Medina and Portage recap

 This past weekend the cross country team split the squad, with the majority of the crew running locally at Medina, while the top 7 made the annual trip to the Portage Invitational near Kalamazoo, MI. 

 

At Medina, the varsity squad finished 14^th out of 26 teams in a very competitive field.  They were led to the line by sophomore Keira Leneghan, who ran a PR and broke the 21 minute barrier for the first time.  Sarah Scott (’23), Anna Khuri (’23), Rachel Garlock (’24), and Alexia Wenzel (’23) rounded out the scoring for the Jags.  In the open race, SJA finished 6^th of 21 teams, showing off the depth of the team.  Captain Morgan Rudolph was the first finisher for the Jags, earning 26^th place overall.

 

In Michigan, the varsity squad face 7 of the top 10 teams from Michigan in a large field, finishing 14^th out of 35 schools.  Ali Blouch was first for the Jags with a time if 19:14, just one second off her PR.  Sophomore Grace Rowell ran another PR and finished second for the Jags in 20:00.  Seniors Anna Duesenberg, Emma Hvizdos, and Carlee Blankenship were the other scorers for the Jags.

Clay Eagle Recap

 

This past weekend the Running Jags woke up early to make the trip west to Oregon, OH to run in the Clay Eagle Invitational.  After winning the meet last year, the team had the goal of coming back to defend their title in dominant fashion, which they did. 

In the varsity race the Jags scored just 29 points to Anthony Wayne’s 75 to win going away.  Junior Ali Blouch led the team with a solid 2^nd place performance and witnessed sophomore Grace Rowell finish as the team’s 2^nd runner for the first time ever with a 6^th place overall result.  Seniors Carlee Blankenship (9^th), Anna Duesenberg (11^th) and Emma Hvizdos (12^th) sandwiched sophomore Erin Hvizdos (10^th).  Freshman Addy McGee finished as the Jags 7^th runner in 14^th place.

In the JV race, the result was even more lopsided as the Jags scored just 23 points behind top ten performances from Anna Khuri (2^nd), Erin Hyland (3^rd), Rachel Garlock (5^th), Alexia Wenzel (6^th), Susie McGowan (7^th), and Kate Boland (10^th).

For this meet, the Jags voted 2 athletes as runners of the meet; Grace Rowell and sophomore Abeany Dek. 

Next week the Jags have a split squad as varsity travels to Portage, Michigan for the prestigious Portage Invite.  The rest of the team will be staying local at the Medina Invitational.

Go Jags!

Black River recap

 

This past Saturday the 2^nd varsity squad took on competition at Black River and faired very well, finishing in 2^nd place out of 9 teams.  This team was led by junior Erin Hyland who earned a varsity letter with a PR of 22:08 – good for 12^th place overall.  She was followed closely by a pack of Jaguars including: sophomore Rachel Garlock (13^th), juniors Anna Khuri (18^th), Alexia Wenzel (19^th), and Susie McGowan (21^st). 

Out of 159 finishers in the race, SJA had 44 of them – over 25% of the field.  The team’s size has been an added value all season long, providing depth, fun, and a loud cheering section.  Next week the team travels to Oregon Clay near Toledo to take on some different competition from Northwest Ohio.

Boardman McDonough recap

 

Boardman and McDonough recap

This past weekend the cross country team split up the squad and attended two separate meets.  The top 8 varsity runners woke up early to trek out to Boardman High School to run the Spartan Invitational, which is held on the same course as the post-season regional race.  Because of this, most of the best teams in NEO travel to this meet to get a preview of the course.  The Jags finished 9^th out of 35 teams – 3 of the teams that were ahead of the Jags were from Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  For the fourth race in a row, Ali Blouch was first across the line on the significantly long (over 5000m) course.  For her efforts running a strong second loop, Anna Duesenberg was named the team’s “athlete of the meet”.

The rest of the team stayed local by running at the 60^th McDonough Invitational hosted by VASJ at Forest Hills Park in Cleveland Hts.  Running against other teams varsity squads, our second unit performed admirably, finishing 5^th of 10 teams.  Junior Susie McGowan paced the varsity squad.

