Boardman runners second at Spartan Invite

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Neighbors | Submitted.The Boardman boys cross country team places second at the Spartan Invitational on Sept. 15. Pictures, from left, are Assistant Coach John Phillips Sr., Pete Stafford, Sam Sheronovich, Nathan Hadley, Justin Maroni, Juan Santiago, Mark Hadley, Alan Burns, Head Coach John Phillips, and Assistant Coach Ryan Dunn.

The Boardman boys cross country team finished second out of 40 Division I schools at the 27th annual Spartan Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 15.

Junior Mark Hadley led the Spartans with a second-place finish out of 988 total varsity and junior varsity runners in a time of 15:44. He was followed by classmate Alan Burns in sixth place with a time of 16:14. Freshman Nathan Hadley was next in a time of 16:45, which was 24th overall. He was followed by junior Justin Maroni, who was 51st overall in a time of 17:08 and senior Sam Sheronovich (73rd, 17:19).

“It was a great day for our program,” said Spartans head coach John Phillips. “I was hoping to finish in the top 10 or maybe sneak into the top five, but our guys wanted more and for them to finish second is one of the biggest accomplishments in our program’s history.”

Setting personal bests at the Spartan Invitational were senior Jacob Noll (20:04), senior Matt Scott (20:38) and senior Matt Carubia (20:48). Junior Mo Akbar set a new personal best of 21:31, as did junior Alan Burns at 16:14. Sophomore Josh Botak set a new career best at 19:15, as did sophomore Kostas Kasamias at 18:41, sophomore Dan Liptak at 19:19, sophomore Nick Long at 18:36, sophomore Juan Santiago at 17:23, and sophomore Matt Stark at 22:38. Freshman Nick Cessna set a new best at 23:28, freshman Jared Whitford at 21:37, freshman Nathan Hadley 16:45, freshman Ethan Schwendeman at 19:39, freshman Sean Allen at 20:25, and freshman Brett Brunko at 21:28.

Also setting a new personal best was freshman Adam Deeley at 18:11.

Deeley’s performance at both Niles and Boardman earned him this week’s BW-3 ‘Runner of the Week’ award.

The top 10 teams at the invitational were North Allegheny (94), Boardman (155), Mentor (202), Chardon (203), Twinsburg (204), Hudson (221), Mt. Lebanon (232), Grove City (309), Eastlake North (328) and Brunswick (332).