Geauga County runners from Berkshire, Cardinal, and Chardon competed at the Madison U Wanna Come Back Invitational on Sept. 27.
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Geauga County runners from Berkshire, Cardinal, and Chardon competed at the Madison U Wanna Come Back Invitational on Sept. 27.
Leading the way for Geauga County Runners were the Chardon Hilltoppers.
Turning in top performances for the Hilltoppers Boys were sophomore Matthew Ghobrial, Gavin Emerine and Jack Roman.
The Hilltoppers Girls Cross Country team was led by Mira Palombo, Briella Hewitt and Madysin Frost.
Ghobrial, who finished 19th out of 266 runners, ran a very fast 5k as he finished the course in a time of 16:16.01.
Ghobrial said that over the past few weeks he had been having difficulty starting the races at the pace he wanted. However, at Madison he was able to start fast.
This quick start allowed him to stay with the top runners throughout the race.
“I had some friends from other teams that I knew were right around me,” Ghobrial said. “My goal was to just stick with them and let it ride.”
When Ghobrial got to the two mile marker he heard his split time which gave him the confidence he needed to finish strong. Ghobrial knew he was on the pace he needed to be at in order to finish the race strong with a final kick.
Finishing with a time of 16:16.01, Ghobrial was tops among Geauga County Boys.
In addition to Ghobrial, finishing with Chardon’s top five times included Emerine (16:48.93), Roman (17:17.98), Toby Rogers (18:38.09) and Ashton Ryan (19:24.17).
For the Chardon Hilltoppers Girls Cross Country Team, Mira Palombo had the top time for Geauga County runners as she ran 18:52.31 for the 5K.
Palombo said that to start the race she knew she had to have a good start so she would not get slowed down as the course progressed through the woods.
After a successful start, she focused on passing as many runners as she could.
As she got to the two mile marker her mindset was to stay with leaders and not fall back.
Coming to the final stretch of the race, she realized she was going to run a sub 19 5K.
“Once I saw that I was going to go under 19, I just gave it my all to make sure I get that,” said Palombo. “That really helped. That was a good motivator.”
Palombo said that the use of visualization was key to her successful race and obtaining her pr.
On Thursday’s as part of their pre-race preparation, the Hilltoppers Girls Cross Country Team goes through a visualization session where they visualize running the course, Palombo said.
“As a team on Thursday’s we all just visualize and go through each part of the course,” said Palombo. “That makes me feel like I have already been there, already ran it, so I know what to expect, like the feelings and just to push through when it’s hard.”
Also, finishing in the Hilltoppers Girls Cross Country Team’s top five at Madison were Briella Hewitt (19:40.91), Madisyn Frost (19:54.85), Alexis Gady (20:46.10) and Rosemary Sweet (21:27.51).
Running an excellent race at Madison was Cardinal Huskies senior Sam Gdovichin.
He ran a 16:53.87.
After running sub 17 at the Cardinal Invitational on Sept. 20, Gdovichin lowered his season best time by almost 6 seconds.
Gdovichin said that the first mile on the Madison course was challenging since the course passed through the woods making it difficult for runners to pass each other. He ran a 5:24 first mile, but he said he usually likes to be around ten seconds faster for his first mile split.
After the runners got out of the woods, he said they were then able to spread out and run at the pace they wanted.
As Gdovichin got to the second mile, he said that he knew that he needed to run at a faster pace.
“I was like ‘Man, those woods really slowed me down, I really got to pick it up’,” Gdovichin said.
On the second and third mile, Gdovichin said that his goal was to pass as many runners as possible.
As Gdovichin got to the final stretch, he said that his thoughts were focused on giving all out effort.
“I was pretty close to my (all-time) pr and I really wanted it,” said Gdovichin. “I was two seconds off of it, but you know, I can safely say I gave 110 percent out there. That’s what I’m proud of today.”
Cardinal Head Cross Country Coach Jennifer Fekete said that Gdovichin ran a great race at Madison.
“Sam ran fantastic, he looks really strong, (and is) really focusing on putting in the hard work,” said Coach Fekete.
Leading the Cardinal Huskies girls cross country team at Madison were Eve Kaminski (21:18.56) and Abigail Springer (23:00.13)
The Berkshire Badgers Boys were led by Aiden Hollingsworth (17:17.88), Will Slattery (17:52.19), Evan Tromba (18:09.10), Quinlan Sirl (18:12.88) and Danny Auth (18:43.64).
The Badgers Girls Cross Country Team was led by Addison Passow (21:01.65), Ella Strmen (21:50.48) and Catherine Toth (22:16.16).
