The 30th annual Boardman Spartan Invitational Cross Country Meet will be held this Saturday. This meet is one of the largest invitationals in the state of Ohio and the entire Midwest. This year's field includes over 425 schools and 6,000 preregistered runners, the largest field ever for the Invitational. Here is a quick look at each Division's individual races and team races as well as a look a the top 20 boys and girls times in the meets history from the MileSplit database.
Divsion 1
Boys
The questions is will the Maplewood boys run in their D3 Division or, like at Tiffin last week, run in the D1 division. At Tiffin, Maplewood Sr. Tristan Dahmen ran 15:28.38 and won with Wagner placing 2nd. If Maplewood goes in the D3 race, Wagner is the favorite. Other top returners from last years top ten are: Jr. Danny Cohen of Solon (7th) and Sr. Ben Tornow of Louisville (10th).
The boys D1 team race will be an interesting one with 3 of the Top 10 D1 teams in the race: Louisville #4, Solon #5 and Hudson #7. Ignatius proved at Tiffi why they are ranked #1 and, that they will be tough to beat this year.
Girls
Sr. Louiza Wise of Solon is the #1 returner with Carlee Rhoads still out for the Xc season. Wise was 2nd last year. The other Top 10 returners from last year are: #4 Sr. Rachael Lovett of Twinsburg, #5 Jr. Rebecca Craddock of Brunswick, #6 Jr. Olivia Grohe of Aurora, #7 Sr. Alyssa Thomas of Green, #8 Sr. Katie Durisin of Paine. Riverside and #10 Jr. Samantha Grohe of Aurora. This should be a good race as all of the returners from last year's Top 10 were less than 20 seconds apart last year.
On the girls team side, Chardon is the only Top 10 ranked team in the State. They moved from 19th to 4th over the week based upon their team win at Tiffin last week. They were 3rd last year. Only two D2 boys return from last year's Top 10, #4 Sr. Clark Bookman of Field and Sr. Liam Connolly #10 of Gateway.
Divsion 2
Boys
Only two D2 boys return from last year's Top 10, #4 Sr. Clark Bookman of Field and Sr. Liam Connolly #10 of Gateway (Pa). Bookman was 2nd last weekend at the Marlington Invitational. Sr. Brian Heller of SVSM (14th), Sr. Tucker Pearce of Coventry (15th), Jr. Derek Basinger of Girard and Jr. Cole Lovett of Carrollton (18th) are the only other returners in the Top 20.
Akron SVSM won the D2 Team title last year and they moved from #10 to #8 in the D2 rankings. Just ahead of them in the rankings, at #7, is Woodridge. These two should battle for the title.
Girls
The D2 girls race has eight of last year's Top 10 returning. So. Grace Steimle of Grand Valley is the only girl returning that was under 19:00. She was 2nd last year in 18:58.00. Pushing Steimle will be #'s 3-5 from last year: Jr. Riley Kwiatakowski of Greensburg-Salem, Sr. Rachel Iacofano of SVSM, Jr. Maddie Dunlap of Carrollton and So. Molly Howard of Woodridge. There was only a 13 second gap last year between 1-5.
SVSM is the defending champion. They are ranked D2 #10, dropping from 7-10 this week. woodreidge was 2nd last year, but they are currently ranked D2 #8. They dropped last week from #3. These two should battle for the top spot.
Divsion 3
Boys
A lot depends on where the Maplewood boys run. Tristen Dahmen is the defending champion. His teammate Allen Sparks was 8th last year. both ran in the D1 division at Tiffin last week. Five others return from last year's Top 10. Without Dahmen and Sparks, the leading returner is Sr. Jacob Caniford of St. Thomas Aquinas. Caniford has proven he can win. He was 4th last year. he is ranked #9 in D3 this season.Last year, Jr. Tyler Polman of Independence was just 1 second back of Caniford in 5th place. #7 was Jr. Tanner hawley of Black River, #9 was Jr. Jake Hall of Maplewook and #10 was Jr. Joey Coudriet of Smithville.
The D3 team race features this year's #1 & 2 ranked teams, Maplewood and St. Thomas Aquinas. Maplewood is the defedning champion. Aquinas was runner up last year. All will be determined by where Dahmen and Sparks run. If they go D1, Aquinas wins. If D3, Maplewood wins.
Girls
Sr. Athena Welsh of St. Thomas Aquinas is the defending champion and should repeat. She is running well this season and is ranked D3 #1. Behind Welsh are 7 of the Top 10 from last year. Sr. Rachel Wentworth of Garaway was 2nd, So. Raechal White of North East (Pa) was 4th, #5 was Jr. Kalee Soehnlen of Aquinas, So. Kate McIntosh of North East was 6th, Gilmour Sr. Hanna Markel was 7th and Garaway Jr. Ariel Wentworth was 10th.
On the team side, Gilmour is the defending champion, but last year's runner-up, garaway is D3 #5 this year and the Aquinas girls who were 5th last year are D2 #2 ranked. Look for Aquinas to win and for Garaway and North East (Pa) to battle for 2nd and 3rd.
Top 20 Boys All Time
| RANK | TIME | ATHLETE/TEAM | GRADE | MEET DATEPLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15:07.80 | 2014 | ||
| 2 | 15:08.70 | 2014 | ||
| 3 | 15:33.70 | 2014 | ||
| 4 | 15:34.20 | 2015 | ||
| 5 | 15:37.50 | 2014 | ||
| 6 | 15:37.87 | 2013 | ||
| 7 | 15:39.10 | 2015 | ||
| 8 | 15:39.83 | 2014 | ||
| 9 | 15:41.50 | 2015 | ||
| 10 | 15:41.93 | 2013 | ||
| 11 | 15:43.51 | 2013 | ||
| 12 | 15:44.50 | 2015 | ||
| 13 | 15:44.60 | 2016 | ||
| 14 | 15:44.71 | 2013 | ||
| 15 | 15:44.80 | 2015 | ||
| 16 | 15:45.00 | 2012 | ||
| 16 | 15:45.00 | 2015 | ||
| 18 | 15:45.10 | 2012 | ||
| 19 | 15:45.13 | 2014 | ||
| 20 | 15:46.01 | 2013 |
Top 20 Girls All Time
| RANK | TIME | ATHLETE/TEAM | GRADE | MEET DATEPLACE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18:18.48 | 2008 | ||
| 2 | 18:22.60 | 2016 | ||
| 3 | 18:28.78 | 2008 | ||
| 4 | 18:35.40 | 2016 | ||
| 5 | 18:36.60 | 2016 | ||
| 6 | 18:37.46 | 2010 | ||
| 7 | 18:40.75 | 2014 | ||
| 8 | 18:41.20 | 2013 | ||
| 9 | 18:41.48 | 2010 | ||
| 10 | 18:42.20 | 2013 | ||
| 11 | 18:47.18 | 2011 | ||
| 12 | 18:47.57 | 2015 | ||
| 13 | 18:48.35 | 2011 | ||
| 14 | 18:51.68 | 2012 | ||
| 15 | 18:52.05 | 2016 | ||
| 16 | 18:55.29 | 2013 | ||
| 17 | 18:55.37 | 2011 | ||
| 18 | 18:55.53 | 2011 | ||
| 19 | 18:56.90 | 2016 | ||
| 20 | 18:57.82 | 2011 |