CVC Cross Country Championships: Division titles decided at Hawken

CHESTERLAND — Eight team champions and eight individual champions were crowned Saturday at the 2026 Chagrin Valley Conference Cross Country Championships at Hawken School.

On the boys’ side, Geneva Cross Country won the Lake Division, Orange Cross Country claimed the Chagrin Division, Berkshire Cross Country captured the Valley Division, and Independence Cross Country dominated the Metro Division.

The girls’ championships went to Chardon Cross Country in the Lake Division, Orange in the Chagrin Division, Crestwood Cross Country in the Valley Division, and Kirtland Cross Country in the Metro Division.

The individual boys champions were Jacob Vonhof of Lutheran West Cross Country in the Lake Division, Ian Res of West Geauga Cross Country in the Chagrin Division, Kelan Byrne of Chagrin Falls Cross Country in the Valley Division, and Mitchell Creel of Independence in the Metro Division.

The girls’ individual champions were Mira Palombo of Chardon in the Lake Division, Marina Campbell of Orange in the Chagrin Division, Luci Maschek of Crestwood in the Valley Division, and Kylie Sayle of Kirtland in the Metro Division.

Full Results: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/287029/results/all

Cameron Palmer contributed to this story.

Boys

Lake Division

Vonhof set the pace in the Lake Division, winning in 17:07.8. Matthew Ghobrial of Chardon was second in 17:20.3 before Geneva took control of the team race with John D’Alessandro third in 17:43.3, Conor Shontz fourth in 17:43.7 and Ethan Schenk fifth in 17:45.5.

Leland Dunham led Willoughby South Cross Country with a sixth-place finish in 17:58.3, followed by Ashton Ryan of Chardon in 17:58.6, Jackson Heisner of Lutheran West in 18:04.9, Bryson Koehler of Chardon in 18:06.9 and John Cybulski of Geneva in 18:32.1.

Geneva put five runners among the first 11 finishers to score 33 points and beat Chardon by 20. Lutheran West finished third with 77 points, Willoughby South was fourth with 98, Madison Cross Country was fifth with 99, and Eastlake North Cross Country finished sixth with 135.

Team Scores

Individual Finishers

Chagrin Division

Res won one of the day’s closest individual races, crossing in 16:55.4. Orange’s Griffin Berlin was less than a second behind in 16:56.3, and Ethan Van Norman of Conneaut Cross Country finished third in 16:57.5.

Cody Weber led Jefferson Cross Country with a fourth-place time of 17:03.7. West Geauga’s Joey Lubanovich and Charlie Allin finished fifth and sixth, both in 17:13.3.

Orange’s Calvin Schroer and Bennett Johnson tied for seventh in 17:20.2, while Chase Cardona and Carter Cline placed ninth and 10th for Edgewood Cross Country.

Orange needed all of that depth to edge West Geauga, 51-54, for the team championship. Edgewood was third with 76, Jefferson fourth with 107, Perry Cross Country fifth with 127, Conneaut sixth with 139, and Hawken Cross Country seventh with 140.

Team Scores

Individual Finishers

Valley Division

Chagrin Falls went 1-2 individually, but Berkshire’s pack carried the Badgers to the Valley Division championship.

Byrne won in 16:55.9, with teammate TJ Mitchell second in 17:01.8. Berkshire then took four straight spots as Aiden Hollingsworth finished third in 17:06.8, Evan Tromba fourth in 17:07.9, Danny Auth fifth in 17:08.8 and Tripp Wadsworth sixth in 17:19.7.

Chagrin Falls’ Jameson Byrne was seventh in 17:32.3 before Berkshire’s Benjamin Townsend placed eighth in 17:36.3. Caleb Wallace led Wickliffe Cross Country in ninth at 17:49.4, and Nate Stoessner led Fairview Cross Country in 10th at 17:59.7.

Berkshire finished with 26 points to Chagrin Falls’ 37. Fairview scored 78 for third, Beachwood Cross Country was fourth with 110, and Crestwood finished fifth with 134.

Team Scores

Individual Finishers

Metro Division

Independence left little doubt in the Metro Division, placing four runners across the finish line before any other team recorded a finisher.

Creel won in 17:02.0, followed by Jayden Musni in 17:25.1, Archer Dlugolinski in 17:28.6 and Andrew Gibbons in 17:36.3.

