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Fitch, Canfield’s Kern hit stride
BOARDMAN
While there were no literal batons being passed Saturday afternoon at the Spartan Invitation in Boardman, the Austintown Fitch boys cross country team feels like, metaphorically, they’re inching closer to grabbing hold of one.
Boardman’s cross country program placed second in the invitational the past two years, but as the Spartans learned on their home course on Saturday, life without Mark Hadley, Alan Burns and Justin Maroni could take a while to pick up steam.
The Spartans finished 25th in Division I, while Fitch was happy to take advantage with a 10th-place finish.
“I think that we’ve been working on this for the last few years,” said Falcons coach Paul Farr. “Boardman’s had Hadley, Maroni, Burns, all those guys — they were the class of the district and of the region — so we’re going to start making our own strides and I think right now, we’re going to be pretty tough to beat here in a month.
“I don’t know if we’re gonna be on top, but we’re gonna be one of the teams that people have to watch out for.”
The Falcons didn’t have a single finisher near the front of the pack, but they did have six runners place from 59th to 87th with Anthony Linert leading the way. That’s the type of depth Farr’s been waiting to come through.
“We have a nice pack and quite frankly I think they’re still kind of tired because we had a hard week this week,” said Farr, whose team raced at Tiffin last Saturday. “So I think we may ever be a little bit faster than where we’re at.”
The top individual finisher in the area was Canfield’s Chase Kern. He fought his way through a group of talented D-I runners to take 11th place overall.
“I’m satisfied with it and I just wanted to push myself to what I’m capable of doing,” Kern said. “I wanted to get out slow and steady and then just work my way up through the race.”
As a junior, and clear-cut leader of the Cardinals team, Kern said he feels like he’s progressing toward a run at the top spots.
“They’re really fast, so it’s tough,” said Kern of the division’s elite runners, “but I’ve been getting better as the years go on to be able to compete at where I want to be.”
Maplewood, McDonald battle in D-III
Maplewood’s Tristan Dahmen edged Logan Smith of Mineral Ridge by less than three seconds in the boys Division III race on Saturday. Dahmen finished with a time of 15:57.2 , while Smith crossed the finish line at 15:59.7. They were running close when they came to the hill portion of the course for the second time. That’s where Maplewood coach Dave Deeter felt his runner could be at an advantage.
“I think that hill’s good for them,” Deeter said. “It stretches out your legs, it’s something different and once you get over it, a couple seconds afterwards, you should feel better actually.”
He was certainly feeling better about his team’s chances after Dahmen crossed the finish line first. The Rockets took the top spot in the Division III boys race with a score of 67. Allen Sparks and Jake Hall also posted top-10 finishes to secure the low score.
In the girls race, McDonald finished sixth, 17 points ahead of South Range. The Raiders’ Xena Maali was the top area finisher in eighth place. Malina Mitchell and Heidi Hoffman of McDonald finished 15th and 16th, respectively.