Boardman boys runners finish 11th

The Boardman boys cross country team finished 11th out of 32 Division I schools at the 25th annual Spartan Cross Country Invitational last Saturday.

Freshman Mark Hadley led the Spartans with a 30th-place finish out of 763 total varsity and junior varsity runners in a time of 17:18.

He was followed by senior Eddie Adu-Poku in 34th place with a time of 17:21.

Rounding out the top finishers for Boardman (296) were freshman Alan Burns, in 42nd place in the varsity race with a time of 17:32.

North Allegheny won the team title with 37 team points. Hudson (156) was second and Solon (207) was third.

“It was a tough day, but I think we learned a lot from competing against such good teams,” said Spartan head coach John R. Phillips. “We will see most of these teams down the road at districts and regionals, and we are going to work hard to improve by then. We saw such a strong field of runners and this kind of competition only makes you better.”

Setting a personal best was freshman Adam Sinclair with a time of 22:32. Sinclair’s recent performances at West Branch, Champion, Niles and Boardman earned him the “Runner of the Week” award.

“Adam has set a new personal best just about every time he has run,” said Phillips. “He is working hard at getting better and his teammates and I have taken notice.”