Boardman boys win Early Bird; Salem girls team places second

SALEM — The Boardman High boys cross country team took first place while the Salem High girls finished second in the Early Bird Invitational meet Saturday at the Memorial Park race course.

The Spartans, which scored 39 points, had five runners place in the top 15.

Boardman’s Sam Deskin won the 5000-meter run in 16 minutes, 21 seconds. Joe Sazak (17:25) was sixth, Ryan Westfall (17:27) was eighth, Seth Westfall (17:42) was 14th and Eddy Adu-Poku (17:43) was 15th.

Perry placed second with 44 points and Poland was third with 90 in the field of nine teams. Aaron Sutton (16:35) of Howland finished second.

Abbie Clifford (19:38) took first place in leading Perry to the girls title with 24 points. The Quakers followed with 87. Salem’s Lauren Shivers (20:34) was third, Lexi Shivers (21:55) was 13th and Bethany Huston (22:03) was 14th.

McDonald boys second

McDONALD — Jerry Dugan (17:45) was seventh helping the McDonald boys place second with 65 points in the Billy Goat meet at the McDonald High course.

Woodridge won the event with 44 points. Kyle Sullinger won the run in 16:18. Lucas Ronghi (17:58) of McDonald was 10th, while teammates Mitchell Thornton (18:16) was 14th, Bobby Devita (18:17) was 15th and Josh Lapolla (18:29) was 19th.

In the girls run, Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy took first place with 21 points.

Woodridge was second with 67, Crestwood was third with 67 and Fitch came in fourth with 144.

Katie Gillespie (18:53) of CVCA won the run, Danae Kempe (22:30) of Fitch placed 13th and teammate Shannon Rech (23:21), who lost one of her shoes at the start of the race, was 29th.