"Wills Captures #3", "Brajdic Sets New Boys Course Record", "Peninsula Woodridge Wins its Fifth Straight D2 Team Title", "Berger Repeats as D3 Girl's Champion", "Minster Wins its Third-Straight D3 Title", "Magnificat Girls' Win Third-Straight D1 Championship", Independence Repeats as boys D3 Champions" It would be difficult to choose a headline for yesterdays 2010 State Cross Country Championships. It was a day when a crowd of over 13,000 came to watch five of the six team state champions repeat, an individual win his third state championship and see a 23 year old course record broken.
D1 Boys
Senior Zach Wills of Mason became only the fifth boy in OHSAA history to win three individual state titles. He claimed his third winning the Division 1 race in a time of 15:19.8. Wills (pictured at right in the green with Louisville's Curtis Hanle following) led from start to finish as he outpaced second place finisher, senior Mike Wallace of Sylvania Northview. Wallace's time was 15:26.6. Senior Brian Hannaford of Westerville North ran third in a time of 15:27.7.
In the team race, Louisville won, beating Medina by 1 point. Senior Curtis hanle lead the Louisville team placing 4th. Medina was led by senior David Knack who ran 8th. The 3rd place team was Cle. St. Ignatius led by senior John Sweeney's 5th place finish.
D1 Girls
Senior Michelle Thomas (pictured at left with purple top and black shorts) of Cin. Glen Este ran a determined race leading from start to finish in winning her first title. Her 17:41.5 was 8 seconds better than the 2nd place finisher, senior Carly Hamilton of Springboro and 18 seconds ahead of North Royalton's senior Hanna Neczypor.
The Magnificat girls won their 3rd Straight and 4th overall team championship besting Mason and Louisville. Junior Abigail Marquard led Magnificat placing 22nd overall and 13th in team. She was followed closely by senior Katherine Stultz, 26th (14th) and sophomore Katherine Keer, 32nd (19th). Mason was led by 12th (8th) place finisher, junior Monica Lake. Louisville was led by the 20th (12th) place finisher senior Mattie Rankin.
D2 Boys
Senior Michael Brajdic (pictured at right) of Bay Village ran away with the boys competition as he broke Westerville North's Bob Kennedy's 23 year old course record. Brajdic's time was 15:01.9. Kennedy's course record, set in 1987, was 15:03.2. This was Brajdic's second overall title. 2nd and 3rd place were claimed by two juniors, Steven Weaver of Napoleon, 15:21.9 and Adrian Ross of Chill. Unioto, 15:29.5.
Peninsula Woodridge captured its 5th straight team title besting 2nd place Akron St. Vin-St. Mary by 22 points. Avon finished 3rd. Woodridge was led by senior Vibushan Sivakumaran who ran 7th overall (5th team wise), junior Drake Sulzer, 12th (6th team wise) and senior Jacob Onifer 18th (10th team wise).
D2 Girls
The D2 girls race was close. Senior Katie Landwehr of Tippecanoe won in a time of 18:05. Senior Morgan Willis of Peninsula Woodridge was second with a time of 18:07.4 and senior Mattie Moncayo of Lexington was third, just .5 seconds behind Willis (18:07.9)
Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary repeated as team champions (pictured at left, a pack of St. V-St. M runners head to the finish). They had three runners in the top 10, scoring only 62 points. SVSM was led by senior Maria Arnone. Arnone was 8th overall 18:27.8 and 4th in the team scoring. SVSM 2nd runner was senior Anna Mion. 18:28.00 10th (6th in team scoreing). SVSM 3rd top ten runner was junior Tessa Weigan 18:31.4 14th (9th team wise). Lexington was runner-up with the Rocky River girls placing 3rd.
D3 Boys
The D3 boys race was led by three seniors. Colin Cotton of Summit Country Day (wearing black, with the lead pack) was the individual winner in a time of 15:32.5. Drew Trusty of Mohawk was just 3 seconds back of Cotton running a strong 15:38.1. Third place went to Isaac Potes of Frederictown in a time of 15:39.1. Last years defending champion, Ryan Polman finished 5th in a time of 15:40.4
Independence repeated as the D2 team champion besting runner up McDonald by only 11 points. Ryan Polman led the Indpendence team with his 5th place finished and was followed by two other top 10 finishers: senior Michael Rusnacyk, 11th overall and 7th in team in 16:00.1 and sophomore Kyle Polmon who placed 12th overall and 8th in team 16:03.4. 3rd place Delta was led by the 4th place overall finisher, senior Colin Fisher 15:40.1.
D3 Girls
Junior Tammy Berger (pictured at left) of Versailles stayed close to Emily Roberts and Hannah Sefanoff until the girls entered track area with just over .3 tenths of a mile to go and showed her determination to win her second straight title by putting on a very strong closing run. Berger, a junior won in a time of 18:13.3 and will have a chance to join an elite group of three time winners next Fall. Roberts of Fredericktown, only a freshman, gave notice that she will be one of the girls to watch over the next few years in D3. She finished 2nd, only 5.2 seconds behind Berger. Senior Hannah Stefanoff of Col. Grandview finished 3rd in a time of 18:23.9.
Minster captured it's third-straight team title only 2 points ahead of Liberty Center. Minster has 9 D3 titles and has won eight of the last 12 team titles. Cortland Maplewood finished third. Minster was led by senior Averie Bornhorst, 26th overall, (17th in team scoring) and sophomore Hannah Butler, 40th overall (26th team wise). Liberty Center was led by junior Chelsea Knapp, 22nd (14th team wise), sophomore Kelly Haubert, 23rd (15th team wise) and freshman Page Chamberlain, 37th (25 in team scoring). Maplewood had two runners in the overall top 20: senior Crystal Williams was 18th and sophomore Alanna Shamrock was 20th.
OHSAA Ohio State Cross Country Championship
National Elite Performances
Coverage