Maplewood runners edge McDonald for the title

The extremely tight Division III boys race took extra time to score.

By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

BOARDMAN — Dozens of runners, coaches and parents encircled the board where the team results were to be posted for the Division III boys cross country race at the 34th annual Spartan Invitational.

The runners from Maplewood and rival McDonald knew the battle for the team title was close. Both coaches had done the math, but the results weren’t yet official.

Finally, more than 30 minutes after the race’s conclusion — there was a tie for second. Independence and McDonald finished with 83 points. One point lower — and better — was Maplewood.

“I didn’t know until they printed out the results – and even then I wasn’t sure we won,” Maplewood coach Ted Rupe said. “If even one runner didn’t turn in their chip, that could make a difference — it was that close.

“This was such a great field with the top three teams in the state running here,” Rupe said. “Our top three have been looking solid, so for us our fourth through sixth guys are the most important. They’ve really stepped it up.”

Entering the meet, Maplewood was ranked No. 1 in the state in Division III, with St. Thomas Aquinas second and McDonald third. Independence was also ranked in the top 10.

The winners were led by Eric Rupe, who turned in a third-place finish with a time of 16:35. Teammate Aaron Harrison finished ninth and Tom Bottorff took 13th.

But won the race for Maplewood were the string performances of Wyatt Hartman (21), Dallas Bright (36), A.J. Grayson (55) and Brad VanValkenburg (58).

“We know we’re only as strong as our fifth guy,” said Eric Rupe, a senior. “We’ve been trying to close the gap between our fourth and fifth guys and they’ve been coming on strong. We’ve been training hard and we had a good race at Tiffin last week, but it’s hard to have two good meets in only eight days, but we did.”

That close finish in Division III was the highlight of an invitational that featured more than 4,800 runners competing in a total of 14 races. The meet included high school and middle school teams from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

In the Division II boys’ race, Poland’s Sean Murphy was the top local finisher, taking fourth in a time of 16:31. He ran about a minute faster than he did at this time last season.

“A good goal for me today was top five and I did it, so I’m pretty happy with that,” Murphy said. “I was right with a couple of kids who made it to state last year, so I’m right there.”

West Branch finished 11th in the team race, followed by Lakeview (12th) and Cardinal Mooney (13th).

Boardman’s Sam Deskin finished seventh in the Division I race, improving one place from the 2008 Spartan Invitational. He was a bit disappointed in his effort and conceded that his first half mile was to blame.

“I had a decent mile split, but my first half was too slow,” Deskin said. “I had to try to catch people the whole race. I haven’t really raced to my potential here and I was a little tired today, but this is good competition and it gets me ready for regionals here on our home course.”

On the girls’ side, Lowellville’s Monica Ciarniello nearly found herself without a shoe, but posted a time of 19:44 to finish fourth in the Division III race.

She won the Spartan Invitational in 2008, but got off to an interesting start Saturday when her left shoe came untied early in the event.

“I kind of panicked there for a minute,” said Ciarniello, whose team finished 10th. “But I made myself realize that there was nothing I could do about it if the shoe came off. I really needed a good race today, because I was losing some confidence.

“This is the first year we’ve had a team and we really want to make it to state. We’ve been training hard and we have a new coach, so hopefully we’ll keep running well.”

McDonald, paced by freshman Sarah Jones’ seventh-place finish, took second in the team standings in Division III.