High school cross country: Wadsworth girls met Wooster Invitational

The Wadsworth girls cross country team entered the Wooster Invitational on Saturday hoping to bring home some hardware. The Grizzlies did that by winning the Division I race. Led by Kailyn Biecker's fourth-place finish, Wadsworth held off Strongsville 129-135 for the championship. The win followed a victory at Ashland, where Biecker also placed fourth. "To get the win at Wooster was impressive," Wadsworth coach Zach Humrichouser said. "We were racing against a lot of great competition. There was even a school from Satellite Beach, Florida, that was up here. What impressed me the most was the overall focus and drive the girls had." Highland placed eighth, as freshman Kathryn Schuler continued her strong start with a 15th-place 19:25.2. Cloverleaf was 10th out of 26 teams after Emma Hibler took 35th in 20:01.8. In the D-II/III race, Cloverleaf's "B" team took 12th out of 18 teams behind Lauren Jensch (22:31.9) placing 59th. Black River was 17th, as Olivia Szmania stood out by taking 43rd in 21:52.7. The Pirates boys took a trophy in the D-II/III race by placing third with 128 points, with Dillon Royster taking fourth. Team champion Minerva placed all five scoring runners in the top 20 for 50 total points, while the Colts' "B" team was 21st out 23 teams. "Overall, the boys thought it was a 'B' performance, and they fell like they have so much more in the tank," Black River coach Patrick Brean said. "That's really cool to see their self-awareness and that they are hungry for more. Any time you come away with a trophy from an invite of that high of a caliber, it's a great day." In the D-I boys race, individual performances were the story as Highland placed 15th out of 29 teams behind Ty Sgambati (18th, 15:58.5). Wadsworth was 22nd, but sophomore Ty Racin clocked the fastest time by a Grizzly in more than five years, according to Humrichouser, by taking 34th in 16:20.1. Cloverleaf placed 24th as Caleb Neville finished 51st in 16:35.5. Biecker turned in her career-best 18:40.7 on a fast course and perfect fall day. "She had a game plan, and she races really well when she has a strategy," Humrichouser said. "She wanted to finish in the top five, and when she reached the halfway point, she was right with that group and had a really strong second mile." Behind Biecker, Cami Ross (19:24.6) took a gamble and came out more aggressively. She ran alongside teammate Ollie Smith (19:36.5) for most of the race before peeling ahead over the final 800 meters to clock her personal best and finish 13th. "Those two really fed off their energy," Humrichouser said. "Cami had a great race this week, and Ollie had a great race last week." Pack racing was important throughout the lineup, as Emily Hanson (personal-best 20:24.4) and Maggie Gershutz (20:25.1) finished back to back and Rowan King (20:27.8) right behind them. Gershutz sealed the victory by topping the Mustangs' fifth runner. Royster (16:31.5) led Black River to its second top three-finish over the last three races. The Pirates began the season with a runner-up finish at Seneca East. "Dillon is Captain Consistency to me," Brean said. "Each day in practice and on race days, you know you're going to get his absolute best from him." Royster led a group of 14 runners that had lifetime career bests, including Connor Rhein (16:57.5), Noah Orgel (18:34.3), Lucas Olive (18:38.3) and Nathan Obarski (18:42.6), who all finished among the Pirates' top seven. Nicholas Kostecki (17:28.2) and Christian Orgel (18:00.3) registered season bests. Rhein continued to have a breakout freshman season as the Pirates grow more excited to see what the future holds for him. "Connor is really starting to come on and gain confidence," Brean said. "I told him today, 'You're still Connor Rhein, and just because you're a freshman doesn't mean you can't do something special.' "We're really excited to see what Connor's going to do in the postseason." