The Boys Cross Country team finished 8th at the 2015 Region 7-AAAAA Championship Wednesday, October 28. Although it did not rain, the Boling Park course in Canton was muddy under sunny, hot, and humid conditions.
The Raiders set some high goals for the season. The problem with high goals is that it is easy to be disappointed when the team comes up short at the end of the season, even though the results were actually not that bad. Also, with the spotlight so often on individual times, it is important to remember that the team finish is truly the goal of cross country competition.
Several runners were disappointed with their times, especially compared to their performances at last year's Region meet. Overall, times this year were much slower due to many factors: new gravel on part of the course, muddy sections of the course, and an additional length of 80-100 meters. (Race organizers still do not admit last year's course was short...) As a result, the course was estimated to be 30-40 seconds slower than last year.
Varsity notes:
The Raiders finished 8th as a team, the same as last year; however this year's team was much more competitive. In 2014, the team was basically all alone in 8th place, not close to 7th or 9th. This year, the Raiders were 28 points better as a team and very close to the other schools. The team was only ten points from 6th place, and finished two points ahead of the 9th place school. It was encouraging to see the team move up, compete, and be very close to the top schools. It is not unrealistic to imagine continued efforts producing a top four state-qualifying Region finish next year.
Based on times during the season, Mark Shutley was expected to finish around 14th. The plan was simple: go out around 15th, move up after the first 800 meters, get into a position in the last mile to go after a top six finish (top 6 qualify for state). Shutley started perfectly. Just after the first mile, he moved up to 12th; halfway through the race he was in 14th. With 1000 meters to go, he rounded the turn and was in 11th place, with the 6th & 7th place runners close enough to see. Even as 6th place moved out of reach, Shutley continued to power his way to the finish line, passing a runner with his last step to claim 8th place. Despite not reaching the coveted top six, Shutley can be proud of his fantastic finish and a great end to his senior year. His time of 17:11 is only six seconds off his PR, and he improved an impressive 49 places from his finish last year. Many of the runners he beat in the Region meet have been running 16:30-40 during the season on faster courses.
Andrew Ungashick had the only Varsity PR (18:20). He went out a little off the pace as usual and calmly worked his way through the field to finish 38th. Tightly packed behind Ungashick were Baxter Shirey (48th, 18:30), Willie Herrigel (50th, 18:34), and Erick Ramirez (55th, 18:41). Jeffrey Edge ground out a 61st place finish (18:54) and Luis Zambrano came in 77th (19:54).
JV notes:
The JV finished 6th as a team and ten Raiders set PR's, mostly first-year runners.
Reece Bernard got off to a hot start in the top 10 and fell victim to the muddy sections of the course (literally--he fell twice). He held on to finish 33rd (19:37) and was the second Raider to cross the tape. Although Nasir Muhammad came out a little off the pace, he gradually moved up to lead the team. His 24th place finish (19:12) bested his PR by one second.
Next up was Juan Pablo Gasperin; he set a new PR (19:44) and finished 39th. Benny Soran just missed breaking 20 minutes with a 55th place 20:01 PR. Chris Sprung ran much of the race with only one shoe (!) and still managed to run a PR time of 20:10 and finish 58th. Myles White and Bayne Jarvis rounded out the JV scoring in 67th and 68th place. The remaining top ten Raiders were Mitchell Davidson (69th, PR-20:34), Gerardo Camacho (77th-20:40), and Sam Miller (83rd-20:49).
Other JV runners with PR's were Charlie Woodman (21:48), William Madden (21:50), Jonah Mills (22:37), Nate Arney (23:39), and Jack Buehner (25:30).
Pictured below: Coach McKeone, Mark Shutley, Coach Macoy