Austintown, OH -- The WBXC High School Boys and Girls battled some different teams than usual at the Mahoning County Championships this past Wednesday. The Warriors were not only up for competing against some very big schools; they were also poised to take on the challenging terrain of the
5K (3.1-mile) course. Nearly all the WB HS runners who raced at County last year improved on their previous time!
Leading the way for the boys, finishing in the top 23% or higher of a field of 125 boys were ALL TOP-7 WEST BRANCH RUNNERS! They included:
senior Kyle Ormiston--6th place (17:41)*Medal-winner
sophomore Logan Williams--13th place (18:33)
senior Colton Cantwell--14th place (18:36)
senior TJ Greenfield--20th place (18:53)
junior Jake Blinn--24th place (19:15)
junior Sevin Woods--26th place (19:18)
senior Bennett Biggs--29th place (19:48)
Due to their tremendous and strategic effort focusing on places rather than times, the WBXC HS Boys finished SECOND of ten teams, beating out every school in Mahoning County except Boardman. Our boys walked away with the runner-up plaque, finishing ahead of teams who ran double or nearly triple the number of our nine WB runners who competed in the race!
Mahoning County Runners-Up, WBXC HS Boys (left to right): Aidan Stuchell, Logan Williams, Jake Blinn, TJ Greenfield, Sevin Woods, Colton Cantwell, Kyle Ormiston, Brock Weisel, and Garrett Felgar. Missing from the picture are Bennett Biggs, Aiden Scott, and Jace Bowlin.
Leading the way for the girls, finishing in the top 27% or higher of 84 girls, were
freshman Tenley Stitle--7th place (21:26)*Medal-winner
freshman Ellie Bickle--16th place (22:58)
sophomore Kelly Ewing--17th place (23:10)
sophomore Rachel Teague--19th place (23:18)
freshman Izzy Cantwell--23rd place (24:09)
Like the WBXC HS Boys, the WBXC HS Girls had a great day as a team, finishing third of six schools--only 12 points behind Canfield--a team that had more than twice the number of our full roster of 10 WB girls!
WBXC Medal Winners (left to right): high school runners Kyle Ormiston and Tenley Stitle; middle school runners Stella Whiteleather and Sawyer Vavrock.
The WBXC Middle School Boys and Girls joined their HS teammates taking on some bigger schools and tough terrain at the Mahoning County Championships. In addition to placing well, several MS runners also managed to set new PR's (personal records)!
Leading the way for the boys, finishing in the top 29% or higher of a field of 100 boys were
7th grader Sawyer Vavrock--7th place (12:05)*Medal-winner; Lifetime PR by 12 seconds!
8th grader Wyatt Turman--29th place (13:12)*Season PR
8th graders Liam Wilson (13:20) and Jax DeWitt (13:52) had tremendous races, beating their previous lifetime best times by 26 and 27 seconds, respectively! 7th grader Kason Coffee (14:15) and 8th grader Case Black (14:20) were also locked in and dropped 15 and 25 seconds, respectively!
The MS Boys, running without their full roster, tied for 5th, but unfortunately lost the tie-breaker, finishing 6th of 7 teams.
Leading the way for the girls, finishing in the top 21% or higher of a field of 73 girls were
8th grader Stella Whiteleather--4th place (13:46)*Medal-winner; Lifetime PR by 17 seconds!
8th grader Violet Benner--12th place (14:13)*Lifetime PR by 12 seconds
8th grader Maggie Cosma--15th place (14:28)*Lifetime PR by 12 seconds
7th grader Raina Brown--16th place (14:40)
7th grader Kenzie Turman (16:18) had a heck of a race, improving her lifetime best by 29 seconds! 8th grader Natalie Fraser (17:27) chimed in also, shedding 17 seconds from hers!
8th grader Belle Jerles (15:22) contributed her best race time of the season.
Like the HS Boys, the MS Girls went into the race determined to walk away with some team hardware, trying to continue a tradition, as the last two WBXC MS Girls teams had been Mahoning County Runners-Up! The girls accomplished their goal, finishing SECOND of seven teams in the county, behind only Canfield!
The WBXC MS teams are also enjoying a much-needed 10-day span with no race and are looking forward to competing at the Legends Meet at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds on Saturday, 10/10!
Mahoning County Runners-Up, WBXC MS Girls (back, left to right): Kenzie Turman, Natalie Fraser, Belle Jerles, Violet Benner, Maggie Cosma, and Brielle Spencer. (front) Stella Whiteleather.
Please see the HS article above for a picture of the MS medal winners!
