High school cross country: Medina's Jake Sebaugh wins Milt Place Festival

MEDINA — There was no chance that Medina senior Jake Sebaugh was going to miss an opportunity to lace up his shoes one more time at Ella Canavan Elementary School on Saturday. Sebaugh brought a workman's attitude to the Milt Place Medina Festival and won the boys Division I race for the first time in his decorated career. Sebaugh ran away from the field, finishing in 15:26.17 to beat Westlake's Jeremy Snyder by more than 27 seconds. "This course means a lot," Sebaugh said. "I was talking with my coach (Gus Dudek) this week, and he gave me the option to rest. Any other course I would have, but here it means too much. "The middle part through the woods is true cross country. You go up and down a little bit, and when it rains, it gets a little muddy. It makes it even more fun." Sebaugh and Andrew Bugner (4th, 15:55.28) led Medina to fourth. Rocky River won the event with four runners in the top 20. Santino Diligente (11th, 16:12.96) led Brunswick to finish seventh out of 27 teams, while Highland's Ty Sgambati edged Diligente for 10th place in 16:11.81 as the Hornets took 11th. Wadsworth's Ty Racin (16:18.12) ran a season-best time to pace the Grizzlies, who placed 16th, and Buckeye placed 20th behind Nate Rieth's 43rd-place 17:04.62. On the girls side, Cloverleaf packed four into the top nine to win the 10-team Division II/III race. Megan Knapp placed fourth in a season-best 19:59.19. "Every race we are there for each other," Knapp said. "I could not be where I am without that pack. In workouts and races, every day they keep me going and we push each other." Buckeye was fifth, with Sophia Regiec (20:48.91) leading the charge by placing eighth. In D-I, the Wadsworth girls used a tight-knit pairing of Kailyn Biecker and Ollie Smith to be the top Medina County team, finishing fifth out of 22 and edging Medina by one spot. Biecker (19:17.50) and Smith (19:22.75) were neck and neck throughout before finishing eighth and 10th, respectively. "I was excited for a flat course and felt good to have a teammate to run with the whole race," Smith said. "This is my first season running cross country after playing soccer, so I was nervous coming into the season. I'm thankful to have a teammate that pushes me so much, because I couldn't have done it without her." Alexis Warnement (19:24.00) finished right behind Smith to lead the Bees. Brunswick's Amber Kemmann (19:48.14) took 18th and led Brunswick to place seventh. Highland was 10th behind freshman Kathryn Schuler's 19th-place 19:51.72. Despite having Caleb Neville (16:55.30) and Gavin Forbes (16:55.30) finish second and third, respectively, the Cloverleaf boys finished second in the D-II/III race behind Northwest. Medina Christian Academy finished 10th behind Austin Hedge's 82nd-place 21:23.67. With the Suburban League Meet on Saturday and the postseason races on the horizon, Biecker and Wadsworth have high expectations to keep their calendars booked for the next month. "This season's goal is to be consistent, and hopefully get our girls to the state meet this year," Biecker said. "Last year my back was bothering me, but this year I'm feeling pretty good. This is my last season running, so I'm just trying to make the most of it." The Medina teams are no strangers to postseason success and are looking to continue that legacy starting with the Greater Cleveland Conference meet and rolling into what the Bees boys hope will be an eighth straight state tournament appearance and 25th overall. "Our guys are very fit right now," Bugner said. "We're in a great spot. These guys are all excited. We don't quite know who we are yet, so we're going to see this postseason." