The cross country course at Kent State’s Geauga campus is a scenic run through fields and wooded trails. When it’s 75 degrees and sunny, like it was for the 22nd Berkshire Early Bird Invitational, it’s a beautiful running experience.
Except when there’s mud.
Many of the hundreds of parents and fans that packed the course to watch junior high and high school races dressed for the weather, shorts and sandals. But by the time they made the walk from parked cars to the starting line, it was too late.
“Ugh. This is disgusting,” said one junior high girl after finishing her race.
“I feel like I’ve been out running,” added her mother.
The soggy conditions soaked socks and bare feet and splashed mud on anything below the waist. Some walking by the finish line, the muddiest part, were seen washing off in clean puddles before heading toward the pavement.
But for most of the runners, who are still kids after all, it was a lot of fun.
GIRLS
The host Berkshire Badgers reclaimed the top spot, an incredible feat considering Berkshire’s size in relation to the 25 other competing schools.
With strong pack-running, the Badgers’ top five runners edged out Chardon, 89-96 in points, and ran a combined 1:47:09 to the Hilltoppers’ 1:47:44.
Katelyn Luther finished 12th for Berkshire, followed by Suzanne Koziol (14th), Melissa Koziol (18th), Kylie Scott (22nd) and Christin Dornback (23rd).
“This was a true cross country experience,” said Suzanne Koziol, taking off her muddy right shoe after the race. “It was kind of difficult and a challenge. But it’s fun. I love to go straight through the puddles.”
It was the first time the invitational used chip timing, a system in which each runner attaches a small electronic device to his or her shoelace that records an exact time when it crosses a mat.
Both Suzanne and Melissa are seniors, as are Dornback, Luther and Gwen Losasso.
“I love being with these seniors,” said Scott, a sophomore. “I do it all for them.”
Of the mud, she said: “It was so much fun. It felt like you’d get stuck sometimes, and you weren’t moving, but it was great.
“We didn’t really care as much about our times today. It was more about being a pack and racing.”
It is another season of high expectations for Chardon’s girls, now being led by new head coach Eric Bartley after the retirement of longtime coach Mike Combs.
Bartley, who will be assisted by Mary Pat Martin, said of his team, “The cupboards are stock filled (of talent).”
Senior Samantha Stansbury (6th place) and junior Rachel Banks (8th) will lead at the front most races.
Banks, who predicted the Hilltoppers would reach the state meet by season’s end, thought the race started faster than she expected.
“It was sloshy, but it was fun,” she said. “Our Chardon girls, we love the puddles the most. I feel like it always rains and snows over Chardon, so it’s definitely not a disadvantage to us.”
Stansbury suffered a stress fracture to her left shin during track last season, but now feels 100 percent. She sprinted down the stretch, kicking with a team-best 20:36.9.
“You can’t really count on the time when it’s muddy,” Stansbury said. “It was a weird finish, because it was short. But I love the atmosphere (of the finish line). I love seeing my parents, and I saw my friends, and I didn’t know they were coming. I started laughing.”
The Newbury girls team, with seven members, have dealt with some early injuries.
“It’s a good bunch, the same bunch I’ve had for about four years,” said head coach Bob Johnson.
Hope Lewandowski, a regional qualifier a year ago, is sidelined due to growing pains.
Sophomore Annie Kinkopf steps in as the top runner in Hope’s absence.
Her sister, Maggie, also competed.
“It’s kind of exciting,” she said of the muddy course, “until you actually start to do it. It slows you down. It’s fun getting muddy, but it’s also a hindrance.”
Allyson Kekedy, Grace Wright and Jessica Perez are other members of the team.
“Our girls team is going to be decent,” Johnson said, adding the move from the CVC to the Northeastern Athletic Conference will help Newbury compete against schools its own size.
Only one junior high boy and no junior high girls make up the Newbury program.
Kenston’s girls finished 5th, led by Emma Dicker’s 20th place finish. Alexis Fleming finished 25th; Paige Palmer finished 30th.
BOYS
Former Chardon girls coach Mike Combs used to call the mud “the great equalizer” because some runners do better in the conditions than others.
Boys head coach Mark Shafer agrees.
“Anytime conditions are tough, it’s going to give somebody an advantage,” the coach said, adding he tells his runners: “Make that you. Really, that’s what you have to do. And that’s a mental decision.”
Track athletes, who typically do not run in these types of conditions, could be at a disadvantage, he added.
“This is the first day under tough conditions, so we’ll have to see who’s ready,” Shafer said before the race.
The Hilltoppers finished second behind Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin, 103-68.
There are three runners who have been outstanding runners since middle school, Shafer said, naming Josh Sopchak, Steven Zombory and Jacob Krebs.
Krebs missed the invitational due to an accident when he fell into a guardrail, injuring his knee. It is not expected to be serious but will affect his early training.
Sopchak finished 6th; Zombory finished 9th.
Sophomores Ryan Connolly and Josh Metzung are also expected to be among the Hilltoppers’ top finishers by year’s end, and junior Matt Morris is stepping up.
“It was really wet and muddy,” Sopchak said of the race, but said it was a lot of fun. “You just have to look at it that way, and you’ll race better. For me, though, today, I didn’t have my best race. I cramped up. But I’ll just have to come back harder next week.”
With the graduation of Nicholas Elswick, who led the team for three years while qualifying and winning state titles, Sophak and Zombory will need to fill a leadership role.
“I wasn’t sure how it was going to be,” Sopchak said. “I was kind of scared.”
Added fellow captain Zombory: “It’s a real honor to be a leader on a team of our prestige, and I’m really excited that we get to lead this year.”
He said the mud was “the way a cross country meet should be.”
West Geauga boys have their smallest team under head coach John Boylan, “but we have a select team that’s young,” he said.
Junior Will Snyder ran his freshman year and returns. Sam Faulk, a sophomore, will be one of the Wolverines’ top runners.
Junior Tyler Blazek, sophomore Jason Gialamas, freshman Aidan Bryson, senior Cambden Weist and senior Nick Waugh round out the top varsity runners, Boylan said.
Boylan was excited to see what they could do.
Berkshire’s team finished 5th, with senior Adam Thompson finishing 8th overall with a 17:41.
“I gave it all, and I didn’t know I had that much,” Thompson said after his personal best. “I was surprised with myself. I guess a lot of good training helped, thanks to my coach and teammates for pushing me.”
Thompson took his time and the mud as a sign of good things to come.
“You can do better,” he said of the prospects of running on a dry course, but added, “The mud is always fun because it’s mud.”
The boys team has been training hard, with other members Nathan Schultz, David Pelletier, Dan Bridavsky and Seth Byler finishing in order for Berkshire.
The Newbury Black Knights are down to just three boys on this year’s team.
Junior Zack Temple returns as a first-team CVC performer a year ago.
Josh Voitushenko, a sophomore, is running his first year.
“I loved it,” he said of the course. “A bit muddy, but I loved it.”
Of the small team, he said, “It means we’ll be individuals and we need to beat our own times.”
Zac Grubbs is also a member.
Berkshire coach Julie Cole and Athletic Director Brian Hiscox were forced to slightly change the course the morning of the event due to conditions.
Cole credited the Berkshire cross country parents for volunteering their time to make the event work. “They are fantastic,” she said.
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