Mogadore boys cross-country makes massive strides at Boardman

The Mogadore girls and Streetsboro senior Zachary Vales qualifying for state weren't the only interesting stories to come out of Saturday's Boardman Regional:

BOARDMAN — No, the Mogadore boys cross-country team did not make state.

Yes, the Wildcats lived up to their promise.

Throughout the year, senior Alejandro Navarrete talked about how Mogadore was determined to not repeat last season's last-place finish at the Boardman Regional. (It should be noted that even earning last place at Boardman is an achievement, since most teams don't even qualify out of the district meets.) On Saturday, his Wildcats were nowhere close to last, finishing 10th of 14 teams with 245 points, a full 75 shy of the cellar.

That was just the start.

Across the board, the Mogadore boys made massive gains from a season ago, whether it was Navarrete rising 27 places (from 78th to 51st) and by nearly two minutes (from 20:18.8 to 18:37.1) or fellow senior Daniel Carter improving by 13 places (79th to 66th) and by more than a minute (20:19.3 to 19:02.8).

"I think it's really phenomenal that we've made such jumps," Carter said. "The team next year and even the year after that will have something to go off now, and maybe new kids will come into the program or just really grow from what we're trying to build."

Navarrete was no less enthused by how freshman Cameron Brady and sophomores Jude Leeser and Dante Navarrete exemplified pack running with all three crossing the line in 19:08.6 to take 73rd, 74th and 75th.

""We were obviously a little upset that we didn't have the best race, but compared to the previous years and how this program is going, we definitely had a huge win," the senior Navarrete said. "I was so proud of them. It just shows that pack running, and especially all of them are younger kids, it just shows the potential of that team."

"I don't want to ever overlook Cameron," Wildcats coach Diana Morris added. "He's been amazing. I mean to come in here like that and he hasn't really grown up, if you want to use that term, yet, but he hangs with the seniors that are men and he puts in all the same work and he brought it today, too, with a huge course PR. I was really proud of Cameron. All of them. Aiden [Roman has] been battling bronchitis all week, and he came in and he still had a course PR."

In a day full of vastly improved times, the biggest improvement actually came from Wildcats junior Ryan Keren, who shaved a whopping three minutes from last year's Boardman Regional (21:47.1 to 18:44.2).

"Last year was a really muddy race and just that left a sour taste in my mouth," Keren said. "I worked really hard throughout the winter and track season, I really made a lot of good improvements, and this summer training with these guys every day was huge."

According to Keren, a number of the Wildcats boys would get up before practice throughout the summer to record extra mileage. Keren said he now hopes to bring that work ethic to the next generation of Mogadore runners.

"I really want to inspire these kids," Keren said. "I shaved three minutes off my time. They can do it, too. It just takes working hard every day, consistently working hard, and, yeah, anything's possible next year."

Young Garfield shows promise

Freshmen-dominated teams tend to struggle as ninth-graders making their high school debuts take time to get used to a different stage and what it's like to compete against older student-athletes.

The G-Men were the exception to the rule Saturday.

Despite freshmen taking up three of its top four spots, Garfield finished sixth in the Boardman Regional's Division III girls race, just two spots shy of qualifying for state.

Junior Kourtney Brahler (34th, 21:54.5) led the G-Men across the line Saturday. She was followed by three freshmen: Kathlene McMayon (42nd, 22:10.9), Olivia Rowe (49th, 22:24.1) and Ja'Nasia Moore (50th, 22:24.9).

"With the freshman that we have with Kat McMahon, Olivia Rowe and Ja'Nasia Moore, those are some spectacular athletes," Garfield coach Matt Pfleger said. "If they keep on doing what they're doing, I mean the goal is to break the school record and make it down to the state meet next year."

While underclassmen led the way across the line for Garfield Saturday, seniors have led the way all season, according to Pfleger.

"It all started with my seniors," Pfleger said. "I had a great group of seniors. Without them leading this group, I don't know where we would have been without Aubrey Stonestreet, Maddie Stonetreet and Megan Schaefer, with that group solidifying in the leadership role this year."

Rootstown girls demonstrate pack running

Also in the Division III girls race, the Rovers ran in a tight pack with junior Mallory Butcher and seniors Courtney Taylor and Sydney Munger all crossing the line between 23:43 and 23:59 to finish 73rd, 75th and 76th, respectively. (Freshman Hannah Crandell and senior Lauren Krieger added top-90 finishes.)

Those runners helped maintain a Rootstown tradition by advancing to the regional meet in the first place.

"Going to regional is not an [etched] in stone kind of thing, but it's always nice to get there," Rovers coach Larry Bailey said. "It's kind of a down year and still to get to regional for us, that's nice."

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Mogadore boys cross-country makes massive strides at Boardman