Boardman boys cross country places fifth

The Spartans finished fifth out of seventeen schools at The Frank Gibas Invitational at Kenston High School in Chagrin Falls, improving their varsity season mark to 22-4 overall.

Nathan Hadley took sixth overall out of 317 runners. Aiding in Boardman’s score was senior Ethan Schwendeman at a personal best of 16:58, which was good enough for 13th overall. He was followed by junior Chris Butler at a personal best time of 17:15, which earned the Spartan runner 22nd place. Junior Nathaniel Ams and junior Nick DiGiacomo finished 47th and 49th overall in times of 18:27 and 18:30, respectively, to round out the scoring for Boardman.

“This was a very tough meet and I feel we ran rather well,” said Boardman Head Coach John Phillips. “Solon and Kenston are excellent programs and both are in our district so getting some experience against them will hopefully pay off later in the season.”

Setting new personal bests at Kenston were Schwendeman, Butler, junior Jonathan Tran at 21:25, sophomore Luke Hetzel at 18:55, freshman Andrew Beichner at 21:59 and freshman Matt Welton at 21:57.

This weeks BW-3 ‘Runner of the Week’ Award went to sophomore Mark Moradian for his outstanding effort and setting a new personal best with a 19:08