In the open race, it was a Jag festival (as usual) with over half the field being SJA runners.  Using smart tactics and team strategy, junior Clare McCarthy paced herself over the first half but stayed strong to finish first overall in the race.  The Jags had 10 of the top 13 finishers with Maeve Kelly ’25 finishing 3rd Grace Harris ’25 4th, Morgan Rudolph ’22 – 5^th, Kate Mocho ’25 – 6^th, Bridget Mullen ’25 – 9^th, Monica Saurette ’24 – 10^th, Bridget Collins ’24 – 11^th, Isabella Bobe ’22 – 12^th, and Clare Jordan ’22 – 13^th.

The JV will head to Black River next week to again race as a varsity while the top 8 sit out to take a break from racing for a week.

 

Wooster Recap

 

Wooster Invitational Recap

This past Saturday the Running Jags traveled to Wooster to run in their invitational, which breaks over 25 straight years of competing at the Tiffin Carnival on this weekend.  The team lived up to the expectations of a new meet with great team races, loads of PR’s (personal records), and a boost in confidence as they hit the mid-season soon.

Starting the day off was the varsity group, who used their experience and composure to move up through the pack during the race and finish 3^rd overall out of 16 teams.  In the process they defeated some state-ranked teams and found they can compete with the best in the area.  Once again, Ali Blouch led the squad with her 10^th place finish and season best time of 19:21.  The rest of the varsity were; sophomore Erin Hvizdos (20^th), seniors Emma Hvizdos (21^st) and Carlee Blankenship (25^th), sophomore Grace Rowell (31^st), senior Anna Duesenberg (35^th), freshman Addy McGee (51^st), sophomore Keira Leneghan (57^th), junior Susie McGowan (76^th), and freshman Ruthie Becker (81^st).

The JV race saw many PR’s for the Jags, but no team score was kept (SJA would have been 3^rd in this race as well if scores were kept). Leading this group was sophomore McKenzie Riley who ran a big PR and finished 10^th overall. She was followed to the line by many in quick succession including these 3 athletes who also earned a “half-letter” for SJA by breaking the 22:30 time barrier; juniors Erin Hyland and Kate Boland, and sophomore Rachel Garlock.  Besides those athletes, the following all ran lifetime bests; Ava Barrett, Jadin Bisheimer, Abaeny Dek, Sophia Eldridge, Grace Fitzpatrick, Alexia Glaros, Alivia Griwatch, Katie Hansen, Grace Harris, Maeve Kelley, Marina Mastantuano, Rose McGreal, Kate Mocho, Bridget Mullen, Sabrina Pham, Sophia Ross, Morgan Rudolph, Monica Saurette, Audrey Tytko, Anna Welch, and Lucy Ye. 

 

McDowell Invitational Recap

 

On Saturday, the cross country team made the journey to Erie, Pennsylvania to run at the McDowell Invitational.  The meet was held at the beautiful Brown Farm in the Asbury Metropark.  Being that this was the first time SJA had ever competed at this meet, many new challenges presented themselves like a new course and unfamiliar competition.  The Jags found a beautiful course with great footing and a great stretch of trail through the woods, but they also found more hills than the previous meet in Painesville and many turns that would make following the right path difficult at times.

The varsity was the first group to run.  Early on, they felt out their competition, but it didn’t take long for the Jags to realize it was time to move.  Spectators quickly realized that the team from Ohio was the one to beat.  In the end, SJA won first place out of 14 teams and was ahead of 2^nd place by almost 60 seconds.  The team was led by junior Ali Blouch, who won the overall race with a time of 19:45.  Sophomore Erin Hvizdos was next across in 4^th place.  Then a group of seniors, Carlee Blankenship, Emma Hvizdos, and Anna Duesenberg finished in 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th to round out the scoring.

