The Mogadore High School boys and girls cross country teams both won the PTC championship on Saturday at the league meet.
Special to Portage Sports

By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Mogadore ran to plenty of celebrations on Saturday at the Portage Trail Conference Cross Country Championships.

Let the list begin.

The girls program won the team championship.

The boys program won the team championship.

Alejandro Navarrete bested the field in 17:53 to earn 2022 Runner of the Year honors.

Navarret’s time also set a new course record.

Katie Lane ran to a first-place finish in 19:43 to earn 2022 Runner of the Year honors.

For the girls, the Wildcats all seven of their scoring runners in the top 10.

For the boys, the Wildcats had five in the top 10.

“I am incredibly proud of everyone and the way they finished the regular season,” Mogadore head coach Diana Morris said. “I had told Alejandro that this was a day for redemption, and I knew he could accomplish that today. He’s had the ability all along and would just struggle a bit with a mental glitch. Today, he set that aside.

“Having two of our athletes be Runner of the Year, as well as both teams as league champions, is a great honor and our whole community is very proud of all their hard work,” Morris added.

Following up Lane’s top finish for the girls, Mogadore’s Rachel Whetstone was the runner-up, Emma Quillen was fifth, Mia Gaetjens was sixth, Julie Tompkins was seventh, Kai Gaetjens was eighth and Alana Santiago rounded out the impressive team effort at 10th place.

Behind Navarrete’s first-place finish for the boys, Mogadore received a third-place finish from Daniel Carter, fourth place from Jude Leeser, sixth from Ryan Keren and ninth from Jon Cumberlidge.

The Southeast girls were runners-up in the team standings and received a top finish from Julia Wheeler in third, while Kristen Campbell was fourth.

“Julia ran a strong race today,” Southeast head coach Julia Dillon said. “She started the race pacing herself with Katie Lane, and I believe that helped her set a great pace for the race. I feel that she has had a fantastic freshman season.

“Kristen is coming off an ACL injury, and we weren’t sure she would be able to run,” Dillon added. “She has surpassed our expectations. She is a real grit runner. Overall, we are incredibly proud of our girls team, and we have improved so much.”

The runners-up in the boys race were the Rootstown Rovers.

The Rovers received top finishes from runner-up Caleb Cutright, along with a seventh-place finish from Brady Brown and an eighth-place finish from Wyatt Shenal.

Cutright’s runner-up finish was the fourth straight year that the Rovers had the second-place finisher — a strong achievement for the program.

Brown and Shenal, both freshmen, became the second and third freshmen in school history to make All-League honors in their first year.

“The future is bright for the team, with five runners joining the high school team next year from this year’s middle school league championship team,” Rootstown head coach Larry Bailey said. “Our girls have been battling some illnesses and Mogadore, Southeast and Lake Center Christian have all improved. Don’t be surprised if all four teams qualify for the regional next week.”

For the Southeast, the boys team was led by Carter Evans’ fifth-place finish.

“Carter ran a great race,” Dillon said. “He looked strong and paced well with some of the Mogadore runners.”

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY

PORTAGE TRAIL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

(At Southeast)

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Mogadore 21, 2. Southeast 49, 3. Rootstown 79, 4. Lake Center Christian 94.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

1. MOGADORE — 1. Katie Lane 19:43; 2. Rachel Whetstone 20:09; 5. Emma Quillen 21:05; 6. Mia Gaetjens 21:24; 7. Julie Tompkins 21:51; 8. Kai Gaetjens 21:53; 10. Alana Santiago 22:11.

2. SOUTHEAST — 3. Julia Wheeler 20:36; 4. Kristen Campbell 21:04; 9. Julia Frick 22:04; 15. Kate Campbell 23:14; 18. Claire Dillner 23:46; 19. Penelopei Sutliff 24:16; 20. Remie Stammitti 24:20.

3. ROOTSTOWN — 12. Mallory Butcher 22:45; 13. Lauren Krieger 23:03; 16. Sydney Munger 23:24; 17. Courtney Taylor 23:40; 21. Hannah Crandell 24:26; 28. Maggie Frick 31:06; 29. Grace Hunt 32:11.

4. LAKE CENTER CHRISTIAN — 11. Elsie Taught 22:33; 14. Miranda Bailey 23:04; 22. Grace Duff 24:50; 23. Megan Each 25:47; 24. Marisa Varner 25:48; 25. Faith Pavkov 26:44; 27. Hannah Crissman 28:28.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY

PORTAGE TRAIL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

(At Southeast)

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Mogadore 23, 2. Rootstown 48, 3. Southeast 72, 4. Lake Center Christian 102.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

1. MOGADORE — 1. Alejandro Navarrete 17:53; 3. Daniel Carter 18:30; 4. Jude Leeser 18:37; 6. Ryan Keren 18:53; 9. Jon Cumberlidge 19:13; 11. Dante Navarrete 19:15; 12. Aiden Roman 19:20.

2. ROOTSTOWN — 2. Caleb Cutright 18:12; 7. Brady Brown 19:01; 8. Wyatt Shenal 19:07; 14. Eric Baughman 19:47; 17. Dylan Wilfong 20:34; 18. Luke Flowers 20:59; 21. Derek Schindler 21:31.

3. SOUTHEAST — 5. Carter Evans 18:48; 10. Christian Schoblocher 19:14; 16. Braydon Rader 20:29; 19. Brice Schoenbaechler 21:01; 22. Dylan Evans 21:34; 23. Michael Simmons 21:35; 25. Demain Longgood 23:01.

4. LAKE CENTER CHRISTIAN — 13. Jacob Wyder 19:27; 15. Zane Grabowski 20:10; 20. Liam Wilson 21:24; 26. Jacob Kimble 23:13; 28. Quinn Denning 26:31.