(Boys Varsity Division Race)
On Saturday, the Stark County Cross Country Championships highlighted some of the fastest teams in Northeast Ohio. The competition was fierce and the team races for both boys and girls came down to the wire.
The boys race featured Division 1 talents Nathan Moore of Uniontown Lake, Bobby Ganser of Louisville, Tommy Rice of GlenOak, and Division 2 standout Noah Graham of Marlington. These four runners battled up front, leading an opening mile of 4:53. Nathan Moore pulled away for the win and new course record of 15:13.03, shattering a ten-year course record of 15:29.86 previously held by Curtis Hanle of Louisville.
Ganser ran strong, finishing second in 15:36.61. Blaze Fichter and Noah Johnson of Hoover finished sixth and seventh, respectively, leading Hoover to the team title with 88 points in the combined standings.
The Hoover boys ran an impressive 16:26 average for their top five runners. Division 2 Marlington outperformed expectations finishing second in the team race, beating D1 teams GlenOak and Louisville. Louisville had beaten Marlington earlier this season at the Salem Early Bird Invitational.
In the girls race, Alex Bauer completed the sweep for Uniontown Lake individual titles, winning in 18:13.80. She had some company for most of the race, battling Kailey Zagst of Massillon Jackson and Bella Graham of Marlington.
Bauer made her move with a mile left and never looked back. Graham finished strong in second, and Zagst led a strong Massillon Jackson squad with her third place performance. Sofia Istnick of Massillon Jackson finished directly behind Zagst, securing the team title for the ladies of Massillon Jackson, scoring a low 55 points in the combined division breakdown.
Minerva finished second with 66 points when including all Division 1, 2 and 3 squads.
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