The JV race was a Jaguar showcase as we had over half of the field.  After many wrong turns by most of the team at various times, the Jags still took the top 11 spots and 15 of the top 20 to shut out the field.  Freshman Addy McGee was the overall winner in 22:29 and was followed closely by junior Susie McGowan who was completing her first cross country race ever.  Juniors Erin Hyland and Anna Khuri were next, followed by sophomore Rachel Garlock who rounded out the first score for the Jags.

There were many great performances for the Jags, but Garlock was named the team’s Athlete of the Meet for her incredible performance.

Riverside Recap

 

The cross country team opened up their 2021 season with some very strong performances at the Riverside Kickoff Night meet held in Painesville.  Out of 52 runners that SJA sent to the line, 25 were first time runners, so there was a lot of excitement in the air for this rare night time race.

The JV group opened the night for the Jags, where 24 of the 25 first time runners were making their high school cross country debuts.  One of those new runners, Ruthie Becker (’25), had the lead for most of the race until being caught at the very end.  Her 2^nd place finish helped the JV squad finish 2^nd to Massillon Jackson out of 14 teams.  The rest of the top 5 for the Jags were; Addy McGee (’25), Kate Boland (’23), Anna Khuri (’23), and Alexia Wenzel (’23).

While the JV race was run before sundown, the big event was for the varsity races to run in the dark.  Lit up by temporary light stands and Christmas lights, the varsity race had the unique experience of running at 9:30 at night.  In a very good field of 19 teams, SJA finished 6^th.  The team employed a pack strategy for most of the race and finished very close to each other at the end.  Junior Ali Blouch was first across the line in 34^th place, followed closely by seniors Carlee Blankenship (35^th) and Anna Duesenberg (37^th). Sophomore Erin Hvizdos was not far behind in 43^rd, with senior sister Emma close by in 48^th.

Next weekend the team travels to Erie, PA to compete in the McDowell Invitational.

Week of Aug 23

 Cross Country Weekly Plan - Monday, Aug 23-Aug 29

1st meet week!!  Also hot as heck week, so hydrate!!

Monday, Aug 23 (sophomore orientation) - 3:30-5:15 (5:00 for shorter groups 1 & 2)

Long run day @ Mastick

Bus provided from SJA to Mastick for sophomores

Tuesday, Aug 24 (junior and senior orientation) - 3:15-4:45 at SJA

Wednesday, Aug 25 - early dismissal day (2:00pm)...LT repeats at Memorial field.  

I cannot be free until 3:30, so we have some time to kill.  Will have a bus take athletes at 3:00 and they can start their warm-up

Done by 5:00.

(Memorial field is ON Valley Parkway ½ mile north of Hogsback.  This is 2 miles from SJA.)

Thursday, Aug 26 - 

NEW…7:00am run group for 3s, 4s, and 5s at SJA

PM...circuit day after school at SJA - done by 5:00

Friday, Aug 27 - pre-meet at Mastick followed by team dinner at SJA cafeteria (more info on this in a separate email)

Saturday, Aug 28 - 1st meet

Group 3 - jog 2 miles in am

Groups 4 and 5 jog 3 miles in am - we are absolutely training through this meet!

4:30 - busses leave SJA

6:20 - open race warm-up (Mercedes and Morgan lead)

7:10 - open race...all healthy runners NOT in varsity race (all warm-down 10 min when done)

8:30 - varsity warm-up

9:25 - varsity girls Div 1 race - Emma Hvizdos, Anna Duesenberg, Ali Blouch, Carlee Blankenship, Erin Hvizdos, Grace Rowell, Maddie Jarc, Keira Leneghan, Susie McGowan (all warm-down 15 min when done)

10:30 - bus leaves for SJA

11:15-11:30 - bus returns to SJA

Sunday, Aug 29 - all runners OFF!

Congratulations to our new captains!

For the summer/fall of 2021, the team has voted rising seniors Anna Duesenberg, Emma Hvizdos, Lily Hynes, and Morgan Rudolph as the their captains.  They have big footsteps to fill and potentially the largest team in school history to lead, but they will do a great job!  Congratulations!