The cross country teams celebrated their Senior Night and took on Cambria Heights in Bellwood on Monday. Senior runners include Corry Shanafelt, Seth Hollen, Gabe Thomson, Rorie Wolf, and Evalyna Aiken.
Seth Hollen, who is in his fourth year of running, said, “My favorite parts about cross country are how close the whole team is and how everyone lifts each other up.”
Bellwood’s boys team dominated with a final score 37-19. Bellwood had four runners finish the race before Cambria Heights had one. Martin Fatzinger and Cameron Gallagher both led the race with times of 20 minutes 39 seconds, but not far behind them was Mason Nagle, Corry Shanafelt, Jacob Caracciolo, and Keegan Shanafelt.
Throughout the season, Fatzinger remained as the staple piece for the boys team.
“My biggest goals entering this season were for my PR time to be somewhere in the 19 minutes, and I also wanted to be leading the team with my times. I accomplished these goals by running a 19:17 and also coming in first in many of our meets,” Fatzinger said.
For the girls team, the scores were much closer. The placements for each team ended up evening out with both having five runners in the top 10. Blake Pennington led the scoring for Bellwood with a time of 22 minutes and 18 seconds followed by Rylie Andrews, Elliana Patterson, Julie Kraft, and Chloe Stoltzfus.
With both teams ending in crucial wins, the boys final record ended 5-6 and the girls 8-3.
Next, the teams plan to travel to the LHAC Championships this Saturday in Portage. The girls meet starts at 10 A.M., and the boys start at 11 A.M. The following boys’ runners qualified by having one top 7 times for the whole season: Martin Fatzinger, Corry Shanafelt, Cameron Gallagher, Mason Nagel, Domanick Halerz, Jacob Caracciolo, and Keagan Shanafelt.
For the girls, Blake Pennington, Rylie Andrews, Elliana Patterson, Julie Kraft, Chloe Stoltzfus, Peyton Hammond, and Rorie Wolf all qualified.
