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JAMESTOWN — Saturday morning’s District 10 Region 1-2 Cross Country Championships served as a showcase for Hickory High’s girls and boys, who swept the team titles.
However as Hornets’ headmaster Tony Mastrian said, “ ... We’ve have bigger things. Like our shirt says, ‘Every finish line’s a new beginning.’ That’s what our motto is this year, so next week’s another week.”
Mastrian was referencing the annual District 10 Championships in Buhl Farm Park, which serve as the qualifier for the PIAA Championships.
At picturesque Pymatuning State Park, however, the Lady Hornets harvested the top 3 berths and 5 of the top 10, led by individual winner Lexi Bible.
Only a freshman, Bible bested the field in a time of 19:51.6, followed by teammates Jackie Abraham (19:57.7), and another frosh, Haley Boyd (20:36.6). Ciara Sonoga (21:34) and Bailey Brown (21:34.4) placed 9-10 to highlight Hickory’s domination.
The Lady Hornets’ 25 points easily outdistanced runnerup Greenville, which was led by 4th-place finisher Maddie Thrasher (20:44.4).
“Very strong, being her first region race,” Mastrian said in assessing Bible’s performance. “She ran the course very well ... she was aggressive from the start, got herself out. She was challenged by (Wilmington’s Rikki) Brumbaugh, who’s a great runner and who pushed her. But throughout the race (Bible) maintained, and got stronger.”
Bible said regarding her wire-to-wire win that there was some pressure with people pursuing her, relating,
“It’s kind’ve hard to push by yourself, not knowing where the competition is behind you. But you’ve just gotta run your race.”
Bible is following in the footsteps of her Hickory cross country predecessors, most recently Morgan Richards.
“She’s always been my idol. and I’ve looked up to her, wanted to push just like her. She’s a big idol of mine,” Bible related. “And I love my coaches. They help me and support me. They’re like my second family.”
Hickory’s pack was too strong in the boys’ race, which was won by Commodore Perry’s Nathan White with a 17:01.4 clocking, 20 ticks ahead of Mercer’s Kevin Reno.
“I kind’ve relaxed for the first lap. I ran here Tuesday, so I knew when to pick it up and when not to,” White explained. “The second lap was the fastest (split), I picked it up throughout the woods, then at the end, it was all I had left.”
The Hornets had a trio of top-10 placewinners — Logan Griffen (3rd, 17:29), Kevin Janscar (4th, 17:37) and Kyle Boyd (7th, 17:41.3) — but their depth was too much for the 14-team field. Hickory amassed only 42 points, including Marcus Sonoga (15th, 18:11.4) and Derek Work (18th, 18:18.5), a pack time of about 49 seconds.
“We did what we had to do coming in here (Satur(day),” Mastrian mused. “Our strength with the boys has been the pack this year. Logan Griffen and Kyle Boyd have been our leaders, and Kevin Janscar has been a great starter, gets the guys out, then ... Derek Work, Marcus Sonoga, Justin Walter and Tyler Schurko, they’ve been solid all year.
“That’s been our strength, our pack,” Mastrian reiterated, adding, “If we’re gonna go anywhere, we have to be a unit, and they’ve done that very, very well.”
White went to state last year as a sophomore, placing 140th out of approximately 240 entrants. He said, recalling the somewhat intimidating experience for a neophyte, “Fast! I need to work harder. A lot of hills and a lot of people. ... I thought it wasn’t going to be that hard, then when I went last year, it was ...” his voice trailed off at the recollection. However White said he is hopeful to do well enough at Districts this coming weekend, which would enable him to return to Hershey.
Interestingly, a couple heavyweights — Grove City boys and West Middlesex boys and girls — opted to rest many, if not most, of their key competitors in anticipation of the annual do-or-die district race.
Meet director David Frew assessed, “It was wonderful to see how people came together, to give their time to make this successful for Jamestown. Booster people and parents, their help was very much appreciated. Without them it would have been impossible to get this done.
