Busy weekend for the Jags!

This past weekend the SJA cross country team split up to attend two separate meets, and both groups came away with hardware!

Seven runners took an overnight trip to Cedarville to compete in the Midwest Catholic Championships hosted by Dayton Carroll High School.  The runners enjoyed their first visit to the permanent cross country-only facility by winning the whole meet over 19 other programs.  Freshman Sofia Koons and senior Grace Rowell led the race together from the first step and ended up finishing first and second overall.  Freshman Avery Stives continued her incredible season by finishing 15th overall and 3rd for the team in a PR of 20:13.  Senior Maddie Jarc was 21st and Junior Bridget Mullen was 25th overall and threw in a PR of 20:36 as well.

The rest of the team traveled to Black River for the JB Firestone invitational where they finished 2nd overall as a team behind Div 3 state-ranked Rittman.  Amelia Litten ('26) was the top Jag and 6th overall.  Her scoring teammates stacked in behind her with McKenzie Riley ('24) 11th, Jezebel Kostecke ('27) 15th, Bridget Collins ('24) 16th, and Addy McGee ('25) 17th.

Next weekend the team travels to Madison for the U-Wanna-Come-Back invitational - a flat, fast course and site of the District competition that will be hosted 3 weeks later.

Massillon Jackson Hexspacular Recap

This past Saturday the Jaguars attended the "Hexscapular" hosted by Massillon Jackson.  This is a smaller meet, but the competition was quality as SJA took home first place over state ranked competition on a beautiful, cool morning.

SJA packed a great 1-2 punch with freshman Sofia Koons and senior Grace Rowell, who finished 2nd and 3rd overall.  They both PR'd and moved up the all time list at SJA, with Koons' time of 18:52 moving her up to 6th all time and Rowell's time of 18:55 moving her to 7th all time.

Senior Maddie Jarc was the 3rd Jaguar and broke 20:00 for the first time ever completing the 5000 meter course in 19:49.  The next 4 runners for SJA, Keira Leneghan ('24) 20:21, Avery Stives ('27) 20:31, Bridget Mullen ('25) 20:39, and Grace Harris ('25) 20:49 also ran personal best times boosting SJA to the best team performance of the season so far.  

In all, 40 runners achieved their best time of the season, and in some cases by a minute or two.  The team voted Sienna Stephens ('25) and Grace Harris ('25) athletes of the meet for their hard work, tremendous improvement, and great races.

Next week the team splits up with the top 7 runners attending the Midwest Catholic Meet in Cedarville while the rest of the team competes at the JB Firestone Invitational at Black River High School.

First meet in the books!

The 2023 cross country season is off and running as the SJA harriers took to the trails at Solon's season opening invitational against some strong competition this past weekend.  SJA finished 3rd of 5 teams, but came away from the meet feeling good about how the season will progress.

Leading the way for SJA were 3 seniors - Grace Rowell (8th place) , Maddie Jarc (12th place), and Keira Leneghan (23rd place).  Close behind Keira were Sofia Koons ('27), Bridget Mullen ('25), Grace Harris ('25), and Erin Hvizdos ('24).  The Jags had 45 athletes finish the full distance, with 14 completing their first high school 5k ever!  The team has a nice combination of youth and experience, which bodes well not only for this year, but for years to come.

The team voted for two athletes of the meet based on their contributions to the team.  This week Brigid Coyne and Grace Schmidt took home those honors (and a t-shirt).

The next meet for the Jags will be this Saturday at Avon Lake's Early Bird Invitational held at LCCC.

A new season is right around the corner!

With the school year and spring sports officially over, it is time to recover for a moment and start thinking about the fall.  Cross Country season is coming up soon, and with that are summer miles, meeting new people, and challenging our own personal limitations.

We will begin our summer conditioning as a whole team on Monday, June 19th at South Mastick Picnic area in the Rocky River park, but there will be a new runner's only conditioning day on Friday June 16th at the same spot.  This is meant to give new runners a little familiarity before the whole group shows up.

This year we are welcoming 3 new coaches to the fold joining Coach Jarc and myself.  Sheila Peters Vance ('01) is a grad of the program and has come around occasionally to get a few miles in.  She will be joining another alum, Alexis Bloor ('15) as first-timers to our cc staff.  Coach Bloor has been the PV coach for the track team the past 3 years, but she has a new-found appreciation for longer runs and would like to be involved.  Also joining the staff will be Christina Actis, the new PE teacher at SJA.  Mrs. Actis comes to us from St. Angela's where she taught PE and coached the cc team.  Welcome to all!

Running is a simple activity, but racing is another beast all together.  In order to race you must train, which is a structured form of running.  The most successful programs do this TOGETHER.  Let's set the tone early this summer and get going with our summer miles.

Go Jags!

Back to the state meet!

 This past Saturday the Jags scratched and clawed their way through the 24 team field at the Boardman Div 1 regional to a state meet birth.  With their 8th place finish, the Jags earned the final qualifying spot.  It took a full team effort, starting with the top 3 runners who each put together a strong race at the same time after trying to do so for many weeks.  Senior Ali Blouch was the top runner, finishing 14th overall and bouncing back after an injury prevented her from qualifying last year.  The team's second runner, junior Grace Rowell, finished 21st overall and demonstrating how good she can be with 2 shoes on her feet after losing a spike last week at the district meet.  Senior Sarah Scott, who lost most of her junior year with an ACL injury, bounced back for her senior year with 27th place finish.  All 3 runners would have been individual qualifiers on their own, but the team wasn't done.

Sophomore sensation Bridget Mullen, having never been a varsity cross country runner until the second half of the season, finished as the 4th Jag beating many runners that have beaten her earlier in the season and in previous years.  It was a crafty veteran who pulled out the race of the day, as junior Erin Hvizdos, slowed by injuries earlier in the year, and rested the weekend of districts, finished as the 5th Jaguar punching the team's ticket to the state meet.  Newcomer and senior Tacy Kratt was 6th runner and another sophomore running as varsity for the first time, Grace Harris, rounded out the 7 runners for the Jags.

This marks the 13th time in the past 23 years the Jags have qualified to the state meet, which is now hosted at a venue called Fortress Obetz which is along the I-270 outerbelt in the Southeast corner.  The team will run at 3:45 Saturday, November 5th.

Summer Calendar and Fall race schedule are now posted...see links above!

 The summer conditioning schedule has been set and is now posted in the links at the top of the page.  It follows the same pattern used in previous years, starting with a "new runner" only day on Friday June 17.  On this day, only incoming frosh and new upperclasswomen will meet with the captains and coaches to experience the basics of how a summer conditioning day works.  Just show up with a water bottle and be dressed to run.

Also posted above is this fall's competition schedule.  We have fewer split squad days than last year, and a few new locations as well.  We also have one open weekend on the schedule at the moment (Sept 17), but that will be filled and families will be notified when that happens.

All runners are expected to attend all competitions whether they are participating or not.  We want all runners to be healthy, but the reality is on a team of 60+ runners, some will need a week or two off, so we'll need their help with splits, gear, etc...

Be ready for a great season and don't hesitate to reach out to Coach Kieser with any questions.

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.