Many miles are still to be traveled on the road to National Trail Raceway.
Several of the winners Saturday at the Spartan Invitational in Boardman took simply the next step on an expected path to the state championship meet. A few others completed giant, possibly unexpected leaps toward potential berths in the OHSAA finale.
Perennial state power and top-ranked Maplewood secured individual and team victories in Division III, while one of Ohio’s top returnees ran away from the field in the closing stages of the Division I boys’ race. On the flip side, Uniontown Lake surprised some with a team win amongst the big schools, while a freshman claimed the Division II girls’ race with a barrier-breaking performance.
Familiar Course Plays into Mau’s Hands
The Division I boys’ race proved to be the fastest of the day as Kyle Mau of Hudson served as the early pacesetter. However, last year’s runner-up at 3,200 meters (9:03.07) on the track and No. 3 in cross country was not alone at the mile mark in 4:51 as the senior was leading a tightly bunched pack of six that included junior Luke Wagner of Cleveland St. Ignatius, Jacob Kernell of Uniontown Lake, Kevin White of Wooster and a pair of runners from Pennsylvania power North Allegheny.
“I really like this course,” Mau said. “We have our regional here, so I’m pretty used to it. I’ve run it about seven or eight times, so I feel like I have good experience and that helps me out on this course a lot.”
After another half-mile, the pack became single file as Mau led Wagner by a step and the four others were a few seconds back. The second time up Boardman Hill did little to change things as the top two were out front with less than a mile to go and primed for the mostly downhill run to the finish.
“I felt like if I went (earlier) I would die out a little bit,” Mau said of his initial move to break up the lead pack just past the mile mark. “I wanted to keep that back a little bit.”
Mau finally pulled away from Wagner with about 1,200 meters left, crossing the line first in 15:34.2. Matt McGoey of North Allegheny (PA) closed fastest for the No. 2 spot in 15:41.5, and teammate Hunter Wharrey claimed third in 15:44.5.
“It’s a big deal,” Mau said of the victory. “It’s one of the meets I circle, regular season and postseason too obviously. I’m really happy to come away with a win today. It’s a big deal to me.”
While individual honors in Division I went to one of the Buckeye state’s established stars, team honors were claimed by a squad that is looking to make a name for itself. Listed ninth in the most recent Ohio coaches’ poll, Uniontown Lake defeated the three teams entered that had more poll points last week than it did along with Pennsylvania’s preseason No. 1 selection.
“We talked about it all during the week that we should go into this race with the same mentality we’ve had for all our other races – if we run what we’re capable of, we can win the race,” Uniontown Lake coach Jeff Wertman said. “They are great programs. They are great teams that have great histories, but we are running really well right now. It’s a lot of summer miles that paid off. I think they are seeing that.”
Kernell remained part of the lead pack and was the top finisher for the Blue Streaks in fifth at 15:44.8. Classmate Spencer Wirick was not far behind in ninth at 16:11.5 as Lake was one of three teams with a pair of runners in the top 10.
The difference for the team champions was the Blue Streaks were the first with their top five runners across the scoring mat. The end result was a team championship with 103 points.
“We just knew if we could get our first three guys to push up front and be up front, the last two weeks our 4-5 guys have really closed the gap on them,” said Wertman, whose senior-heavy team had a solid 1-5 spread of just 63 seconds. “If we can close that gap, we have a real legitimate shot.”
Top-ranked St.Ignatius was next with 113, while Louisville (Ohio #7) was third with 121 and North Allegheny was fourth with 136.
“It’s a big time motivator,” Wertman said of the invitational team title. “You look at all of the teams that come in here, and if we can run well against them now, stay rested, stay healthy for the rest of the year, we should be right in the thick of the things again. The regional meet (here) is a whole ‘nother ballgame, but it’s nice to have that confidence from running here earlier in the year.”
Maplewood Meets Week’s Challenges
In addition to being newly minted as the unanimous No. 1 in the Division III boys’ state poll, Maplewood was competing only days after the death of Oscar Grant, the founder of the Rockets’ successful cross country and track programs.
Grant, who was remembered in a tribute and moment of silence prior to the day’s opening race, died Wednesday at 89. He started the track and cross country programs when the high school opened in 1959.
“We definite talked about the importance of this meet,” Maplewood coach Dave Deeter said of competing in an invitational where Grant had served for years as an official. “We got together with McDonald, because Chris Rupe was coached by Oscar along with Ted Rupe from Maplewood, so it trickled down through me.
“We all got together and we had a little discussion about Oscar beforehand. It was a big deal. They knew who Oscar was, they saw him around. It’s a big loss for our community.”
Once the gun sounded, the white-and-blue clad Rockets were moving toward the front of the pack. Gary Olson of North East (PA) hit the mile in 5:08 and had a slight lead over a group of about seven that included Maplewood juniors Tristan Dahmen and Allen Sparks.
“I just sat up behind the leaders and waited to make my move,” Dahmen said of his race strategy. “I tried to get out better than I did at Tiffin.”
The eventual winner stayed true to his plan of patience as he did not appear at the front until less than a mile remained. His time of 15:57.2 was good enough for the win by 2.5 seconds over senior Logan Smith of Mineral Ridge.
“In the ballpark, that’s about what I wanted to hit,” Dahmen said in assessing his winning time. “I just mainly tried to race competitively.”
Teammate Sparks was close behind in sixth, and the Rockets were well on their way to the lowest team point total of the meet. Maplewood’s 67 bested St. Thomas Aquinas (101) and Garaway (116).
“It tells us we’re in very good shape at this point, but we still have a lot of work to do yet,” Deeter said. “They like this course. This is like a home course for them.”
“I thought we ran fairly well. We had just a guy or two that was just slightly off at most, and we had a top six guy taking the ACT so hopefully he’s getting a high score.”
Athena Welsh of St. Thomas Aquinas took any mystery out of the race for the gold in the Division III girls’ race almost immediately, assuming the lead and following her race plan.
“I wanted to go out hard … and get a little bit ahead right from the start and try to hold that the whole time,” said the junior, who was third a week ago at Tiffin.
Welsh’s strategy was worthy of a meet record as her winning time of 18:35.4 was the day’s fastest for girls and a Division III standard by almost six seconds.
“They actually are sort of similar, (and) they’re not very easy courses but they are both fast,” the winner said of the regional sites and two of the bigger invitationals in the state. “The races kind of carry you. I really like both of these races.”
In a tight race for the Division III girls’ team title, Gilmour Academy was the only squad to put six runners in the top 50 en route to 92 points and the championship. The Lancers came into the meet ranked seventh in the most recent coaches’ poll.