Boardman boys runners win Salem invitational

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Neighbors | Submitted.The Boardman boys cross country team won the Salem Early Bird Invitational last weekend at Waterworth Park.

Boardman junior Mark Hadley came in first for the second consecutive year while leading the boys cross country team to a fifth straight Salem Early Bird Invitational Championship last weekend. The Spartans won the team title with 36 points. Howland (63) took second, followed by Hudson (66), Perry (99) and Marlington (116).

“We got a tremendous challenge from an improved Howland team, as well as some runners from Hudson and South Range, and stepped up our performance in order to repeat as invitational champions,” said Phillips. “You never know how a team is going to respond in the first contest of the season, but our guys did what they had to in order to come out on top.”

Finishing right behind Hadley’s time of 16:28 in fifth place was classmate Alan Burns in a time of 17:25. He was followed by freshman Nathan Hadley in a time of 17:44, which was good enough for eighth place overall out of 161 runners. Nathan Hadley’s performance earned the young runner 2012’s first ‘BW3 Runner of the Week’ award.

“Nathan Hadley finishing in the top 10 in his first high school race is a very impressive accomplishment,” said Boardman head coach John Phillips.

Other top performers for Boardman were Justin Maroni (11th, 17:54, sophomore Juan Santiago (15th, 18:28) and senior Sam Sheronovich (19th, 18:33).