Regional cross country: Medina boys take second

BOARDMAN — The Medina boys led the Medina County contingent of four state cross country team qualifiers with second-place finish at the Boardman Division I Regional on Saturday. It marked the 12th straight year Medina advanced and 28th overall dating to 1978. The Wadsworth girls were seventh out of nine D-II qualifiers to advance for the fourth straight time and 10th overall, the Cloverleaf boys were ninth out of 10 D-II qualifiers to qualify for the first time since 2021 and 13th overall and the Black River boys advanced fifth out of five D-IV qualifiers for the fifth time in six years and seventh overall. The county also is well-represented by individual qualifiers. Highland senior Katie Schuler was fourth out of 324 D-II runners in a time of 18:05.7, while Buckeye senior Dimitry Pshonyak was 10th out of 337 D-III runners with a 16:05.7. The Medina boys came in second out of five qualifiers with 114 points, as only No. 2 state-ranked Mentor (46) was better. The No. 20 Bees held off No. 14 Massillon Jackson (120), No. 23 Perrysburg (165) and No. 21 Solon (167) for the runner-up spot, a fact they were proud of after replacing five of last season's top seven runners. Senior Zach Sohar (8th, 16:26.5) and sophomore Jackson Warfe (9th, 16:27.0) were the catalysts in a field of 162. "The last few weeks especially, our biggest goal was to run as a pack," Sohar said. "For the most part, today we ran as a pack. It was huge. I turned around right as I finished, and I saw them all coming in. It's such a great feeling. "We've got a lot of young talent on our team. We have three sophomores, some juniors and three seniors. We have three of us leaving, but we have a strong next generation coming in. It (advancing to state) is huge for the whole team. A lot of guys being young have never been. I've never been. This is my second year of cross country. Last year I was third to last on our JV team. It's just been great running towards the top of the race. The ultimate goal is winning the state meet." Senior Logan Butsko (17th, 16:38.5), junior Noah Palumbo (48th, 16:48.1) and senior Trent Schirmer (60th, 17:05.1) rounded out the top five. "The kids raced well," coach Gus Dudek said. "They got out and executed their race plan. They ran confidently. That's all we asked them to do. We harp on staying focused and not to take anything for granted. "A lot of them are new to this. They wanted it as bad as anybody and had a lot of confidence in themselves that they could come out as a group and execute on race day. That's what they try to do, and we're very proud of that." The Medina girls came up four points shy of the fifth and final qualifying spot behind Solon, 140-144. Sophomore Alanya Yanmaz (10th, 19:40.8) and senior Leah Bugner (18th, 19:52.1) qualified for as individuals. "Competitively, it was my best race of the season," Yanmaz said. "Our team came out here confident and ready to compete. We did a good job. I'm very proud of us." Junior Natalie Buzard led the Wadsworth girls, as she finished 29th out of 334 with a 19:36.4. "It feels very good to be here with my team," she said. "We've worked very hard for this all year. We've gone through a lot this season, but we just work hard for each other every day no matter what we're facing. We just really focus on being the best team that we can be. We try not to focus on other teams. We just take it step by step and do it all for each other." Senior Maggie Gerschutz (58th, 20;09.1), junior Ella Dolgowicz (59th, 20:10.1), senior Kyleigh Friedl (73rd, 20:20.0) and sophomore Hadley Dietz (113th, 20:57.8) rounded out the top five. "This whole season, we've been facing a lot of adversity — whether it's been injuries, it's been sickness," coach Zach Humrichouser said. "We had some girls that were out there battling today. As a coach, you can't be more proud of these girls for putting everything that they have on the line for each other. "We had Natalie step up as our No. 1 today. Maggie's been battling sickness for the last couple of weeks. She fought through it. Ella's been fighting through an injury. When you have girls that are out there fighting and fighting and fighting, I'll take these girls out of anyone here because I know how much they care about each other and