District cross country: Medina County shines at Lorain District

ELYRIA — Medina County cross country teams rose very nicely Saturday at the Lorain District at Lorain County Community College, as four girls teams and four boys teams between Buckeye, Cloverleaf, Highland and Black River advanced to the Boardman Regional. The Buckeye girls and Cloverleaf boys led the way. The Bucks finished second out of 10 qualifying teams in the 15-team Division III race, while Cloverleaf was third out of 11 in the 19-team D-II race. Only No. 8 state-ranked Woodridge (27) was better than Buckeye. Freshman Hannah Dugan led the Bucks, as she finished 12th out of 96 runners with a time of 21:14.1. Sophomores Hayleigh Kreeger (15th, 21:37.0) and Lila Hoover (23rd, 22:23.4), along with junior Lily Regiec (26th, 22:46.0) and senior Aria Knight (46th, 24:08.3), rounded out the top five. The Buckeye boys also advanced to regionals for the second straight year, as they finished eighth in D-II with 179 points. "We pretty much performed exactly how we expected on both the boys and girls sides," Buckeye coach Renee Harden said. "The boys were one place lower than expected due to Rocky River's breakout, but we've been talking to the girls all week about how to ensure they got that runner-up. They each had racing assignments and executed perfectly. Lila Hoover in particular moved up nine places past her ranking to clinch that second-place score." Senior Dimitry Pshonyak led the Buckeye, as he placed seventh out of 135 runners with a 16:37.4. Sophomore Joseph Stahl finished right behind Pshonyak in eighth with a 16:38.6. Nolan Rieth (41st, 17:39.0), Nick Rieth (56th, 17:51.7) and John Galayda (67th, 18:03.9) rounded out the top five. "That was a hard race sticking with them (the leaders)," Pshonyak said. "I didn't have anything at the end. I wish that I would have stayed with the pack a bit more. I always feel like I die off in every race. That's something to work on for regionals." The D-II boys race was fairly wide open, with not a ton of high-ranked teams besides No. 7 Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, which won with 96 points. No. 22 Westlake (107) was just one point better than No. 17 Cloverleaf (108). Senior Matthew Jenkins led the Colts, as he finished 10th with a 16:44.7. Senior Noah Mion (13th, 16:56.2), freshman Evan Riegler (15th, 17:03.1), junior Clay Gucker (19th, 17:07.8) and sophomore Gavin Ferrone (51st, 17:45.4) rounded out the top five. The 61-second split between its No. 1 and 5 runners gave Cloverleaf its third straight regional berth. "It was a great pack," Colts coach Garth Gucker said. "Obviously, No. 1 through 4 I thought they ran very, very well. I think our No. 5 was in a good spot. In these types of races every position counts. We may have slipped a couple spots, like each person in that last mile, but I think that something we can learn from and grow from and strive to do a little bit better next week. "I'm proud of them. It's an experienced roster. It's nice to see them how they've progressed from last year to this year." The Highland boys and girls also stood out, placing fifth and eighth, respectively. The boys were rated only No. 25 in the pre-district coaches state poll but finished right behind No. 26 Rocky River 116-126 to advance to regionals for the second year in a row. Juniors John Hildenbrand (11th, 16:53.3) and Andrew Welch (12th, 16:53.8) led. Senior Colton Klein (23rd, 17:14.4), sophomore Logan Conrad (36th, 17:32.3) and senior Nate Boyce (46th, 17:42.8) rounded out the top five. A year ago, Hildenbrand finished only 85th in 19:10.77 at the Elyria District as the Hornets' No. 5 runner. "I'm excited for Boardman and trying to make it to state this year," he said. "Last year we did pretty bad here (8th out of 12 team qualifiers), so it was good to do better. It's pretty tight in the woods, so you really don't want end up in a bad place. It was important to stay up with the people I wanted to be with. Just stay aware." Senior Katie Schuler led the Highland girls, as she finished third out of 141 runners with a 18:32.4, a 49-second improvement on last year's race. Only Bay sophomore Maya Gonzalez (18:18.7) and Brecksville junior Annalise Costin (18:22.2) were quicker. Last year, Schuler was second in 19:43.61 to Copley sophomore Kaylee Ingratta (19:25.11). Ingratta finished fourth in 18:41 Saturday. "Overall, I'm very happy that we're moving on as a team," Schuler said. "That's the best time I've ever ran on this course. Unfortunately, I got a stitch (a cramp) in my side at Mile 2. It stuck the rest of the way, but I've gotten better throughout the years of pushing through it. "The goal today was just to move on as a team. We did that so I'm definitely very grateful for that. It's definitely going to be a fight making it to state. We've been dealing with some sickness and some injury, but if everyone goes out there and has a good day, it can definitely happen." Sophomore Olivia Keough (29th, 20:32.9), sophomore Mary Cullen (42nd, 20:42.7), senior Madison Forshey (76th, 22:00.7) and sophomore Evelyn Eshleman (89th, 22:18.8) rounded out the top five. "The main goal was to try to move the team forward. They did that today," coach Devan Lippincott said. "Again we have been dealing with some illness and injury that have been kind of lingering. I know there have been other teams going through the same thing and trying to fight through it. We just want to try and heal up if we can and try to get over some of this illness and try to put our best foot forward and have our best race that day. There are so many great athletes and coaches here. I think that's what makes our district so tough." Black River senior Connor Rhein was in contention through two miles in the D-IV boys race. Smithville senior Nigel Wenger had other plans, as he pulled away to win with a 16:41.3. Rhein finished second in 17:04.8. "The same type of district field," the three-time state qualifier said. "The race plan was not to over-expend too much energy. I didn't expect for someone like me to lead. When I took over, I slowed down the pace and decided to chill. The pack of the (top) four guys started talking about halfway through the race. We wanted to keep it relaxed and not exert any extra energy. He (Wenger) made his move on the downhill. At the point, it was just us two. I checked to make sure who was behind me and there wasn't anyone so I just decided to make sure I got second." Black River advanced to regionals for the fourth time in five years. The Pirates finished fourth out of eight qualifiers with 105 points. "All week we worked on our pace and our tempo," coach Steve Rhein said. "Today was just our first step of our ultimate goal of to get back down Columbus." The Cloverleaf and Black River girls mustered just enough to advance. The Colts finished 12th out of 13 D-II qualifiers with 289 points, while the Pirates finished seventh out of eight qualifiers in D-IV with 168 points. Sophomore Elise Mion led Cloverleaf, as she placed 28th in 20:30.1. Junior Jade Mitchell led the Black River, as she placed 22nd in 23:12.9. The Cloverleaf girls have advanced to regionals from Elyria District each year since 2015. The Black River girls qualified their first team to regionals since 2017. Contact Paul Heyse at sports@medina-gazette.com.