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Bluejay soars to Mahoning crown
Jackson-Milton’s Samantha Hamilton won the girls county cross country race.
CANFIELD — Senior Samantha Hamilton of Jackson-Milton High took first place in 19 minutes, 17 seconds to win the girls race at the Mahoning County cross country championships Tuesday at the Canfield Fairgrounds.
“It was the best confidence boost I’ve ever had,” said Hamilton, who stayed with her game plan from start to finish.
Monica Ciarniello of Lowellville, who won the Suburban League run last week finished second in 19:57.
“It was a battle with Monica,” Hamilton said. “At a mile-and-a-half I passed her … and gave it everything I had and that was the race I needed, the first big one and it’s the best feeling in the entire world.”
Hamilton will compete in the Clipper Invitational Saturday and said, “I’ll just have to keep focused going into October’s tournament runs with a lot of confidence knowing what I can do and it will be a lot of fun now.”
Boardman won the team championship for the second year in a row with 68 points. Fitch was second with 88 and Canfield third with 108.
Spartans’ co-coach Julie Sturgis, in her first year, said, “The girls came here prepared. They knew there would be a challenge so they pushed themselves and I am pleased with their effort.”
Boardman sophomore Katie Heney (20:22) finished third in the run and senior Lauren Agnew (20:57), who won the 2007 run, was fifth.
Agnew, recovering from leg and stress fractures to her shins over the past year and a half, said, “I’m happy I am running, excited about accomplishing anything.”
She said that she would be ready to go again for the Federal League meet, then prepare for the district and regional meets.
“We got out of district last year, so our goals are to do that again and then try and move on from regional to state.”
“[Agnew is] a fighter and she’ll challenge herself to do the very best she can,” Sturgis said.
With four of its runners in to top 10, Boardman’s boys scored 30 points to win the county title for the fifth straight year.
The Spartans’ Sam Deskin (16:47) took first place, Joe Stazak (17:31) was third, Ryan Westfall (17:33) was fourth and Seth Westfall (17:43) was 10th. Sean Murphy (17:14) of Poland was second.
“I was second to my teammate Matt Moore last year,” Deskin said, “so it was a real honor to win here and I am looking towards all the championships that we can win from now on.”
He talked about the fairgrounds course.
“ I like this course because it’s just one long loop,” Deskin said. “It’s a good change of pace and you don’t get bored like when running courses where there are two loops to the finish.”
Deskin said he was concerned about his friend, Murphy, during the race.
“We are friends and have friendly competition and warm up together as some of the big meets.
“My teammates Stazak and the Westfall twins always encourage and push each other at practice and at meets,” Deskin said.
Dave Pavalansky, Boardman’s coach, said, “We challenged them to go out to be a little sharper mentally and we wanted them to focus on each run today and from now on.
“Now we have four weeks of progression toward the district meet. What we want to do is get to the regional and then to state.”
miller@vindy.com