Cross country team seventh at Stow Invite

The Boardman Spartan cross country team finished seventh overall out of 21 teams with 198 points at the highly-competitive Bulldog Invitational held at Silver Springs Park in Stow. Walsh Jesuit won the meet with 83 points, followed by Hudson (126), and Mentor (138).

The Spartans finished ahead of Federal League rivals Massillon Perry (8th with 204) and GlenOak (16th with 418). The other local teams were Fitch in 13th place with 344 and Canfield was 20th with 568 points.

The Spartans placed three runners in the top 40, with sophomore Mark Hadley leading the team with a third-place finish in a time of 16:07. He was followed by classmate Alan Burns, who was 17th overall in a time of 16:50. Next for Boardman was sophomore Justin Maroni, who finished the race in 40th place with a time of 17:33.

Setting new personal bests at Stow were sophomores Jacob Kelleck at 18:07, which was also 77th overall out of 476 runners and Devin DiPiero at 24:01.

This week’s ‘Runner of the Week’ award winner was another sophomore, Nick Hura.

“Nick has really worked hard since coming back from injury,” explained Phillips. “He missed almost half of the season and has put forth a great level of commitment to finish the season strong.”