High school cross country: Black River's Olivia Szmania, Connor Rhein place in top five at home invitational

SULLIVAN TWP. — The host Black River cross country teams got a pair of very nice performances from its frontrunners Saturday at the 29th annual J.B. Firestone Invitational. Senior Olivia Szmania was second in a girls field of 108 runners with a time of 21:20.06, while sophomore Connor Rhein was fifth in a boys field of 124 with a 17:21.00. Szmania finished behind Plymouth junior Morgan Follett (21:08.60). Just a year ago, Follett was third (20:28.08) and Szmania only 13th (22:39.72). "I tried to get out fast because it's my home course, and I know it very well," Szmania said. "I tried to stay up with Morgan as close as I could. I held a pretty good pace and PR'd by over a minute from last year, so I'm pleased. Knowing I accomplished this my senior year feels amazing." The Black River girls finished eighth out of 11 teams with 158 points. Elyria won its first invite since taking the 2006 J.B. Firestone, as the Pioneers finished with 84 points to beat Firelands (115) and Oberlin. Rhein was fairly close to matching his efforts from 2023, when he placed seventh in 17:04.95. "I believe that I got out well, but my legs died on me about 1½ miles in," said Rhein. "Last week we had an off week from racing, so I put in a lot of training and did a lot of hard workouts. "It's a different feel for us this year after graduating some of the talent we had the last couple years (making it to state from 2021-23). Our goal is to make it back to state again, but it's more of a challenge." Behind junior Christian Gorny and senior Andrew Young, the Lake Ridge Academy boys (86) finished second behind Orrville (78) in a 12-team field. Three-time defending champ Black River (98) was third. Gorney (17:01.10) and Young (17:06.26) finished 2-3 just ahead of Elyria senior Gavin Smith (17:07.10) in a field of 124 runners. Last year's runner-up, Orrville junior Owen Lacy, won with a 16:49.29. Contact Paul Heyse at sports@medina-gazette.com. Results BOYS Standings: 1. Orrville 78, 2. Lake Ridge Academy 86, 3. Black River 98, 4. Elyria 105, 5. Firelands 109, 6. Open Door Christian 115, 7. Brookside 205, 8. Columbia 212, 9. Wellington 213, 10. Western Reserve 223, 11. Oberlin 265, 12. Benedictine 296. Black River (98): 5. Connor Rhein 17:21, 12. Noah Orgel 18:32.08, 20. Lucas Olive 19:23.93, 28. Kyle Vonderau 20:01.61, 33. Logan Rhein 20:18.06, 42. Kolby Manges 20:39.77, 58. Lincoln Combs 21:40.24, 86. Nicholas Obarski 23:30.75, 101. Grazio Mitchell 24:45.55. GIRLS Standings: 1. Elyria 84, 2. Firelands 115, 3. Oberlin 120, 4. St. Joseph Academy 123, 5. Open Door Christian 133, 6. Western Reserve 148, 7. Black River 158, 8. Lake Ridge Academy 163, 9. Plymouth 166, 10. Orrville 167, 11. Wellington 250. Black River (158): 2. Olivia Szmania 21:20.06, 17. Jade Mitchell 24:08.23, 50. Ruby Johnston 26:53.73, 51. Hailey Lambdin 26:55.00, 97. Molly Johnson 33:15.41, 108. Hannah Hoelk 40:40.16.