Jackson's Eli Ilg, Lake's Daniela Scheffler win Stark County cross country championships

PLAIN TWP. — Eli Ilg went to the Stark County Cross Country Championships hoping for a top-3 finish.

The Jackson High School junior came home with a lot more than he originally hoped for.

Ilg became just the second Jackson boys runner to win a county title. His victory Saturday at GlenOak helped lead the Polar Bears to their first team championship since 2018.

"I just surprised myself today," Ilg said. "I was feeling good, got out hard and just maintained. This feels great."

Lake's Daniela Scheffler repeated as the county champion in the girls race. Minerva also extended its streak of girls team titles to three in a row.

Ilg's winning time was 15:10.11, the second fastest in meet history. He joins Evan Akers (2017) as the only Jackson boys county champions.

Ilg was able to pull away and beat reigning Division II state champion Colin Cernansky of Marlington by just over 27 seconds.

Teammate Josh Huzyak kept pushing Ilg along the way.

"He was telling me 'Break him, break him,'" Ilg said. "He was saying to not give him any space to catch up because he has an amazing kick.

"I was finding the mental gear to just give it that one last effort. I was able to do it."

It's rare when Cernansky does not win a race. The county meet was an exception. He will graduate without winning a county title.

Ilg has all the respect in the world for Cernansky.

"It's an honor to compete with him," Ilg said. "He's an insane athlete with an impressive resume. He's one of the best runners I know. This really boosts my confidence a lot."

Jackson recorded a 32-point win over runner-up Hoover. Ranked No. 3 in the latest Division I state coaches poll, the Polar Bears have big goals in the coming weeks.

"I think we can win it all," Ilg said. "I have so much faith in these guys. We're looking really strong this year."

Daniela Scheffler relives winning moment

Scheffler didn't expect to win the girls county title as a sophomore a year ago. When she did, she felt "over the moon."

This year, Scheffler raised the bar for herself.

"I wanted to come back here and kind of relive that moment," Scheffler said. "I wanted to realize my potential and see all the hard work pay off."

Scheffler's winning time was 17:57.88. Her victory gave the Lake girls program four county titles in the last five years.

"This brought back some really good memories," Scheffler said. "It kind of puts a new perspective on all the hard work I have put in, all the people who have supported me and how it just doesn't give me one title one year. It rolls over year after year."

Scheffler has had several wins this year. She feels she is in a good spot heading into the season's homestretch.

"I'm excited to see how I measure up against competition that has all had similar seasons," Scheffler said. "I haven't had a lot of people to run with that second and third mile of a race. I'm definitely excited to see how that pans out."

Three-peat for Minerva girls cross country

The county meet has revealed how deep the Minerva girls program is. The Lions keep reloading and keep winning titles at GlenOak's Tydin Miller Course.

Minerva held off GlenOak by eight points for its third straight county title. The Lions' five scorers finished in the top 18.

"We knew we had to go out and run our best," Minerva head coach Olivia Scott said. "GlenOak is really good this year. Mentally, we talked about how we had to make sure we had to do what we can to be up there. They went out and performed better than I expected them to. I'm very proud of them."

Katie Ison finished seventh in 19:28.3 to lead Minerva, ranked No. 4 in the state in Division II. The Lions have won every meet but one this season. The only meet they didn't win was the Boardman Spartan Invitational. Minerva came in second that day.

"We're so deep," Scott said. "The girls pack run together. My top six could be No. 1 at any point in the day."

Reach Mike at mike.popovich@cantonrep.com

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Jackson boys, Minerva girls capture Stark County cross country titles