High school cross country: Wadsworth girls win Milt Place race

MEDINA — In its final race before attempting to defend the Suburban League National Conference crown, the Wadsworth girls cross country team proved it was firing on all cylinders Saturday. The Grizzlies (100) won the 29-team Division I/II race at the Milt Place Festival behind four medal-winning performances. Reigning Gazette MVP Maggie Gerschutz (18:37.85) took second behind Louisville's Kylah Meyer (18:19.07) to lead the way. "I think this is good practice going into the postseason," Gerschutz said. "You have those people right in front of you, pushing you. I like competing against girls that are better, so that I can keep getting better. "I think our team is super prepared going into postseason." Medina (133) finished fourth behind medal-winning showings by senior Alexis Warnement (19:26.23, 10th) and freshman Addison Joffre (19:41.45, 13th). Highland's Katie Schuler (18:59.33) finished right behind Gerschutz to lead the Hornets (218) to seventh. Highland freshman Olivia Keough (19:19.23, 7th) also clocked a top-10 finish. Cloverleaf (531) was 17th with Leah Monhemius (20:51.76, 48th) leading the way and Brunswick (566) was one spot behind the Colts with Reese Nolan (21:12.43) taking 64th. Finally, Buckeye (654) was 24th with Hayleigh Kreeger placing 104th out of 232 runners. In the boys' D-I/II race, the host Bees (187) used an incredibly tight pack to finish fifth with the top-five runners finishing within 16 seconds of lead Logan Butsko (31st, 17:13.11). Cloverleaf (193) was just behind Medina, as reigning Gazette MVP Caleb Neville (5th, 16:08.49) and Gavin Forbes (12th, 16:46.40) took home medals. The Colts got a taste of what they will be up against at the Metro Athletic Conference Meet, as league rival Woodridge (47) won the title. "It's a fast course if you make it a fast course, but you've got to run with the people you know you can go with," Neville said. "Times are going to start dropping, so you've got to go with it. Everyone knows what time of year it is. "I've never been more proud of my team. They ran fantastic." Brunswick (203) followed Cloverleaf with Corbin Klein taking 28th in 17:10.27. Buckeye (286, 10th) got a medal-winning race out of Dimitry Pshonyak (17:00.16, 18th). Wadsworth (292, 11th) was led by Landon Lanham (17:18.33, 35th) and Highland (327, 13th) saw Jacob Oblander (17:28.68, 44th) lead the pack. Medina Christian's Grayson Bolon (19:27.76) was ninth in the D-III/IV race. Gerschutz knows what it takes to be successful in the postseason, and she wanted to use Saturday's beautiful and warm weather to get ready for that push. "I tried to start off strong to mimic a postseason feel," Gerschutz said. "The second loop I want to just stay consistent with the girls around me and then third (lap), anywhere I can pick it up do it." She was followed by teammates Ella Dolgowicz (19:44.16), Natalie Buzard (19:56.64) and Kyleigh Friedl (19:59.17) in 17th through 19th place, respectively. Schuler used Gerschutz as her pace-setter to send her into the SL American and postseason meets on a high note. "The heat was worse than I expected, but I'm happy I placed third and got under 19 (minutes)," Schuler said. "I'm happy because, towards the end of the past two season I've felt myself getting tired and started to get slower. Since this is my second-best time, I'm definitely out of that mentality." Keough and Joffre posted career-best times. Neville also posted a season best as he continues to ready himself for a run at another state bid. "When you run in these types of races, you know who you're running with and in the postseason you're running with the same types of people," he said. "I've got love for them all, but in the race you've got to stay competitive and run those times you know you're capable of." Forbes came up just short of his best time but is still feeling confident after a standout race to get him ready for the most important stretch of the season. "The weather is good and the competition is really good," he said. "It's a great course, like always. There were a lot of people to pass and a lot of people being passed. It was mentally