Independence senior Emily Skoczen ran a time of 22:00 to finish second in the open race at the Avon Lake Early Bird Invitational on Saturday.
With just three girls competing, the Blue Devils didn’t have enough runners to qualify for the Gold race, but Skoczen’s time would have been good enough to finish second in that event.
“I had a couple of goals going into this race, being an open race,” Skoczen said. “I wanted to place as high as I could and improve my time from last year. I was really proud of my finish and it was a real confidence boost to know I could have gotten second in the Gold division race.”
Skoczen ran a time of 22:01 in 2018, so she accomplished both of her goals.
Junior Makenna McGhee placed fourth in 22:18 and sophomore Sonia Sajovie was 46th in 25:30.
“I wish our other girls could have been with us this week but you have to adapt and race the best you can,” Skoczen said. “The three of us wanted to get a course PR and place high. I’m really proud of how each of us raced.”
Independence’s boys’ team placed 10th.
Junior Collin Patton led the way with a seventh-place finish in 18:10. Kyle McGovern (58th, 21:03), Thorin Chappel (74th, 23:18), Charlie McGreal (87th, 25:13) and Malcolm Campbell (92nd, 31:41) also competed for the Blue Devils.
Cuyahoga Heights placed seventh in the boys’ race and ninth in the girls’ event.
Junior Darien Tillett placed 12th overall with a time of 18:29. Devon Patel (29th, 19:37), Charlie Nieczar (34th, 20:02) and Nate Menkhaus (47th, 20:36) also placed among the top 50 in the boy’s race.
Senior Emma Morrow placed 33rd in the girls’ race with a time of 25:26.
