MEDINA, Ohio (Oct. 15, 2022) -- The Pirates plundered gold and silver and left much of the rest of the Great Lakes Conference marooned on Saturday. The Rocky River boys won that program's fourth GLC crown, and the River girls clocked a runner-up finish at the Great Lakes Conference Championship meet held at Buckeye High School. [
results]
Seniors Majid Abuaun and Luke Dorenkott were the vanguard of an impressive five-man romp on the boys side. Abuaun took third place, crossing the wire in 16:06.4. Dorenkott was some 10 seconds back in a fourth-place finish. Rocky River also earned ninth (Grant Preto), 10th (Ben Buehrle) and 11th (Greg Ganor) in a tenacious performance that saw the Pirates ledger a team score of 37 points. That total bested runner-up Bay (63) by 26 points. Westlake (82) took third.
The Pirate girls ran a strong race but were topped by a talented Westlake group that filed a minuscule 21-point total after taking first, second, fourth, sixth, and eighth. Briana Chaves posted a time of 18:52.0 to take third place. Chaves -- a junior who has now registered a top-10 finish in six straight races -- was backed on the River score sheet by the sophomore quartet of Katie Stirm (ninth), Grace Lavelle (12th), Allie Dewey (13th), and Jane Rathbun (19th).
Bay (73 points) took third in the girls competition.
For the Rocky River boys, Saturday's championship continues some impressive trends, both in the short and long term. The Maroon & White have registered three impressive finishes in as many weeks. The Pirates took fourth in the Oct. 1 McQuid Invitational in Rochester, N.Y. Then they placed eighth in the 28-team Milt Place Cross Country Festival in Medina Oct. 8. In the longer view, the River boys have now won three consecutive GLC titles (2020, 2021, 2022). Rocky River also won the event in 2017.
In the eight-year history of the Great Lakes Conference -- now a 12-team circuit, Rocky River's teams have never finished below second place. Both Pirate squads have earned four golds and four silvers. A year ago, Rocky River swept gold in the GLC's title event.
CANNON FIRE ...
MAJ-IC MAN: Majid Abuaun's time (16:06.4) marked the second-fastest ever filed by a Pirate runner in the GLC Boys meet. Eddie Zeurcher carded a time of 16:05.3 in 2016.
ON DECK: Rocky River will run in the DI Lorain meet as part of Saturday district tournament action. The weekend begins the Buckeye State postseason which will culminate Nov. 5 with the 2022 OHSAA Cross Country State Championships at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park in Obetz, Ohio.