challenging." Contact John Urchek at jurchek@medina-gazette.com. Results BOYS Division I/II Standings: 1. Woodridge 47, 2. Hilliard Darby 61, 3. Massillon Jackson 114, 4. North Canton Hoover 123, 5. Medina 187, 6. Cloverleaf 193, 7. Brunswick 203, 8. Canton GlenOak 251, 9. Avon Lake 284, 10. Buckeye 286, 11. Wadsworth 292, 12. Brecksville 323, 13. Highland 327, 14. Westlake 344, 15. Copley 347, 16. Medina 'B' 410, 17. North Olmsted 488, 18. North Royalton 555, 19. Normandy 558, 20. Avon 568, 21. Nordonia 599, 22. Green 601, 23. Padua 684, 24. Eastlake North 720, 25. Strongsville 738, 26. Firestone 766, 27. Chagrin Falls Kenston 796, 28. Lorain 868. Medina (187) — 31. Logan Butsko 17:13.11, 32. Nate Fischer 17:13.49, 38. Joey D'Aurelio 17:22.56, 41. Riley Dworznik 17:26.55, 45. Liam Meade 17:28.76, 65. Peyton Davis 17:48.52, 106. Trent Schirmer 18:30.30. Cloverleaf (193) — 5. Caleb Neville 16:08.49, 12. Gavin Forbes 16:46.40, 36. Noah Mion 17:19.07, 64. Clay Gucker 17:47.05, 80. Mason Clapp 18:13.64, 107. Matthew Jenkins 18:31.27, 118. Antonio Ortega 18:41.86. Brunswick (203) — 28. Corbin Klein 17:10.27, 33. Tommy Strippy 17:17.42, 37. Noah Jarold 17:20.36, 52. Emmett Keller 17:39.72, 53. Ryan Hershbine 17:39.85, 98. Christian Brooks 18:25.77, 142. Anthony Barbarotta 19:13. 95. Buckeye (286) — 18. Dimitry Pshonyak 17:00.16, 29. Brady Salazar 17:10.67, 48. Nolan Rieth 17:35.35, 93. Joe Stahl 18:23.65, 109. Gavin Waibel 18:32.04, 177. Nick Rieth 19:50.73, 208. Ben Naso 20:40.82. Wadsworth (292) — 35. Landon Lanham 17:18.33, 42. Ty Racin 17:27.36, 60. Carter Myers 17:42.42, 78. Robert Beatty 18:08.60, 84. Landon Myers 18:16.85, 89. Eli Loveless 18:18.47, 101. Jacob Mount 18:28.02. Highland (327) — 44. Jacob Oblander 17:28.68, 51. Andrew Welch 17:39.65, 66. Nate Boyce 17:48.67, 71. Colton Klein 17:52.73, 103. John Hildenbrand 18:29.16, 137. Chase Oberhaus 19:01.26. Medina 'B' (410) — 61. Ethan Antill 17:42.77, 79. Noah Palombo 18:09.09, 86. Logan Jones 18:17.73, 94. Washington Palmer 18:24.17, 108. Ashton Scheetz 18:31.41, 157. Carter Sampson 19:35.64. Division III/IV Standings: 1. Holy Name 23, 2. Rootstown 50, 3. Hearts for Jesus Christ 56, 4. Benedictine 101. Medina Christian (NS) — 9. Grayson Bolon 19:27.76, 16. Eli Auld 19:57.96, 27. Logan Theis 20:56.59, 34. Isaac Calvert 22:12.54. GIRLS Division I/II Standings: 1. Wadsworth 100, 2. Avon 122, 3. Massillon Jackson 133, 4. Medina 133, 5. Canton GlenOak 146, 6. Bay 168, 7. Highland 218, 8. Woodridge 223, 9. North Canton Hoover 273, 10. Amherst 285, 11. Brecksville 294, 12. Magnificat 307, 13. Revere 323, 14. Copley 413, 15. North Royalton 419, 16. Louisville 436, 17. Cloverleaf 531, 18. Brunswick 566, 19. Nordonia 585, 20. Green 589, 21. Strongsville 634, 22. Firestone 640, 23. Chagrin Falls Kenston 641, 24. Buckeye 654, 25. Padua 670, 26. Normandy 687, 27. Avon Lake 698, 28. Lorain 862, 29. Valley Forge 896. Wadsworth (100) — 2. Maggie Gerschutz 18:37.85, 17. Ella Dolgowicz 19:55.16, 18. Natalie Buzard 19:56.64, 19. Kyleigh Friedl 19:59.17, 44. Cami Ross 20:42.78, 133. Davy Derr 23:04.68, 150. Reagan Bach 23:21.76. Medina (133) — 10. Alexis Warnement 19:25.23, 13. Addison Joffre 19:41.45, 25. Alanya Yanmaz 20:06.43, 39. Julia Dietrich 20:28.19, 46. Julia Black 20:48.00, 72. Ari Schwemley 21:24.07, 87. Ella James 21:50.10. Highland (218) — 3. Katie Schuler 18:59.33, 7. Olivia Keough 19:19.23, 37. Celia Pylypiak 20:27.69, 86. Mary Cullen 21:46.79, 92. Madison Mayer 21:56.48, 138. Jillian Pesek 23:08.87, 143. Julia Madison 23:12.08. Cloverleaf (531) — 48. Leah Monhemius 20:51.76, 106. Elise Mion 22:17.96, 113. Samantha Porter 22:33.82, 127. Gwyneth Staiger 22:56.64, 183. Addison Reho 24:14.76, 185. Addison Fallow 24:26.71, 209. Abby Reinhardt 26:06.07. Brunswick (566) — 64. Reese Nolan 21:12.43, 99. Olivia Petitto 22:02.00, 130. Lyla Snider 22:59.46, 152. Elise Juchnowski 23:25.91, 163. Lyla Rodriguez-Gideon 23:47.11, Isabel Fregeolle 23:57.43, Anna Halfhill 23:59.59. Buckeye (654) — 104. Hayleigh Kreeger 22:11.25, 112. Shelby Skilskyj 22:30.22, 123. Lily Regiec 22:50.32, 191. Lila Hoover 24:41.34, 199. Kate Shearer 25:13.86, 205. Riley Onyx 25:49.24, 206. Anna Kosman 25:57.85.