BOARDMAN, Ohio (Sept. 16, 2023) -- A slew of teams. Talented teams with veteran runners from multiple states. And almost none of them got in the way of the Rocky River Pirates.
On Saturday, River's teams competed at the Boardman Spartan Invitational hosted by Youngstown Boardman High School. Both Pirate squads ran big races and easily clocked top-quartile finishes. The Rocky River boys took sixth in a field of 40 teams; the River girls placed fifth in a field of 35. [
Results]
For the boys, Ben Buehrle, Henry Lange, Jackson Rood, Ruairi Zuercher, and Owen Walsh ran in a tightly packed Pirate horde and finished with a clock spread of just 15 seconds (16:49.60-17:04.60). That maroon quintet placed between 44th and 59th; the Pirates tallied 240 points and beat 87% of the competition.
On the girls side, Rocky River got big runs from Brianna Chavez-Bernal and Grace Lavelle, who placed seventh and 17th, respectively. Chavez-Bernal crossed the wire in 19:20.60, finishing behind just six runners and ahead of 271. The top two Pirate runners were backed up by Katie Stirm, Jane Rathbun, and Lauren Lavelle on a fine score sheet that totaled just 208 points.
Hampton filed a score of 148 to edge Hoover (164) and North Allegheny (166) in a DI boys race that included 333 runners. North Allegheny coasted to a win in the DI girls race, posting a 78-point score some 40-plus points clear of second place.
The Pirate girls have now earned top-10 finishes in the last three runnings of the Boardman invite (2021-23).
Rocky River is slated to continue its season Sept. 23 at the Strongsville Fleet Feet Invitational.