Mauri wins D-I regional

By BOB ETTINGER

sports@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Vinny Mauri entered the Division I boys regional cross country meet riding the high of a sub 15-minute time in the district meet.

On Saturday, he wasn’t looking to duplicate the feat as much as he was looking to qualify for the state meet as the regional champion. It was a goal easily accomplished.

“[Last week’s performance] brings up the confidence a little,” Mauri said. “It’s always the same competition. The competition in this area is insane. I think it’s the best competition in the state.”

Mauri felt he had an advantage on the muddy course in finishing in 15:51, though he wasn’t trying to overdo himself.

“I’m pretty light,” Mauri said. “I stay on top of the mud more than anyone else. I try and use that to my advantage. I just wanted to not absolutely kill myself here. I was going for the win and trying to conserve energy for next week.”

Miranda Stanhope of Badger took home the championship in the Division III girls race in 19:29.

“My goal today was to just win,” Stanhope said. “I wasn’t too worried about time or anything else. I did better than I thought I would, so I’m pretty happy with my race today.”

Anna Guerra of McDonald was hot on the heels of Stanhope for much of the race and finished second in 19:46.

“I knew Miranda would be in front,” Guerra said. “I didn’t really race with her much. I knew Miranda would be first. I didn’t picture myself in second. I heard people saying [I could catch her], but I didn’t think I could catch her. I was really tired going into the woods.”

McDonald’s Sela Jones was fifth in the race in 20:37.

“I usually start pretty relaxed and make my way up [through the field],” Jones said. “The course was harder than normal, but my strategy still worked out in the end.”

The Blue Devils finished second with 81 points to qualify for the state meet as a team.

“It’s one of those years I’m more excited to make it [to Columbus] with this team,” McDonald coach Mike Richards said. “It’s just a fun team, a great group of girls. We have three girls who have never even gotten to run in that situation. Even the juniors act like it’s Christmas morning. It’s why we coach the girls. We get to see them do things they didn’t even think they could do.”

The Mineral Ridge girls were third in Division III with 106 points, qualifying for Columbus as a team for the first time in school history.

“We are standing on the shoulders of giants today,” Mineral Ridge coach Ron Toth said. “We look at what Maplewood and McDonald do. We study the intensity they run with, their warrior spirit. Thankfully, we were in the position we were in today. I want to praise God.”

Sylvia Traw led the Rams’ charge in 18th place in 21:09. She was followed by Riley Cowles (24th, 21:38), Moriah-Ruth Toth (27th, 21:38), Hannah-Abigail Toth (31st, 21:55) and Olivia Jackson (49th, 22:33).

Giovanni Copploe of Canfield followed Mauri to the line in fourth place in Division I, finishing in 16:25.

Also in Division I, Mitchel Dunham of Boardman placed 16th in 16:49.

The Salem boys qualified for the state meet with a fifth-place finish in Division II with 212 points. The Quakers were paced by Hunter Christopher, who was 11th in 17:17. Troy Double (30th, 17:42), Grant Menough (45th, 18:03), Jacob McLachlan (83rd, 18:35) and Owen Kirkland (101st, 18:53) rounded out the team scoring.

McDonald placed second in the Division III boys race with 64 points. East Canton was first with 55.

“I knew we could make up ground,” McDonald coach Chris Rupe said. “East Canton is a great team. Being in the top four was was the goal for us today. We wanted to have a good showing, stay healthy and qualify. We weren’t going over the top on toughness today.”

Following Guerra and Jones were Bella Wolford in 29th place in 21:17, Sophie Klase in 36th in 22:05 and Janessa Martinelli in 48th in 22:31.

Connor Symbolik led the Blue Devil charge in third place in 17:12.

Brody Rupe was the next McDonald runner in, placing sixth in 17:23. Zack Canada was 19th in 17:53, Elliott Gibbons was 30th in 18:17, Carson Fortune was 34th in 18:21.

Maplewood also punched a ticket to Columbus placing fourth with 114 points.

Hunter Omerzo (21st, 17:57), Mark Kirch (26th, 18:11), Ryan Dancison (33rd, 18:21) and John Crouch (45th, 18:35) all scored for the Rockets.

Jackie Grisdale (11th, 19:53) and Halle Sebest (22nd, 20:32) qualified for the state meet for Poland in Division II.