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Results BOYS Division I Standings: 1. Massillon Jackson 106, 2. Amherst Steele 181, 3. North Canton Hoover 185, 4. Canton GlenOak 205, 5. Marlington 216, 6. Mentor 224, 7. New Philadelphia 235, 8. Boardman 254, 9. Hudson 273, 10. Thomas Worthington 289, 11. Wooster 330, 12. Canfield 346, 13. Copley 346, 14. Tallmadge 346, 15. Highland 379, 16. Satellite Beach (FL) 384, 17. Painesville Riverside 397, 18. Uniontown Lake 401, 19. Olentangy Berlin 414, 20. Green 505, 21. Strongsville 545, 22. Wadsworth 566, 23. Rittman 603, 24. Cloverleaf 611, 25. Louisville 625, 26. Mount Vernon 746, 27. Willoughby South 762, 28. Massillon 798, 29. Mansfield Madison 894. Highland (379): 18. Ty Sgambati 15:58.5, 56. Oren Scranton 16:39.3, 76. Matt Rini 16:54.1, 99. Ryder Donaldson 17:09.4, 157. Colton Klein 18:03.9, 187. Nate Boyce 18:31.9, 199. Benjamin Boggs 18:47.3. Wadsworth (566): 34. Ty Racin 16:20.1, 144. Tristan Pitts 17:47.8, 146. Alex Braunlich 17:49.5, 147. Beckham Love 17:49.8, 160. Andrew Codding 18:06.1 174. Evan Marano 18:17.4, 190. Ryan Poling 18:34.7. Cloverleaf (611): 51. Caleb Neville 16:35.5, 63. Gavin Forbes 16:45.2, 176. Josh Bowman 18:19.5, 202. Landon Southam 18:57.8, 225. Noah Mion 20:04.5. Division II/III Standings: 1. Minerva 50, 2. Canal Fulton Northwest 124, 3. Black River 128, 4. Fredericktown 138, 5. Waynedale 141, 6. Norwayne 210, 7. Smithville 211, 8. West Holmes 228, 9. Fairless 258, 10. Chippewa 301, 11. Orrville 304, 12. Dalton 306, 13. Elyria Catholic 321, 14. Canton South 342, 15. Wooster Triway 361, 16. Kidron Central Christian 439, 17. Padua 443, 18. Sandy Valley 448, 19. Tallmadge 452, 20. Tuslaw 479, 21. Cloverleaf 637, 22. Wooster Christian 645, 23. Akron Manchester 688 Black River (128): 4. Dillon Royster 16:31.5, 14. Connor Rhein 16:57.5, 24. Nicholas Kostecki 17:28.2, 38. Christian Orgel 18:00.3, 48. Noah Orgel 18:34.3, 53. Lucas Olive 18:38.3, 59. Nathan Obarski 18:42.6. Cloverleaf (637): 135. Antonio Ortega 20:29.4, 139. Mason Clapp 20:34.5, 156. Oliver Bohner 21:36.1, 162. Jackson Perman 21:59.9, 163. Dylan Perman 22:00.2. GIRLS Division I Standings: 1. Wadsworth 129, 2. Strongsville 135, 3. Canton GlenOak 139, 4. Satellite Beach (FL) 183, 5. Massillon Jackson 232, 6. Tallmadge 243, 7. Uniontown Lake 262, 8. Highland 264, 9. Hudson 266, 10. Cloverleaf 294, 11. Rittman 295, 12. Amherst Steele 305, 13. Magnificat 329, 14. Mentor 329. 15. Boardman 350, 16. Green 401, 17. Olentangy Berlin 420, 18. Louisville 447, 19. Thomas Worthington 457, 20. North Canton Hoover 485, 21. Canfield 553, 22. Wooster 557, 23. Mount Vernon 590, 24. Copley 653, 25. Mansfield Madison 672, 26. New Philadelphia 740. Wadsworth (129): 4. Kailyn Biecker 18:40.7, 13. Cami Ross 19:24.6, 22. Ollie Smith 19:36.5, 47. Emily Hanson 20:24.4, 48. Maggie Gerschutz 20:25.1, 52. Rowan King 20:27.8, 94. Grace Piepho 21:07.8. Highland (264): 15. Kathryn Schuler 19:25.2, 50. Kylie Clark 20:26.6, 54. Jillian Clark 20:30.3, 62. Ava Pallante 20:36.2, 89. Grace Lebeck 21:04.9, 119. Sophia Scavuzzo 21:44.5, 132. Audrey Hartschuh 21:59.7. Cloverleaf (294): 35. Emma Hibler 20:01.8, 60. Allison Yagersz 20:33.7, 61. Madison Snyder 20:35.9, 68. Megan Knapp 20:42.0, 77. Vanessa Monhemius 20:53.9, 98. Brooke Gucker 21:09.3, 121. Gabriella Izzo 21:49.8. Division II/III Standings: 1. Minerva 35, 2. Marlington 75, 3. Bay 124, 4. Sandy Valley 124, 5. Fredericktown 151, 6. Canal Fulton Northwest 162, 7. Norwayne 231, 8. West Holmes 242, 9. Wooster Triway 253, 10. Elyria Catholic 257, 11. Tuslaw 330, 12. Cloverleaf 341, 13. Tallmadge 369, 14. Akron Manchester 382, 15. Orrville 402, 16. Padua 423, 17. Black River 428, 18. Canton South 572. Cloverleaf (341): 59. Lauren Jensch 22:31.9, 65. Grace Friedhoff 22:43.1, 116. Holly Milbrandt 24:46.8, 120. Carrigan Baltic 24:55.2, 124. Emma Gardiner 25:05.1, 125. Samantha Porter 25:08.1, 163. Lillian Mencke 28:09.5. Black River (428): 43. Olivia Szmania 21:52.7, 133. Hailey Lambdin 25:31.8, 135. Paige Kaltenbaugh 25:52.3, 156. Ruby Johnston 27:42.1, 166. Ava Workinger 28:16.2, 177. Molly Johnson 30:40.3.