Staff photo / Dan Hiner. Lakeview’s Trent Miller (328) runs during the Division II boys cross country regional meet at Boardman High School as teammate Jake Langmeyer (326) makes his way along the course.
BOARDMAN — It started with Division III and ended with Division I, and consistently teams and runners from Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties stood out.
The area had a strong showing at the regional cross country meet on Saturday at Boardman High School. Several teams and individuals paved their way to the state meet this week.
On the boys side, Boardman, Lakeview, Maplewood will run on behalf of the Mahoning Valley. And for the girls, McDonald and Salem will represent the area.
That’s in addition to a number of individual runners — including a 2023 state champion — that will also tackle the course at Fort Obetz on Nov. 2.
DIVISION I BOYS
There was one thing eating away at some members of the Boardman cross country team: the Spartans haven’t made it to state since 2013.
That changed on Saturday with a group of boys crowded around the Spartans’ tent near the shot put circle, cheering once the results were posted. The Spartans finished in a tie for seventh with Chardon with 244 points. The top eight teams advanced to state.
David D’Altorio has been the No. 1 runner for Boardman all season. He started strong, but slowly started to fall off on the second half of the course. He finished 19th with 16:17.34.
However, his Spartan teammates were there to provide support in the middle of the pack. Jacob Turek (16:48.82) finished in 46th, Dylan White (16:56.16) was 55th and Dominic Theodore pitched in with an 89th-place finish that netted the team 72 points.
“It was not the race (D’Altorio) envisioned, and his teammates picked him up. That’s a credit to them,” Boardman head coach John Phillips said. “This season, David’s been the leader, and he needed his teammates today. It’s a really cool thing. They had his back today because he’s had their back all season. This was a total team effort to get us there.”
It wasn’t a deep field of locals in the Division I race, as Austintown Fitch’s Justin Sahli was the only other local to advance. He registered a ninth-place finish with a time of 16:04.23.
DIVISION I GIRLS
The area didn’t see a team qualify in the girls’ side of Division I, but one Spartan will run in Columbus. Boardman’s Olivia Brady took ninth with 19:13.03
DIVISION II BOYS
The Lakeview boys cross country team had to wait to find out its fate.
While laser timing has expedited the results process, the results weren’t available for about 15 minutes after the race. But the second they were posted, a small crowd behind the finish line exploded into cheers.
The Bulldogs took fifth and qualified for the state championship.
“There are hundreds of runners, and only one can win. And only six teams out of 20 teams go (to state), so instead, we focused on the process,” Lakeview head coach Sean Voorhies said. “We’re sleeping, we’re eating right, we’re training right … usually the results will take care of themselves.”
Lakeview was fifth out of six teams to qualify. The Bulldogs tallied 173 points.
The Bulldogs kept their season alive despite not having a runner in the top 20.
Anthony Marble-Salem took 22nd, Jake Langmeyer was 37th, Trent Miller came in 41st and Griffin Oravec rounded out Lakeview’s top-50 finishers with a 47th-place run.
Only one individual advanced in the Division II boys’ race, as Salem’s Sam Yakubek finished 10th with a 16:33.14.
DIVISION II GIRLS
Salem is going back to the state championship.
The Quakers came in fifth with 191 points to punch their ticket to Fort Obetz.
Salem went with the tried-and-true method of running as a pack. Three runners finished in a six-person group. Maggie Hopple was 32nd, Maggie Hall finished 35th and Cassidy Wallace ended in 37th. That pack mentality led to a cluster of points.
“The big goal entering the year, these seniors, was driven to be the first team in school history to go (to state) four years in a row, the first senior class,” Salem head coach Ted Yuhaniak said. “It’s pretty darn special because over the years, they’ve had some pretty good teams at our school. You hear it out of professional athletes, but you’re at a loss for words. You’re just so proud of them.”
Ursuline had a pair of runners finish in the top 10 of the Division II girls race. Savaya Woody (19:12.98) took fifth, and teammate Camille Dunifer (19:17.08) was sixth.
There were a couple other local individual qualifiers led by Lakeview’s Jalyn DeLeon’s time of 19:41.11 for 18th. West Branch’s Clarice Martin’s time of 19:51.04 led to a 21st-place finish.
DIVISION III GIRLS
Sometimes experience matters in cross country, and Heartland Christian’s Rebecca Geiss has plenty of it.
After winning the Spartan Invitational earlier this fall, Geiss earned a shot at defending her state championship. She won the Division III girls regional meet Saturday to send her back to state.
Geiss won the race in dominant fashion, running a time of 18:10.58. She crossed a little over 18 seconds ahead of Smithville’s Kaityln Carr.
“I just do everything I can and trust the results with God,” Geiss said. “I think he knows what’s best for me, and I trust his plan.”
Naomi Sheesley clocked a time of 18:33.65 for third, and Chalker’s Abbey Castle came in fifth with a 19:18.11.
On the team side of things, McDonald was the top Mahoning Valley team, finishing fourth with 132 points. Maplewood came up two points shy of joining its running rival in the top five.
Other individual qualifiers include Mineral Ridge freshman Kylee Molnar (19:35.26) with an eighth-place finish, Anna Steimle (19:45.86) will represent Grand Valley after crossing in 12th and Maplewood’s Mackenzie Edgar (19:47.21) was 14th.
DIVISION III BOYS
McDonald boys got things going with a third-place finish in the Division III race. The Blue Devils amassed 114 points, finishing behind Rittman’s 87 and Waynedale’s 102.
Carson Klase led the way for McDonald with a 16:29.92, good enough for fourth. Teammate Joey Cappuzzello was sixth with a time of 16:36.58.
Emmitt Slabach — who returned to Boardman after winning the Spartan Invitational this year — was the top local individual with a second-place finish by running 16:06.55.
“I raced a lot of the runners that I faced today,” Slabach said. “It helped me know how they run. It helped me fix some things that weren’t as good then. I’m happy with how I ran today.”
Mineral Ridge’s Dominic Pappagallo came in third with a 16:19.08. Jackson-Milton’s Lucas Sokol was the next local, running 16:47.83 and coming in 12th, Grand Valley’s Sam Steimle was 14th with 16:50.54 and Lowellville’s Nate Yon was 15th with 16:51.02.
A pair of Maplewood runners were the final area runners to qualify. Ethan Nevinski came in 17th by running 16:57.70, and Micah Sparks was directly behind with a 17:06.87.