Friday, October 21, 2011
Boardman sophomore Mark Hadley became the first Spartan runner to take first overall and be named ‘Athlete of the Year’ at a cold a windy Federal League Championship Meet at Hoover High School in North Canton.
“For a sophomore to achieve that award and to win this meet in just flat out unbelievable,” said Boardman head coach John Phillips, “Mark was certainly happy, but was more concerned on how his teammates finished, he is just a class act.”
Hadley and his teammates tied the school’s best-ever finish at the league championships, coming in third behind Jackson and Perry.
“Our goal all year was to contend for the league championship,” explained Phillips. “We ran about as well as we could have, the league is just so good – it may be the best in the state as far as distance running goes. But we made some major strides as a program today.”
Joining Hadley as a first team All-Federal League runner was sophomore Alan Burns, who finished fifth overall in a time of 16:54. Earning second team honors were junior Sam Sheronovich and sophomore Justin Maroni for their 15th and 16th place finishes in times of 17:30 and 17:31, respectively.
“To have four of our runners earn first and second team is a great accomplishment for our program,” said Phillips.
Setting new personal bests were seniors Mike Moxley at 18:25 and Tom Hays at 19:36. Juniors Fletcher Dunham at 19:18 and Matt Scott at 20:53 also set new personal records. Sophomore Trevor Leyden, as well as freshmen Juan Santiago, Nick Long, Dan Liptak, and Andrew Cessna also set new bests at times of 18:10, 18:34, 18:53, 20:45, and 23:10, respectively.
Next up for the Spartans is the Division I District Championship at Malone University today. Boardman will need to finish in the top five spots as a team in order to advance to the regional championships held at Boardman next weekend. Boardman will be battling their Federal League rivals as well as Louisville, Green, Canfield, Howland, Fitch, Massillon Washington, Barberton and Warren Harding among others.