Spartan Cross Country team competes at home invitational

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Neighbors | Submitted.The Boardman Spartans boys cross country team took 25th out of 37 Division I schools at the Spartan Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 13.

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Neighbors | Submitted.The Boardman boys cross country team competed in the 29th annual Spartan Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 13.

The Boardman boys cross country team finished 25th out of 37 Division I schools at the 29th Annual Spartan Cross Country Invitational Sept. 13.

Senior Nick Long led the Spartans with a 74th place finish out of 911 total varsity and junior varsity runners in a time of 17:16, setting a new career best time. Long was followed by junior Ethan Schwendeman in 77th place with a time of 17:18. Sophomore Nathaniel Ams was next in a personal best time of 17:54, which was 151st overall, he was followed by sophomore Nick DiGiacomo who was 251st overall in a time of 18:34 and sophomore Chris Butler was fifth for the Spartans finishing 285th overall in a time of 18:48.

Butler’s performance in his first ever varsity race earned the Spartan this weeks BW-3 ‘Runner of the Week’ award.

“Normally you don’t feel very good after finishing 25th in a meet,” said Spartan Head Coach John Phillips. “But we were missing three of our top five guys and had a lot of freshmen and sophomores step in a perform exceptionally well. Today gave us a chance to see most of the best runners and teams in our region and to run against these outstanding athletes allowed our young guys to get a feel for the big time.”

Setting a personal best at the Spartan Invitational were senior Long and junior Schwendeman as well as sophomores Ams, DiGiacomo, Butler, Jack Swavel at 19:31 and Jonathan Tran at 21:28. Freshmen setting new career bests were Tony Saab at 21:31, Matt Moradian at 20:01, Mark Moradian at 19:20, Luke Hetzel at 20:54, Nick Lascola at 19:50, Jimmy Lagese at 19:31 and Nick Peters at 23:51.