Sibila, Ujcich win races at Cambridge

Carrollton cross country runners Ricky Sibila and Kylie Ujcich recorded career milestones at the Cambridge Invitational Sept. 28.

Sibila broke the 16-minute mark for the first time in his career by winning the large school boys race in a time of 15:59.45. It was his second race win of the season. 

“Ricky led the entire race, and finally broke into that 15 minute time! He has been working hard all season and pushing to get there. In a way, it was a difficult race for him to get that time, because he was racing by himself almost the entire race, as he was 69 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. It was amazing to see his hard work and dedication paying off,” commented Carrollton Head Coach Nancy Boley.

Ujcich, a junior, won the girls race in a time of 20:13.75 for the first race win of her career. 

Ujcich set a new personal best time of 19:52 last week at the Sandy Valley Invitational.

“Kylie came out strong from the beginning as well. Once she got into that lead position, she really just pushed herself and never looked back. It was her first time being a race champion, and we are incredibly proud of her,” commented Boley. “We are excited to see how both do in the post season, they are looking very competitive and we can’t wait to see how it plays out!”

As a team, the Warrior girls placed third and the boys seventh. Meadowbrook won the girls team title with Edison placing second and the Malvern girls seventh in a field of 12 teams.

Tusky Valley won the large school boys race. Edison placed seventh. The Malvern boys place third in the small school race.

Malvern Coach Jeremy Maher noted his girls team ran in the large school girls race, which ran earlier in the day, allowing the girls time to return home and prepare for the homecoming dance that night. 

Runners also earning points for the Carrollton girls team and earning medals were Ella Barkan (16th), Nora Kerr-Jung (19th), Gabi McCort (23rd) and Olivia McCort (25th). 

“We are extremely proud of the entire girls team,” Boley said. “As well as having five of the girls earn medals, there were several girls posting personal best times and they came away very excited for the postseason.”

Edison was led by Josie Lesnansky (6th) followed by Annie Board (7th), Hallie Westbook (10th), Lella Cable (20th) and Maya Filburn.

Emma Maher led the Malvern effort, placing 17th. Others earning points were Mya Doughty (35th), Lexus Buchanan (63th), Rayne Theiss (64th) and Leah Irvine (65th).

On the boys side, Carrollton also earned points from Carter Ash (28th), Grant Thompson (44th), John Childs (55th) and Turner Eddy (67th). 

Brock Koehnien led Edison with a 16th place finish. 

In the small school boys race, Dalton Pennington led Malvern with a 14th place finish in 18:52, followed by Cooper Dorr (21st), Noah White (23rd), Jacob McClelland (31st) and Ethan Grossi (44th).

Stark County Cross Country Championships

Minerva clinched the boys and girls titles at the championship meet, held Sept. 28.

The Lady Lions dominated the race with the top five girls all finishing in the top eight runners. 

Katie Ison was the top finisher for the girls, placing third in a time of 19:35. Other point earners were Makenzie Beavers (4th), Tateum Richard, Hannah Ison (7th) and Annabelle Crissman (8th). 

Sandy Valley placed fourth in the girls race, led by Casey Russell in second place with a time of 19:17. Evelyn Pfeffer (6th), Peyton Nicholson (33rd), Chelsea Kindelberger (38th) and McKenna Burk (44th), earned points for the Cardinals. 

In the boys race, the Lions top five runners all placed in the top 13 finishers. Sandy Valley placed eighth.

Grasyn Rettig placed the Minerva effort with a fourth-place finish in 16:37. Rowen Hoffee clocked a 9th place finish, followed by Ryan Cassidy (11th), Owen Yoder (12th) and Tyson Fettig (13th). 

Tucker Moll provided a 36th place finish for the Cardinals followed by Isaac Overly (39th), Gleason Pfeffer (42nd), Tyler Burk (43rd) and Isaac Smith (50th).

Junior High Race

Addison Butler (Carrollton) placed third in the girls race and Olivia Maher (Malvern) 21st. 

Carson Murphy (Carrollton) placed sixth in the boys race.