what they want to do." A year ago, the Cloverleaf boys finished only 13th and were 50 points from the 10th and final qualifying spot. The Colts didn't fall back Saturday and battled all the way to the finish line to advance in ninth. There were 10 teams ranked ahead of the No. 19 Colts, but Cloverleaf fought through with a 35-second spread between its top five. Freshman Evan Riegler was the No. 1 finisher, as he placed 43rd out of 337 with a 16:39.5. "I felt that we did a great job as a pack today," Riegler said. "It feels great. All the work that we've put in is paying off. Over the summer, we put in miles. It paid off. "Last week we didn't do as well (for districts), so we worked at that at practice. That paid off today. We all stayed together. The turns were pretty packed and crowded. I had to push my way through. It was fun. We're excited about state." Senior Matthew Jenkins (50th, 16:46.6), junior Clay Gucker (66th, 16:55.4), senior Noah Mion (70th, 16:58.4) and sophomore Gavin Ferrone (93rd, 17:14.3) rounded out the top five. "It's a roller coaster of emotions," coach Garth Gucker said. "With a race like this with 360 runners, I'm so proud of how our boys controlled their emotions. They just really moved that last mile. I think last year we didn't and fell just short. They've grown so much. I couldn't be more proud of this team and all the work that they put in to get to this spot. We didn't have the same No. 1 today, and that's a testament to how hard they've been working together. It was just a different guy today but they all did it." Black River, which finished with 219 points, was ranked No. 33 but beat out No. 24 Badger (221), No. 18 Rittman (223) and No. 19 McDonald (228) for the final state spot. Four-time state qualifier Connor Rhein led Black River, as he finished fifth out of 181 runners with a 16:24.5. "I lost my voice a little bit with all the celebrating," Rhein said. "I think all of us were kind of shocked. After the race, I don't think any of us thought we had it. We fell back in the coaches' (poll) rankings, but I think that fired us up. I give credit to our No. 5 guy, Brock (Martin). He dropped around 30 seconds. Without him, we probably wouldn't have made it." Sophomore Archer Combs (45th, 17:51.3), freshman Jackson Quallich (46th, 17:52.2), sophomore Ray Brakefield (53rd, 17:56.9) and senior Brock Martin (94th, 18:57.3) rounded out the top five. "I am extremely excited," coach Steve Rhein said. "I knew going in that there were going to be 4-5 teams vying for the last two qualifying spots. It actually turned out to be four teams fighting for one spot. "Advancing to state back-to-back years and replacing my No. 2 through 5 runners that we all seniors with mostly sophomores and freshmen, it was unbelievable. My No. 2 through 4 runners stayed together. Between my No. 2 and 5 runners, they must have passed 30-40 people heading into the woods with less than a half mile to go. It was just unbelievable. No. 5 PR'd by 40 seconds. They all ran amazing. It had to be a team effort." A year ago, Schuler finished eighth in 18:57.0 at Boardman. The Highland senior gave even more Saturday to qualify for the second year in a row. "It feels good. I wish my team could have qualified to state with me," she said. "That was our main goal for today. I think that have a lot of good years ahead of them. Today I knew that I had a shot, but I knew that I needed to have a very good day. I'm very pleased with my time. It's tied for my second-best time." Pshonyak and sophomore teammate Joseph Stahl helped the Buckeye boys to advance for the first time a year ago. While the Bucks were unable to repeat the magic Saturday, Pshonyak and Stahl (24th, 16:25.1) qualified as individuals. "I wasn't quite able to race as fast as I wanted to," Stahl said. "There was a little bit of shoving at the start. After that, I was right in the groove I wanted be. I just couldn't finish as hard as I wanted." Other county individual qualifiers were Brunswick junior Lleyton Klein (22nd, 16:41.9) in D-I boys, Brunswick freshman Isla Nolan (21st, 20:07.9) in D-I girls, Highland juniors John Hildebrand (37th, 16:35.1) and Andrew Welch (38th, 16:35.2) in D-II boys and Buckeye freshman Hannah Dugan (33rd, 20:22.4) in D-III girls. Contact Paul Heyse at sports@medina-gazette.com.