ELYRIA, Ohio (Oct. 21, 2023) -- If Rocky River's Cross Country teams are going to make a November assault on Fortreess Obetz, the Pirates got off to a swashbuckling start, plundering hardware in district qualifier races Saturday. With both the boys and girls squads running at the OHSAA Division 1 Northeast District Championships at Lorain County Community College, the Double-R nearly ran its way to double-barreled conquests. Hardware was indeed captured, and the Pirates got off to a tremendous start with the boys earning a victory and the girls taking runner-up honors. [Results]

On the boys side, Rocky River clocked five top-25 finishes in posting a team score of 87. That landed the district crown for the Buccaneers, whose nearest challengers were Amherst Steele (107) and Medina (108). A rockin' River five was led by senior Grant Preto, who took 13th place with a time of 16:50.96. River's fifth man -- freshman Jackson Rood -- would cross the wire 13 seconds later. In the interim, junior Henry Lange (15th), seniors Ben Buehrle (18th) and Ruairi Zuercher (19th) showed their heels to the field, and River had itself a gold-medal placement in the busy meet. One-hundred-and-sixty-one runners -- most of them representing 25 other teams -- would cross the wire after Zuercher.

For the River girls, the team's five scores were amongst the first 40 to finish in a field of 148 (21 teams). Senior Brianna Chaves-Bernal and junior Grace Lavelle paced the Pirate effort. Chaves-Bernal traversed the LCCC course in 19:14.96 to place third. Lavelle was along 32 seconds later to take sixth place. The Maroon & White filed a team score of 99 points. Only the Avon Eagles (75) undercut that figure. River's third, fourth, and fifth scores were posted by Jane Rathbun (23rd), Katie Stirm (27th), and Anna Buehrle (40th).

Both River teams now move on to Youngstown. They will run in the DI Region 1 Championships at Boardman High School on Saturday. And both are looking to make Youngstown just a pit stop on the way to Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park -- in Obetz, Ohio, just south of Columbus -- on Nov. 4. Where the runs are for Buckeye State hardware.

Their battle has begun. Ground has been gained, and with speed.


by Skip Snow

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