“Back in 2005, the old (French Creek Valley Conference), we hosted that, but that was only nine teams, and none the size of Grove City and West Middlesex,” Frew recalled. “So I believe this is the biggest cross country event that this park has seen. ... Things went very well.”
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DISTRICT 10
Region 1-2 Championships
Varsity
GIRLS
Team standings and Key: Hickory (H) 25; Greenville (G) 73; Sharpsville (Sv) 81; Wilmington (W) 114; Sharon (Sh) 135; West Middlesex (WM) 137; Lakeview (L) 207; Commodore Perry (CP) 235; Grove City (GC) 237; Slippery Rock (SR) 243; Jamestown (J) 248; Reynolds (R) 293; Mercer (M) 344; Kennedy Catholic (KC) did not field a full squad.
Individual results: 1. Lexi Bible (H) 19:51.6; 2. Jackie Abraham (H) 19:57.7; 3. Haley Boyd (H) 20:36.6; 4. Maddie Thrasher (G) 20:44.4; 5. Maddie Przicina (Sv) 20:57.2; 6. Rikki Brumbaugh (W) 21:02.6; 7. Allison Baldwin (W) 21:22.4; 8. Nanami Mano (G) 21:24.9; 9. Ciara Sonoga (H) 21:34. 10. Bailey Brown (H) 21:34.4; 11. Kate Robb (W) 21:40.6; 12. Hannah Drake (W) 21:48.3; 13. Xsila Powell (Sh) 21:48.6; 14. Emily Marshall (G) 21:58.5; 15. Cassie Lukonic (Sv) 22:03.3; 16. Izzy Schell (Sv) 22:05.1; 17. Logan Nitsche (WM) 22:05.4; 18. Julia Schaufel (G) 22:05.7; 19. Kayla Kurelko (Sv) 22:08.2; 20. Mia Perilli (WM) 22:11.1; 21. Candi Arnold (R) 22:18.5; 22. Shae Grinnell (CP) 22:18.8; 23. Zhenea Davis (Sv) 22:25.4; 24. Lauren Dietz (Sh) 22:27.1; 25. Olivia Slater (WM) 22:29.4.
BOYS
Team standings and Key: Hickory (H) 42; Commodore Perry (CP) 74; Wilmington (W) 111; Grove City (GC) 120; Lakeview (L) 124; Greenville (G) 170; Slippery Rock (SR) 185; West Middlesex (WM) 224; Sharon (Sh) 225; Jamesown (J) 241; Kennedy Catholic (KC) 293; Mercer, Reynolds, Sharpsville did not field full squads.
Individual results: 1. Nate White (CP)) 17:01.4; 2. Kevin Reno (M) 17:21.8; 3. Logan Griffen (H) 17:29; 4. Kevin Janscar (H) 17:37; 5. Cody Buchanan (Sh) 17:40.2; 6. Devon Workman (L) 17:40.7; 7. Kyle Boyd (H) 17:41.3; 8. Billy Kinsey (L) 17:42.1; 9. Dylan Foley (G) 17:47.8; 10. Calvin Gealy (W) 17:56.2; 11. Justin Mirage (CP) 17:58.6; 12. Zach Paden (W) 18:02.7; 13. Christian McElhaney (J) 18:04.1; 14. John Paul Depew (GC) 18:07.9; 15. Marcus Sonoga (H) 18:11.4; 16. Cody Schreiber (CP) 18:14.8; 17. Andrew Maxwell (SR) 18:17.2; 18. Derek Work (H) 18:18.5; 19. Justin Walter (H) 18:20.1; 20. Dylan Long (WM) 18:20.9; 21. Thomas Somora (GC) 18:22.6; 22. Matthew Hecking (G) 18:25.9; 23. Caleb Bickel (SR) 18:26.9; 24. Aaron Heckman (CP) 18:28.1; 25. Jared Thomas-Masters (W) 18:29.2.
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The Hickory girls cross country team poses for a photo Saturday after the Region 1-2 Championships at Pymatuning State Park.
Hickory sweeps Region 1-2 Cross Country Championships
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