The Chagrin Valley Conference was well represented at area district meets on Saturday.
Hawken’s girls successfully defended their Division II Medina District title and Chagrin Falls won the Division II Madison District and Independence’s girls’ team finished second at the Division III Trumbull County District.
Geneva’s boys and girls and Perry’s girls also advanced their entire teams to next week’s regional meet.
“The boys have run very strong all season. We knew they just needed to work together and run smart the first mile of the race, not going out too fast, and then finish strong. They stuck to the plan and we got the results we expected,” Geneva coach Emily Long said. “The girls’ team knew they were going to have to work to secure a spot as regional qualifiers, especially with Chardon and Mentor in our district. They really dug deep the final mile of the race to leave no doubt that they deserved to be a regional qualifying team.”
Division I
Geneva’s boys finished fourth while the girls were fifth at Madison.
Jacob Mirabell and Forrest Long both placed among the top 10 for the Eagles. Mirabell finished fifth in 16:37 while Long was eighth in 16:52. Alex Reese finished 13th in 17:19. Jesse McElroy (17:39), Jacob Robinson (17:47), Zachary Reese (17:52) and Devin Cerjan (18:09) also ran for the Eagles.
“The top two runners for our team, Jacob Mirabell and Forrest Long, are always important,” Coach Long said. “Alex Reese, who finished third for us, was also an individual qualifier so that helped the team tremendously. Jesse McElroy, a first-year runner for us, had a great race also.”
Harvey’s JT Basco and David Boykin qualified for the regional meet by finishing among the top 20. Basco was seventh in 16:48 while Boykin was 16th in 17:23.
Elizabeth Joy paced the Geneva girls’ team with a 13th place finish in 20:00.18. Taylor Cupp (20:00.21), Renee Tetlow (20:08), Leah Costello (20:55), Mikayla Watts (21:01), Alayna Lomas (21:21) and Vanessa Gunther (22:53) also competed.
“Three of the girls qualified as individuals, which was huge for us,” Coach Long said. “Elizabeth Joy and Taylor Cupp finished together and freshman Renee Tetlow was close behind them. Leah Costello finished fourth with a PR along with our fifth runner Mikayla Watts.”
Division II
Chagrin Falls’ girls’ team won the district title with 54 points.
Hannah Clark led the Tigers with a third-place finish in 19:42 while Catherine Coffey and Azzurra Opperman also finished among the top 10. Coffey was eighth in 20:18 and Opperman was ninth in 20:29.
Katarina Lechman (20:29), Rose Hoelzel (20:49), Clarie Stinson (21:25) and Claire Lordan (21:28) also ran for the Tigers.
Perry’s girls’ team punched their ticket to regionals with a fourth-place finish.
Hailey Vitolo led the Pirates with a time of 20:16, good for seventh overall.
Orange’s Kate Halloran and West Geauga’s Julia Martinez both qualified as individuals. Halloran finished 12th in 20:21 while Martinez was 14th in 20:28.
Chagrin Falls’ boys’ team also will compete at regionals after finishing third overall.
Marshall Sadowski finished second overall with a time of 16:45. Duncan Taber finished 10th (17:09) and Tyler Feeney was 12th in 17:12.
West Geauga’s John Patterson and Kenneth Kirk and Orange’s Eddie Harrell also qualified for the regional meet. Patterson was sixth in 17:00, Harrell was 11th in 17:12 and Kirk finished 20th in 17:30.
Division III
Independence’s girls’ team finished as the runner-up at the Medina District and will compete as a team at regionals. Collin Patton also qualified as an individual for the Blue Devils.
Berkshire advanced three runners to the regional meet.
Madison Romask led the way for the Badgers with a 14th place finish in 20:55. Gabby Adams finished 14th in 21:11 and Lizzy Dingman advanced with a time of 21:35, good for 16th place.
“I honestly can’t express how excited I am for this, but if it was a scale of 1-10, the scale would have exploded,” Dingman said. “I am very happy and excited that I made it to regionals. I didn’t expect to do this but now that I did it, I am beyond excited.”
Dingman set a new PR at districts and now she’s going to approach regionals with the same mentality she took into the district meet.
“I pushed myself really hard today and my teammates helped push me all season,” she said. “Don’t focus on the time; focus on the breathing and passing as many people as I can. Don’t slack on it; push myself until I pass out at the finish line.”
Kirtland’s Reilly Greenlee also advanced to regionals as she finished 12th in 20:56.
“Although I feel like my time could be faster, I am very excited to have made it to the next meet and that my season isn’t over yet,” Greenlee said. “For next weekend, I am going to pick up my speed at the second half of the race to have a better finish.”
Cuyahoga Heights’ Darien Tillet finished 14th at Medina to earn a spot in the regional meet. He ran a time of 17:40.
“I was very satisfied with my time today,” Tillet said. “It was a new personal best and I couldn’t be happier.”
Tillet has made the most of his first season on the trail and he hopes to add one more week with a strong performance on Saturday.
“I’m way beyond where I thought I would be at this point in the season,” Tillet said. “It’s my first season in cross country and I can’t wait to see what it has in store for me. My strategy for next weekend is to just go in with the right mindset and try to stick with the top runners in the race; go out and find my place early in the race and try to stick with the top runners.”