Joey Ciavarelli was fifth for Kirtland in 17:59.3 before Independence’s William Stray placed sixth in 18:07.4 and Finn McGovern was seventh in 18:10.2. Nicholas McWilliams led Richmond Heights Cross Country in eighth at 18:17.9, Ben Brandal was ninth for Kirtland in 18:50.4, and Grant Stevenson led Rootstown Cross Country in 10th at 18:53.1.

Independence scored just 16 points. Kirtland was second with 71, Rootstown third with 77, Richmond Heights fourth with 98, and Cuyahoga Heights Cross Country fifth with 103.

Team Scores

Individual Finishers

Girls

Lake Division

Palombo led the Lake Division from the front, winning in 19:33.0 and helping Chardon put all five of its scorers among the top 10.

Adriana Belconis of Geneva finished second in 20:05.2, and Hannah Mueller of Lutheran West was third in 20:31.8. Emma Shearer placed fourth for Willoughby South in 20:36.0, while Molly Canfield led Madison with a fifth-place finish in 20:50.5.

Chardon’s Beatrice Snyder was sixth in 21:07.2, followed by Madison’s Ellie Langtry in 21:08.2. Chardon then closed out its scoring with Brooke Turner eighth in 21:51.7, Reese O’Reilly ninth in 21:53.6 and Maggie Wolcott 10th in 21:53.8.

That gave Chardon 34 points, 18 better than Madison’s 52. Geneva was third with 65, Lutheran West fourth with 102, Willoughby South fifth with 126 and Eastlake North sixth with 138.

Team Scores

Individual Finishers

Chagrin Division

Campbell ran away with the individual championship, winning in 19:15.2 and leading Orange to the team crown.

Hazel Kananen of Perry finished second in 20:34.0, just ahead of Anna Ring of Conneaut in 20:34.9. Annalisia Honda placed fourth for Hawken in 21:24.9, and Grace Dzura of Jefferson finished fifth in 21:28.8.

West Geauga’s Lia Alvord was sixth in 22:05.0, Kate Farrell of Perry took seventh in 22:09.9, and Orange’s Lilah Bass was eighth in 22:11.2. Vanessa Winningham of West Geauga placed ninth in 22:25.0, and Layla Beseda of Conneaut completed the top 10 in 22:34.6.

Orange scored 47 points to Perry’s 66. West Geauga was third with 84, Conneaut fourth with 101, Jefferson fifth with 104, Hawken sixth with 128, and Edgewood seventh with 159.

Team Scores

Individual Finishers

Valley Division

Maschek turned in the fastest girls’ time among the four divisions, winning the Valley championship in 18:49.4.

Claire Passow of Berkshire was second in 19:01.4 before Crestwood’s Madie Grace Gonczy finished third in 19:28.7 and Piper Seibold placed fourth in 19:43.5.

Berkshire answered with Addison Passow fifth in 19:54.7 and June Dunlap sixth in 20:02.6. Lindsay Fisher of Chagrin Falls placed seventh in 20:22.2, Emily Dahler of Fairview was eighth in 20:25.9, and Crestwood closed the top 10 with Piper Freedline ninth in 20:36.2 and Abby Pfost 10th in 21:07.8.

Crestwood’s five scorers finished first, third, fourth, ninth, and 10th to total 27 points. Berkshire was second with 36, Fairview third with 81, and Chagrin Falls fourth with 90.

Team Scores

Individual Finishers

Metro Division

Kirtland dominated the front of the Metro Division race, placing three runners in the first three spots and four among the first six.

Sayle won the championship in 19:21.1. Teammates Mila Delgado and Nadija Mrva followed in second and third with times of 20:08.2 and 20:37.9.

Leah Creel led Independence in fourth at 20:50.1, and Brynn Bird of Rootstown was fifth in 20:54.9. Kirtland’s Danika Schaum finished sixth in 20:55.8.

Joee Cichocki led Cuyahoga Heights with a seventh-place time of 20:59.4, followed by Independence’s Lucy Lu in 21:16.3. Rootstown’s Cara Crandell was ninth in 22:01.7, and teammate Paisley Day completed the top 10 in 22:46.6.

Kirtland won with 24 points. Rootstown finished second with 47, and Independence was third with 52.

Team Scores

Individual Finishers