BOARDMAN, Ohio (Oct, 28, 2023) -- Both the Boys and Girls teams are headed for the OHSAA Cross Country State Championships to be run Nov. 4 at Fortress Obetz and Memorial Park in Obetz, Ohio, just south of Columbus. They punched their respective tickets for the trip with impressive performances at Saturday's DI Region 1 Championships at Boardman High School. Both needed top-4 finishes to qualify for the Buckeye State meet; the boys team earned runner-up hardware in Boardman while the girls placed fourth. [
Results]
On the boys' side, River qualification for the DI meet is a first for a program that has previously qualified in lower classifications. On Saturday, the team from Massillon Jackson ripped off an ultra-low 84-point score to win the meet. A slew of teams would be tightly packed from second-through-ninth. What vaulted River to the top of that list -- earning a trip to Columbus instead off an exchange of goodbyes after a bus ride home was the team aspect of the team's on-course performance. The Pirates placed six runners (five scoring) in a narrow band from 28th-to-64th place (among team-scored runners). It was a pack mentality, with Rocky River athletes crossing the wire in near-heel-to-toe fashion, that gave the Double-R an extra few points here and there compared to their talented competition in a 24-team field.
For the Pirates, it was senior Ruairi Zuercher -- River's No. 4 finisher in last week's district meet -- leading the way. Zuercher crossed the wire of the 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:30.50. In a field of 193 runners, he placed 33rd overall and 28th among team competitors (scoring 28 points). Rocky River's other scoring placements came across with a tidy spread of 18 seconds. Grant Preto 40th (34th), one spot ahead of Henry Lange in 41st (35th). Freshman Jackson Rood took 44th (37th). Ben Buehrle closed out Rocky River's scoring with a 59th-place finish (50th) at 16:48.90. For good measure and showing off the depth of a versatile Pirate team, another freshman -- Ryan Stirm -- clocked in 11 seconds later in 74th place.
Rocky River's 3-4-and-5-men were big difference-makers when pitted against some impressive teams that ended up finishing outside the top-4. The Buccaneers scored 184 team points. Chardon (193 points) and North Canton Hoover were the last two teams qualifying in the boys competition.
In the girls race, Pirates senior Brianna Chaves-Bernal continued her tremendous fall campaign with a time of 18:39.50, placing fifth in a field of 184 athletes. She was fourth among team-scored runners and would be followed by Grace Lavelle (16 points), Jane Rathbun (23), Katie Stirm (60), and Anna Buehrle (69).
As a team, the Rocky River girls tallied 172 points, edging Avon (176) and finishing behind Wadsworth (140), Shaker Heights (146), and Westlake (150).
The River girls are in the state meet for a third straight year and a 13th time overall. They placed 13th in the 2022 state meet. The boys are in the OHSAA meet for the first time since 2017 and a fourth time overall.
This fall, those two squads are two branches of a River that now flows all the way to Columbus. Its a rapid River, and its rolling along this fall.