Staff photo / Dan Hiner. South Range's Emmitt Slabach begins to celebrate as he crosses the finish line to win the Division III boys race at the Spartan Invitational on Saturday at Boardman High School.
BOARDMAN -- The Mahoning Valley had a strong showing in one of the biggest cross country meets of the year as Boardman hosted the 39th annual Spartan Invitational on Saturday.
Almost every race featured an area runner competing for the top spot. Two locals were victorious in their event, and two teams took home wins.
McDonald won the Division III girls race and Maplewood boys claimed the top spot in Division III. Meanwhile, Heartland Christian's Rebecca Geiss and South Range's Emmitt Slabach won individually.
It was standard operating procedure for two of the top cross country programs in the region. Neither McDonald or Maplewood had a runner win their race, but they ran as a pack.
The Rockets took the Division III boys race with 73 points, 26 points ahead of second place. Their official finishers all registered top-25 finishes.
Ethan Nevinski led the way with an eighth-place finish and a time of 17:34.1. Andrew Donaldson was a few seconds off, finishing in ninth with 17:37.5. Trevor Shipman ran 18:12.0 for 17th, Kale Calvert clocked 18:31.9 for 23rd and Brody Orr was the final runner counted toward Maplewood's points with a 29th-place run at 18:47.5.
McDonald's girls had the same strategy and executed just as well.
Freshman Naomi Sheesley was the runner-up in Division III girls with a time of 19:34.0. Kylie Flere took 16th at 21:06.6, Selah Sheesley finished in 18th with 21:20.1, Julianna Krumpak was several seconds behind at 21:24.8 for 20th place and Brooke Bosheff came in 51st at 23:36.5.
"You're only as good as your fifth man," McDonald head coach Robin Kapalko said. "We have a lot of depth; our girls work together. Our placement seems to change, so we're always pushing each other to do our best. And when one's not having the greatest race, there's always somebody right there behind to steady and say, 'Hey, I'll make it up for today.'"
While the Blue Devils and Rockets won the team titles, two area runners claimed the top spots with ease.
Slabach was the first local to win a race on Saturday. He was behind in the woods along Glenwood Ave, but he made it tight down the stretch with Waynedale's Jackson Varner, and found a second wind to pull out the win by a second.
Slabach finished with a time of 16:27.2, and Varner was the runner-up with 16:28.4.
"I just had a lot of people here cheering me on, and I wanted to keep pushing. I knew I could get it," Slabach said. "It was hot, I felt tired, but I'm glad I could push through."
Geiss was all alone for most of the day.
The defending state champion finished roughly 45 seconds ahead of Naomi Sheesley in the DIII girls race. Geiss took the top spot with a time of 18:48.8.
"I like starting a little bit slower and seeing where I'm at, at the mile," Geiss said. "I think a lot of the girls on this course that don't have the experience of running it before don't know when to keep going. I think right at the mile, I really picked it up and just started going."
BY A NOSE
The day started with the most competitive race as the Division I boys took to the course. Boardman's David D'Altorio finished second, but he was only off by a couple steps.
D'Altorio, a junior, was slightly behind North Allegheny's Jack Bertram, who finished third at the PIAA state cross country championships last season. D'Altorio and Bertram were neck and neck coming down the stretch, and the Spartan managed to pull ahead slightly, but Bertram found an extra burst in the final several meters for the win.
Bertram won with a time of 16:03.5, while D'Altorio ran 16:03.6.
"We were neck and neck, and he just out-leaned me," D'Altorio said. "I thought I had him almost the whole time, but he's a good runner and I gotta give it to him. He ran a good race."
TEAM RESULTS
Roughly 30 teams competed in each varsity race. Teams came from throughout Ohio and into Pennsylvania, and the Division I girls race even featured a runner from Virginia.
For the Division I boys, North Allegheny won with 89 points. Boardman took fifth with 228, and Austintown Fitch finished 29th with 725.
As for the girls' side of Division I, Hilliard Davidson took the top spot with 64 points. Boardman came in 11th with 346 as the only local team.
The Division II boys race featured the deepest field of the day as 42 full teams competed. Bay won with 79 points. Lakeview was the top local team with 246 points for seventh place. Salem took ninth (296), Canfield came in 14th (421), Poland was 20th (617), the Lakers of Pymatuning Valley took 24th (679), Garfield ended in 35th (885), Hubbard ran toward a 36th-place finish (906), West Branch was right behind in 37th (1,087), Champion ended in 38th (1,103), followed by Girard in 39th (1,108) and Ursuline (1,147) was the final area team with a 41st-place finish.
The Division II girls weren't as deep, but there were 34 teams. Cuyahoga Valley Christian won the race with 81 points. Canfield was the top local finisher, ending the day in sixth with 199. Salem ran toward a 13th-place finish with 468, Poland was 19th with 540, Girard took 23rd after amassing 600 points, Lakeview was next with 608 for 24th and the Ursuline Fighting Irish were 27th with 698.
Maplewood was the top team among the Division III boys, but rival McDonald wasn't too far behind, finishing sixth with 183 points. Mineral Ridge was next in seventh with 207 points, followed by Jackson-Milton in eighth (245), South Range in ninth (246), LaBrae in 15th (444), Bristol in 18th (471), Chalker in 22nd (554) and East Palestine rounded out the team standings in 23rd (709).
McDonald held off Mogadore for the victory on the girls' end of DIII. Maplewood came in fifth with 136 points. Columbiana was 14th with 371, Mineral Ridge was right behind in 15th with 386, Badger came in 17th with 428, PV followed with an 18th-place finish with 439 and South Range was the final local team with 459 for 19th.