Arnio repeats as district champion

McDonald won the Div. III team championship, while Maplewood was second.
BAZETTA -- Andy Arnio of Maplewood High crossed the finish line in 16 minutes, 33 seconds, to succesfully defend his district cross country championship, at the Division III meet Saturday at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds.
McDonald won the team championship with 37 points while Maplewood was second with 50.
"I cramped up midway through the race and my side hurt, but the second time on the long stretch of the course I started to feel good and was able to run comfortably the rest of the way," said Arnio, who won the state champion last year.
Andy Morgan of Maplewood, who was runner-up to Arnio at the state meet, sat out Saturday's race with a sore rib.
"We were cautious with Morgan," said Maplewood coach Ted Rupe. "It's bruised with some inflammation, so we kept him out ... until next week."
Joe Copploe finished second overall (16:54) to lead McDonald to the boys team title. Taylor Sowers (17:27) was third, T.J. Holland (17:30) was fourth, Mitchell Thornton (17:47) was eighth and Todd Stitt (18:26) was 18th.
The other regional qualifying teams were Badger, Mineral Ridge, Lordstown and Rootstown.
Advancing as individuals were Scott Wolfe of East Palestine, Joe Karmanzin and Richard Barker of United, Luke Wellman of South Range and John McGuire of Warren JFK.
Witmer a winner
Senior Kayla Witmer of South Range won the girls Div. III run in 20:02, and the Raiders qualified in fifth place.
"I stayed behind the leaders for two miles, letting the competition set the pace," said Witmer.
Rochelle Rupe finished second (20:20), leading Maplewood to a third-place team finish, while Audrey Maheu of Warren JFK was third (20:26) and Ciarniello was fourth (21:02).
McDonald won the team title with 48 points. The Blue Devils' Kyrsti Sowers (21:19) finished fifth, Callie Garland (21:37) was eighth, Aubrey Holland (21:43) was 11th, Haley McCormick (21:51) was 13th and Jenn Molinari (22:17) was 20th. East Palestine, Garfield Heights Trinity and Jackson-Milton also qualified as teams, while Maheu and Ciarniello were joined as individual qualifiers by Brooke Riffee of United and Ren McGraw of Badger.
Division II
In Div. II, Salem's girls got started in the right direction toward a return trip to the state meet, repeating as district champs with 24 points. Crestwood was second (59), Chagrin Falls third (79) and Mooney fourth (113).
For Salem, Erin Murphy (19:56) was second overall to Crestwood's Cassandra Schenck (18:48). Also for the Quakers, Lauren Shivers (19:56) was third, Liz Shivers (20:15) was fourth, Bethany Huston (20:45) was seventh and Alexis Thorne (20:47) was ninth.
Christina Oles of Mooney finished 10th in 20:52 and Katie Lisko was 15th (21:55).
Lauren Fithian of Poland qualified as an individual, finishing 10th (21:20).
Crestwood won the boys team title with 55 points, followed by Lakeview (85), Poland (94) and Struthers (129).
Patrick Gorby of Salem won the race (16:58), and he'll be joined at the regional as an individual by Ursuline's Jeff Poole (10th in 18:04), West Branch's Kyle McLaughlin (14th in 18:08) and Girard's Evan DeChant (16th in 18;13).
Lakeview was led by Sam Jenkins (eighh in 17:59), Tyler Ames 11th in 18:05) and Heath Harris (12th in 18:07). For Poland, Jim Ramson was third (17:35) and Eric Kennedy was ninth (18:01), while Struthers was paced by Robert Zanni in sixth (17:46).
Boardman places fourth
CANTON -- Boardman's boys placed fourth with 102 points at the Division I cross country meet at Malone College. North Canton Hoover was first with 57, followed by Massillon Perry (60) and Canton GlenOak (97). Massillon Jackson was fifth and also qualified for the regional.
Having not made it to the regional since 1991, Boardman is going back for the second straight year.
"We are going to try to close the gap on Hoover and GlenOak and if we can do that, we have a real good chance at going to state," said Dave Pavlansky, Boardman's coach.
Boardman was led by Jake Lape, who was eighth (17:00), while Rick Lape finished 17th (17:23). Sam Deskin, Ryan Westfall and Adam Haushalter rounded out the Spartans' scorers.
Lauren Agnew (20:18) of Boardman placed ninth in the girls run to qualify as an individual. Shannon Rech of Fitch was 24th (21:12) to also qualify.
In Div. III, Kyle Crismon placed 10th (17:56) to lead Lisbon to a team-qualifying fifth-place finish. Justin Rupp, Tyler Freeland, Jonathon Joy and Aaron Brandonisio also scored for the Blue Devils.
In the girls race, Stephanie Case of Columbiana qualified with a seventh-place finish in 20:56.