PERRY–Berkshire’s boys’ cross country team and Kirtland’s girls’ squad both repeated as Valley Division champions at the 2021 Chagrin Valley Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday at the Perry Outdoor YMCA.
Berkshire won the boys’ race using a sixth-runner tie-breaker to edge Lutheran West for the team title. The Badgers and Longhorns both scored 65 points but Berkshire was declared the team champion thanks to its sixth runner placing 35, seven spots higher than Lutheran’s West’s sixth runner.
Wickliffe placed third as a team with 95 points. The Blue Devils also used the sixth-runner tie-breaker to edge Crestwood, who also scored 95 points.
Grand Valley junior David Steimle won his first league title after placing second last year. Steimle finished in 17:38, just 12 seconds ahead of Berkshire senior Lucas Leggett, who placed second in 18:00.
Wickliffe’s Brady Pugh (3rd, 18:04), Lutheran West’s Sam Silva (4th, 18:08), Elijah Van Faroew (6th, 18:30), Tyler Vance (12th, 19:08), and Luke Donahue (13th, 19:12), Berkshire’s Jarrett Long (5th, 18:17) and Henry Hoover (9th, 18:48), Cuyahoga Heights’ Bradyn Rusch (7th, 18:31) and Max Bollin (11th, 18:59), Independence’s Kyle McGovern (8th, 18:33), Crestwood’s Augie Schweickert (10th, 18:53) and Josh Delaney (15th, 19:22), and Kirtland’s Ian Borthwick (14th, 19:15) also finished among the top 15 runners.
Independence sophomore Alana Nowak, who placed fourth last season, finished first in the girls’ race with a time of 21:23.
Other runners who finished among the top 15 included Cardinal’s Lily Ayer (2nd, 21:42), Crestwood’s Elaine Guyette (2nd, 21:54), Kennedy Rhodes (8th, 22:37), and Hannah Herron (12th, 23:48), Wickliffe’s Tori Stiles (4th, 21:57) and Markalla Tumbry (10th, 23:44), Kirtland’s Reilly Greenlee (5th, 22:20), Ainsley Borthwick (6th, 22:21), Stephanie Drazetic (9th, 22:51), Delaney Kuczkowski (14th, 24:06), and Josie Copeland (15th, 24:17), Independence’s Gabby McGreevy (7th, 22:24), Berkshire’s Jordyn Wichert (11th, 23:46), and Trinity’s Sarah Dzurilla (13th, 24:04).
BOYS TEAM SCORES
1. Berkshire 65
2. Lutheran West 65
3. Wickliffe 95
4. Crestwood 95
5. Cuyahoga Heights 100
6. Independence 123
7. Grand Valley 141
8. Kirtland 170
9. Richmond Heights 283
Incomplete teams: Cardinal, Trinity
GIRLS TEAM SCORES
1. Kirtland 42
2. Crestwood 68
3. Wickliffe 81
4. Independence 86
5. Berkshire 101
6. Cuyahoga Heights 140
7. Lutheran West 151
Incomplete teams: Cardinal, Trinity
