out," she said. "But when I start something, I can't not finish it."
So she ran, and finished 58th.
"I was crying, I fell on my way up the last hill -- it was bad," she said. "I wasn't going to race, but I wanted to be there for my team."
A year later, Sanders has emerged as her team's best runner. She placed an area-best fourth in Saturday's Division III regional at Boardman High School to erase last year's bad memories and advance to next week's state meet at Scioto Downs in Columbus.
"I'm very happy, but I started a little too fast," she said. "My average mile time is 6:15 and I was a little excited at first and ran a 5:52. Right when I saw that, I thought, 'Oh boy. I need to slow down.'
"I definitely learned my lesson."
Any goals for next week?
"No," she said. "It's my first time there, so I'm just excited to be there."
Pleasantly surprised
McDonald feels the same way. The Blue Devils grabbed the third and final qualifying spot to make it back to the state meet, despite losing their top three runners from last year's team.
Was the finish a surprise?
"It's a shock," said McDonald coach Diane Krumpak.
"Coach Krumpak saw it first and we saw her jump up and we all just started crying," said sophomore Ashleigh Tondo. "We knew we had to run our hearts out."
And with that, Erin Koppel held up her hand to show a heart drawn in red ink with an arrow pointing up.
"We drew them to remind us to keep our hearts in it," she said.
The two runners also have a nickname.
"We're the Koppel-Tondo Connection," Tondo said.
Do we have to call you that?
"No. I mean, you don't want to sound stupid," she said.
Division II
Sophomore Deirdre Clary finished seventh and Erin Murphy was 22nd to give Salem two individual qualifiers in Division II.
"It feels awesome," Clary said. "Last year I didn't know what I was doing. I was just like, 'We're at regionals -- whippee! Let's run.' This year I wanted to go a step further and take it to the next level."
It won't be her first trip to the state meet. She went last year as a fan.
"It wasn't until I got down there that it occurred to me how jealous I was," she said. "I'm very excited to be going."
Poland junior Colleen Moran finished 20th to become the first girl Bulldog to qualify for the state meet since Debbie Pagano qualified five years ago.
"I usually have a problem keeping pace so my coach gave me a different plan today," she said. "I started slow so I would feel good at the end."
Moran did not run well at last year's regional -- she placed 43rd -- which may have something to do with the course. Few runners love Boardman's course, which starts and finishes with hills.
Division I
Boardman senior Brittany Durkin has mixed feelings about her home course. She ran well there her sophomore year and advanced to the state tournament, but struggled last year and did not qualify.
Did she think about last year's race?
"Yeah," she said. "I was real sluggish last year and my legs felt heavy and everyone started passing me. And once they passed me, there was nothing I could do about it."
Saturday's race almost started the same way, but she recovered to place 11th and advance.
"I'm happy and relieved," she said. "There's a lot of tough runners here and this was my last chance to make it back. I didn't have anything left at the end. I just wanted to cross the line so I could stop."
And now that she's made it back, she's just going to enjoy the experience.
"I would like to do well," she said. "But whatever happens, happens."
scalzo@vindy.com