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Boardman’s Chris Butler raced to a first place finish and set a new meet record with a time of 16:07, outpacing 270 competitors, to lead Boardman High School to a second place finish at the ninth annual Andrews-Osborne Academy Invitational on Oct. 8 in Willoughby.
The Spartans finished just six points behind former Federal League rival and state ranked Jackson and improved their 2016 record to 121-22.
The Spartans placed three runners in the top 10 and eight in the top 30, with Butler and senior Nick Digiacomo placing fifth in 16:40, freshman Mitchell Dunham with a personal best time of 17:11 in 10th, junior Mark Moradian 12th in 17:13, senior Nathaniel Ams capturing 16th in 17:18, junior Luke Hetzel 24th overall at a personal best of 17:35, senior Dominic Eorio in a personal best time of 17:47 for 28th and senior Matt Maroni in a new personal best of 17:48 in 30th.
“This was a huge confidence boost after a disappointing showing at the AAC Championship,” said Spartan Head Coach John Phillips. “Jackson is an outstanding program and is one of the best in Ohio, we were right there with them and hopefully we can carry this effort over to the postseason.”
The Spartan JV team also placed second on Saturday and finished their season with a record of 63-12.
The scorers for the junior varsity were: Maroni, junior Jimmy Lagese at a new personal best of 18:20, junior Matt Moradian at a new personal record of 18:40, junior Nick Lascola at 18:41, junior Jason Fabian at a new personal best of 18:52, junior Carl Jacobson at a new career best of 18:56 and senior Jack Swavel at 19:01.
Setting new personal bests on Saturday were seniors Ams, Eorio, Maroni and Jacob Kohuth at 22:56. Juniors setting new personal records were Matt Moradian, Jacobson, Hetzel, Lagese, Fabian and Tony Saab at 19:10. Sophomore Miles Spearman set a new personal best at 22:30 along with freshmen Dunham, Steven Moradian at 20:12 and Alan Cuevas at 20:55. Dunham earned that week’s BW-3 ‘Runner of the Week’.