Veteran Spartan runners eye titles
Plenty of talented cross country programs should make races interesting.
By MARK W. MILLER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
Boardman High boys cross country coach Dave Pavlansky has a veteran team that could challenge for Suburban League regular season and league championships this season.
Aside from the usually solid programs at Austintown Fitch, Cardinal Mooney, Maplewood, McDonald and South Range, there are some other area schools, such as Howland, Salem, Struthers, Liberty, United and Lordstown, that should make for interesting races this season.
"A critical strength is the experienced levels of our top five runners," said Pavlansky, in his sixth season as the Spartans' coach.
The five back are seniors Jim Hlebak (a best time of 17 minutes, 18 seconds in 2003), David Haushalter (17:40), Tim Weaver (17:47) and sophomores Jake Lape (17:45) and Rick Lape (17:58).
Experience counts
Jack Tominey, starting his 30th season as Howland's coach, is building the Tigers around veteran runners Vinny Freedman and Chad Holley.
At the Star-Traz pre-season 5K run at Salem, sophomore Ross Lenehan of Fitch was impressive as he ran that distance in the low 16 minutes. Andrew Fontanarosa (17:48), a senior, is another veteran.
Mooney, the Division II state runner-up in 2003, returns Colin Durina (16:33), who finished second in the state meet; Noah Boak, Brian Slavens, Sean Finnerty, Brian Brenner, Jeremy Morell and Joe Morales, as the Cardinals defend their Mahoning County, Steel Valley and Diocesan titles.
Salem, which edged Mooney for last year's district title, has a senior, five juniors and state qualifier -- sophomore Patrick Gorby (16:51) -- back.
The Quakers aren't competing in the Suburban League.
Maplewood, the 2003 Div. III state champion, must replace four seniors, but has sophomore Andy Arnio (16:15) and Andy Morgan (16:50) back.
McDonald, which placed second at state, also graduated four seniors, with seniors Andy Thornton, Anthony Puntel and Jason Witkowski returning.
South Range returns Dan Nemergut (16:11), who was second at state a year ago, and six other veterans.
Lordstown, fourth at the district meet, returns senior Tom Andriko (17:24), five juniors and a sophomore.
"We hope to be a bit more competitive with the area's top programs at the bigger meets and show steady improvement all season," Lordstown coach Frank Rahde said.
Girls
There are some outstanding girls runners returning, including Deirdre Clary (19:20) of Salem, Andra Sanders (19:26) of South Range and Samantha Bonar (20:09) of Badger.
McDonald has six of its athletes that placed 12th in the Div. III state coming back.
Seniors Jessica Moore (21:00) of Boardman and Regina Bresson (21:03) placed 35th and 36th, respectively, at last year's Div. I regional.
In addition to Clary, Salem has a sophomore and three juniors back for the team that finished eighth at the Div. II regional a year ago.
Poland, ninth at the Div. II regional, returns Colleen Moran (19:57), Molly Noll, Lauren Fithian, Cassey Turic and Heather Patrick.