Cross country roundup: Chardon sweeps team titles at WRC; GCC, Crown results
Oct. 14—In a battle of the girls runners with the fastest times in The News-Herald coverage area, Kenston's Emerson Greene emerged victorious in the Western Reserve Conference meet on Oct. 14 at Riverside.
The Bombers' senior took home the top spot on the podium in 18:49.76 to beat Chardon's Rae Kawalec who was second in 18:59.40.
Kenston's Brianna McIvor (19:11.08), Chardon's Briella Hewitt (19:38.78) and Riverside's Megan Sullivan (19:46.72) rounded out the top five.
The Hilltoppers got the final laugh, however, as they took home the team title over Riverside.
In the boys race, the Hilltoppers finished 1-2 with Taman Chokshi repeated as conference champion. The junior posted a personal-record 15:49.46 and was followed by teammate Thomas Nelson in 15:51.86.
Kenston's Kyle McMahan was third in 15:56.39 to finish on the podium, and Riverside's John Young (16:27.31) and North's Troy Federicic (16:32.46) completed the top five.
In a battle of state-ranked teams, Chardon edged out Kenston for the team title 33 to 40 to repeat as conference champion.
GCC
Mentor was paced by Nora Kraska with a 19:39.72 for a 10th-place finish in a strong field. The individual title was claimed by Strongsville's Jenny Guo with an 18:53.97.
Shaker Heights won the team battle with 41 points and a quintet of runners in the top 15.
Mentor was second in the individual and team races on the boys side. Billy Dennison finished second with a 15:59.80 for runner-up honors followed by Matthew Penkowski in fourth with a 16:20.20.
The Cardinals also saw Michael Maynard in ninth with a 16:48.10 and Joey Burger outside the top 10 in 11th with a 16:55.82. It was Medina that took home the team title (38-40) and top honors as Jake Sebaugh finished first with a 15:31.82.
Crown
Lake Catholic's Kelly Ward won her second straight conference title with a 21:25. Beaumont had both Ava Hartman (21:49) and Cecilija Dautovic (23:33) in the top five as well in second and fifth respectively.
For the second year in a row, NDCL had a 1-2 finish as Anthony Ciecierski repeated as conference champion with a 17:42 and was followed by Andrew Downing with an 18:02. The Lions also had Peter Bates in eighth (18:38) and Tyler Milk in 10th (19:03).
