GATES MILLS—The third try was the charm for Independence’s Tyler Polman.
Polman, a junior, finished second overall at the two previous Chagrin Valley Conference cross country championships, but on Saturday he finished the race in 16:31, nearly 40 seconds faster than the second place runner to win his first overall league championship and his third straight Valley Division title.
“We got out pretty hard,” Polman said. “I saw one of the Chagrin (Falls) kids get out really hard and I was just figuring I would try to break him early and try to break the pack early. I think I got away from the pack pretty early. I was leading after 200, 300, 400 meters and from there I was just focusing on keeping my pace and my tempo. I knew the second mile was going to be very uphill and very hard, so I just tried to break them early and keep up the good pace. It worked today.”
Senior Matt Mroczynski finished in 16th place with at ime of 19:03 and freshman Joe Wisniewski was 34th with a time of 21:57.
Junior Dana Zaccardelli led the Blue Devils in the girls’ race. She finished third overall and first in the Valley Division with a time of 20:10. Freshman Emma Wensink was 27th with a time of 24:55.
