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McDonald boys capture Division III district race
Boardman boys finished third in the Div. I district meet in Canton.
BAZETTA — The McDonald High boys cross country team had seven runners in the top 25 spots to win the Division III district championship Saturday with 34 points at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds.
Maplewood was second with 77, Poland third with 102, Mooney fourth with 108 and Chagrin Falls fifth with 112. All five schools and the top 20 individuals advanced to the regional this week.
David Chick of East Palestine won the 5000-meter race in 16 minutes. 31 seconds. McDonald’s Lance Ronghi (16:38) was second, Jerry Dugan (16:43) was third, Frank Natoli (17:02) was fourth, Kyle Joynes (17:24) was ninth and Justin Camuso (17:42) was 16th.
The Blue Devils run in a pack, said McDonald coach Chris Rupe. “They were up front and it was neat to see them make a joint effort and it was neat to win district today. It’s never a given,” he said.
“Now we’ll need to get some good workouts, go to region and try to make it to state for the 10th straight year,” said Rupe.
Dugan said, “Lance and I wanted to win, but [we’re] satisfied with second and third. Now we just want to do the best we can and get out of the regional.”
Chick stayed back a little in the race and with 1500 meters left took the lead. “In the past I just went right out in front, but my strategy worked very well today,” he said.
In the Div. II race, Crestwood won with 54 points, followed Lakeview (77), Poland (102), Mooney (108) and Chagrin Falls (112). Those teams plus the top 20 individuals advanced to the regional.
Lakeview’s Tyler Ames (16:23) won the race.
“I started out slow, hanging back,” said Ames. “I was far back with a mile to go then started to close the gap and took the lead with half-a-mile to go.”
“The competition will be much faster next week at the regional so I’ll have to adjust my strategy to try to qualify for state,” said Ames.
Crestwood also won the Div. II girls title with 45 points. Salem (49) was second, followed by Poland (81) and Chagrin Falls (87). Those schools and the top 16 individuals advanced to the regional.
The Quakers’ Lauren Shivers took first place in 19:31. Anna Pompeo (20:10) of Poland was fourth and Christina Oles (20:14) of Mooney was fifth.
Senior Alexis Thorne (21:22) of Salem was 20th. “We went out and ran hard and got second and we are happy because we are moving on,” said Thorne. “We ran what we needed to do to get out of the district.
“We are going to go to regional and try and get into the top four places,” said Thorne. “Hopefully we can beat Crestwood there and go to state, where we finished sixth last year.”
Maplewood took first place in the girls Div. III run with 50 points. Burton Berkshire (76), McDonald (92) , Jackson-Milton (173), Rootstown (193) and South Range (199) rounded out the team qualifiers. The top 20 individuals also qualified.
Samantha Hamilton (19:08) of Jackson-Milton won the run, while Monica Ciarniello (19:17) of Lowellville was second, Alex Bowers (19:42) of Berkshire was third and Lisa Yoder (20:45) of Maplewood was fourth.
Boardman boys advance
CANTON — Boardman’s boys finished third with 83 points at the Div. I district meet at Malone College Saturday, advancing to the regional at Canton GlenOak. Massillon Perry won the team title with 63 points and North Canton Hoover was second with 85.
The top five teams and top 20 individuals advanced to the regional.
Mark Wiederich (16:26) of Marietta took first place in the race. Josh Tormasi (16:28) of Perry was second and Sam Deskin (16:29) of Boardman was third.
Woodridge won the boys Div. II title with 38 points. Field was second with 68 and Marlington was third with 111.
St. Thomas Aquinas scored 36 points to win the boys Div. III crown. The top 16 individuals advanced, which included Nathan Grim (17:22) of Leetonia who was sixth, Jared Sevek (17:30) of Southern who was eighth and Anthony Lee (17:31) of Lisbon who was 10th.
The girls Div. I champion was North Canton Hoover with 25 points. Samantha Norman (18:35) of Louisville finished first in the race. Nicole Tiberio(20:15) of Canfield was 13th and Katie Heney (20:26) of Boardman was 17th.
Woodridge took first place in the girls Div. II race with 43 points. Minerva was second with 55 and Marlington third with 84 and Field fourth with 96
Columbiana finished third in Div. III with 99 points, behind St. Thomas Aquinas (74) and Waterloo (90.
The Clippers’ Stephanie Case (20:30) was third, while teammates Alyssa Mellott (21:34) was 10th, Ashley Lydic (21:57) was 15th and Ashley Orr (22:53) was 29th.
miller@vindy.com