Shoremen and Shoregals Harriers Compete at AL Early Bird

The Shoremen and Shoregals competed at their AL Early Bird Invitational last Saturday at LCCC and several had breakout performances on a tough course.

They are a young team and continue to be mending from several injuries.

The Avon Lake Early Bird Invitational attracts many strong Division I schools as they anticipate competing later in the year at the District meet at LCCC. Teams included large schools like St. Ignatius and Brunswick for the boys and perennial powerhouse teams like Magnificat, Brunswick and Bay for the girls.

The young and competitive Varsity Shoregals finished 8th of 17 teams in a field with well over 100 runners.

Junior Jessica Lambert paced the Shoregals with a strong 21st finish. Jessica was followed by teammates, freshman Allie Spensley (34th), junior Marisa Gerrone (35th), senior Annie Wennerberg (41st), and freshman Julia Jantz (52nd). The JV girls were led by Katey Faber’s 13th overall finish. Katey was followed by teammates Mary McGrail (29th), Anna McNight (32rd), Ashley Mandel (42nd), Megan Novotny (43rd), Abby Francy (44th) and Alyson Ammar (57th).

With nearly 100 runners in the boys varsity race, the Shoremen finished 7th of 14 teams. The Shoremen were paced by Devin Arora and Tom Parsons. Devin placed 13th overall and Tom was 16th. Following Devin and Tom were sophomore Trent Glasser (41st), senior Mike Callessen (42nd), sophomore Riley Jantz (45th), junior Nick Nix (47th), and sophomore Chip Connolly (54th).  

In the JV race, recovering from an injury, junior James Darkow ran his first race of the season and finished 15th in a highly competitive JV race. Following James were his teammates, Jared Shelar (28th), Patrick Shulte (29th), Cameron Uptmor (58th), Brandon Baiers (60th), Chris Saranita (62nd) and Zach Jacoboson (64th). In the open race, new comer to the team, Junior, Tim Villari ran his first cross country race ever and finished 7th overall in a field of nearly 200 runners.

 The Shoremen and Shoregals will compete at one of the largest cross country meets in the US at the Tiffin Invitational meet next weekend.

Editor's Note: The preceding information was provided by an Avon Lake cross country booster. If you'd like to write for your sports team, contact Lori.Switaj@patch.com.

Team Results (Boys)

PLACE TEAM    POINTS PLACES OF FINISHERS

1 St. Ignatius 35 3 5 6 9 12 14 20

2 Brunswick 100 15 18 21 22 24 26 36

3 Avon 109 4 17 19 34 35 49 61

4 Buckeye 133 2 8 29 30 64 66 69

5 Steele 144 11 31 32 33 37 52 58

6 Berea 148 1 23 25 40 59 60 63

7 Avon Lake 157 13 16 41 42 45 47 54

8 St. Edward 162 7 27 38 44 46 18:18.6

9 No. Olmsted 211 10 39 51 55 56 62 67  

10 Elyria 274 28 43 57 70 76 82 84  

11 Parma 322 48 50 71 74 79 80 83

12 Brush 361 53 68 73 75 92 94 95  

13 No. Ridgeville 373 65 72 77 78  

14 Midview 442 86 87 88 90 91 93  

Team Results (Girls)

PLACE TEAM    POINTS PLACES OF FINISHERS

1 Brunswick 59 5 11 12 13 18 19 38

2 Bay 75 1 6 10 27 31 48 51

3 Magnificat 120 9 24 28 29 30 37 47

4 Avon 149 8 23 25 36 57 58 60

5 Rocky River 172 2 20 46 49 55 63

6 Seton 175 22 32 39 40 42 50 56

7 No. Olmsted 177 14 15 33 53 62 64 65

8 Avon Lake 183 21 34 35 41 52

9 Shaker Hts. 188 7 17 44 59 61 73 74

10 Perrysburg 197 16 26 43 45 67 68

11 Berea 357 3 80 84 85 105

12 Brush 374 4 70 97 101 102

13 Midview 414 54 86 87 88 99

14 Elyria 416 69 81 83 90 93 94

15 No. Ridgeville 422 66 72 75 103 106

16 John Hay 423 76 79 82 91 95 98

17 Parma 425 71 77 89 92 96 100 104