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Results Boys Division I Standings: 1. Rocky River 90, 2. Woodridge 100, 3. North Canton Hoover 111, 4. Medina 129, 5. Revere 183, 6. Brecksville 193, 7. Brunswick 204, 8. Solon 231, 9. Westlake 246, 10. Avon 270, 11. Highland 277, 12. Massillon Jackson 378, 13. Firestone 384, 14. Strongsville 410, 15. Green 413, 16. Wadsworth 423, 17. Medina 'B' 441, 18. North Royalton 480, 19. Mayfield 491, 20. Buckeye 495, 21. Eastlake North 600, 22. Nordonia 639, 23. North Olmsted 647, 24. Valley Forge 716, 25. Normandy 724, 26. Lorain 799, 27. Rocky River 'B' 814. Medina (129): 1. Jake Sebaugh 15:26.17, 4. Andrew Bugner 15:55.28, 18. Braighden Sullivan 16:27.76, 48. Andrew Mosack 17:05.96, 60. Nick Colosimo 17:15.53, 72. Tyler Aupperle 17:21.26, 79. Varun Rodrigues 17:25.80. Brunswick (204): 11. Santion Diligente 16:12.96, 17. Max Makara 16:26.15, 47. Anthony Petitto 17:05.88, 55. Vince Petitto 17:11.43, 78. Dustyn Defoor 17:24.39, 80. Luca Brusco 17:26.00, 93. Devon McDonough 17:42.79. Highland (277): 10. Ty Sgambati 16:11.81, 39. Oren Scranton 16:59.43, 64. Matthew Rini 17:16.85, 74. Ryder Donaldson 17:21.90, 99. Colton Klein 17:48.86, 179. Benjamin Boggs 19:18.72, 180. Chase Oberhaus 19:20.15. Wadsworth (423): 14. Ty Racin 16:18.12, 97. Tristan Pitts 17:46.05, 100. Alex Braunlich 17:49.75, 101. Will Kellner 17:49.83, 136. Evan Marano 18:25.66, 143. Robery Beatty 18:28.13, 176. Andrew Codding 19:14.14. Medina 'B' (441): 62. Noah Smith 17:16.52, 92. Carson Meagher 17:40.71, 110. Liam Meade 18:01.23, 119. Joey D'Aurelio 18:10.83, 127. Brooks Robison 18:16.86, 139. Aiden Rubino 18:21.26, 137. Max Dudley 18:26.43. Division II/III Standings: 1. Canal Fulton Northwest 54, 2. Cloverleaf 63, 3. West Geauga 65, 4. Holy Name 84, 5. Hearts for Jesus Christ 148, 6. Chagrin Falls 166, 7. Rootstown 170, 8. Padua 173, 9. Lawrence 293, 10. Medina Christian 297. Cloverleaf (63): 3. Caleb Neville 16:55.30, 4. Gavin Forbes 17:10.03, 13. Matthew Jenkins 17:51.23, 22. Reed Kilgore 18:42.07, 23. Landon Southam 18:42.07, 32. Noah Mion 19:08.31, 35. Josh Bowman 19:19.50. Medina Christian (297): 82. Austin Hedges 21:23.67, 85. Logan Theis 21:36.11, 89. Jake Buczek 22:03.72, Simeon Cambouris 22:54.12, 106. Rohan Dhruv 24:35.29. Girls Division I Standings: 1. Avon 75, 2. Woodridge 82, 3. Strongsville 109, 4. Rocky River 119, 5. Wadsworth 151, 6. Medina 183, 7. Brunswick 235, 8. Brecksville 240, 9. Magnificat 270, 10. Highland 309, 11. Solon 311, 12. Avon 'B' 324, 13. Green 324, 14. Louisville 368, 15. North Canton Hoover 379, 16. Firestone 388, 17. Nordonia 462, 18. North Royalton 500, 19. North Olmsted 542, 20. Mayfield 552, 21. Massillon Jackson 567, 22. Normandy 690. Wadsworth (151): 8. Kaiyn Biecker 19:17.50, 10. Ollie Smith 19:22.75, 21. Maggie Gerschutz 19:56.10, 37. Grace Piepho 20:18.99, 77. Emily Hanson 21:21.66, 99. Kyleigh Friedl 21:53.79, 114. Brynne McAllister 22:06.03. Medina (183): 11. Alexis Warnement 19:24.00, 16. Ruth Schmeller 19:46.16, 17. Haley Black 19:46.82, 70. Alanya Yanmaz 21:05.84, 72. Abby Petz 21:11.50, 95. Ashley Kollar 21:45.72, 100. Quinn Brightbill 21:54.14. Brunswick (235): 18. Amber Kemmann 19:48.14, 29. Emma Bradbury 20:07.55, 54. Emily Thornberry 20:45.77, 60. Aubree Stein 20:49.33, 76. Olivia Petitto 21:17.65, 80. Olivia Gottschling 21:25.97, 97. Kylie Lockwood 21:51.55. Highland (309): 19. Kathryn Schuler 19:51.72, 57. Kendall Leatherman 20:47.71, 61. Kylie Clark 20:49.53, 86. Grace Lebeck 21:36.43, 93. Celia Pylypiak 21:44.59, 113. Audrey Hartschuh 22:05.42, 125. Julia Madison 22:22.19. Division II/III Standings: 1. Cloverleaf 44, 2. Chagrin Falls 57, 3. Canal Fulton Northwest 95, 4. Hearts for Jesus Christ 127, 5. Buckeye 135, 6. Holy Name 152, 7. West Geauga 183, 8. Rootstown 193, 9. Padua 241, 10. Christian Community School 284. Cloverleaf (44): 4. Megan Knapp 19:59.19, 6. Emma Hibler 20:19.83, 7. Allison Yagersz 20:25.33, 9. Brooke Gucker 20:53.54, 19. Vanessa Monhemius 21:43.98, 23. Gabriella Izzo 21:57.28, 29. Olivia Spencer 22:30.29. Buckeye (135): 8. Sophia Regiec 20:48.91, 12. Al Schell 21:26.31, 43. Shelby Skilskyj 23:57.38, 45. Maddy Kost 24:04.51, 50. Paige Pedmo 24:32.08, 51. Melina Ventouris 24:41.45, 55. Jenna Desimone 24:44.77.