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Published: Wednesday, September 20, 2006

'The Andys' still rocking; Boardman keeps rolling

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Boardman's Lauren Angew and McDonald's girls team also won titles.

By JOE SCALZO

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

CANFIELD — At last year's Suburban League championship meet, Maplewood High's Andy Morgan stood on the sidelines, watching his teammate, Andy Arnio, win the race by a ridiculous 25 seconds.

"Seeing Arnio destroy the competition was one of the coolest things to watch," said Morgan, who missed the race with a stress fracture in his leg. "I never get to watch him on the sidelines, so it was a whole new experience."

On Tuesday, he had another new experience. Running in the meet for the first time since his freshman year, Morgan edged Arnio by 15 seconds for the individual title at Canfield Fairgrounds.

Morgan wasn't expecting to win — the Rockets had run a grueling race at Saturday's Spartan Invitational and they're in the midst of the intense part of their training — but he and Arnio led the pack for the entire race. Toward the end, Arnio told Morgan to take off.

"He said, 'You're feeling good and I'm hurting a little bit,' " said Morgan, who finished the race muddy and exhausted. "This is a very challenging course. The whole course was soggy and it was hard to get your balance.

"It's the hardest I've run in awhile."

Another team title

The 1-2 finish for "The Andys" wasn't enough to earn the team title, however, as Boardman continued its stellar season by winning its third straight Suburban League championship.

The Spartans finished a surprising second in Division I at the Spartan Invitational — beating every Federal League school in the process — and coach Dave Pavlansky was pleased that the Spartans were able to win Tuesday's meet despite having tired legs.

"We didn't run real well and I think we were a little tired from Saturday," he said. "It was a heck of an effort.

"We haven't quite backed off our training, so the big key for us is to run at the end of the season as well as we ran on Saturday."

Still, Pavlansky knows his team's strong showing will help his team grow more confident and, hopefully, get some state-wide recognition when the state cross country poll is released today.

"It'd be nice for the kids to see," he said. "And I think it'd up my average to being in the poll once every eight years."

Girls

On the girls side, Boardman sophomore Lauren Agnew defended her individual title, although she certainly didn't enter the race feeling like it was her day.

"Honestly, I wasn't in the mood to run," she said. "But once I got into my pace, I felt better. I just prayed before the race, 'God, if I'm supposed to win, help me win. And if not, that's OK.'

"It's not about me."

McDonald, meanwhile, won its first girls title since 1997 by a surprisingly large margin. Fitch, one of the league's top teams all season, finished second.

"The funny thing is, when we were at camp this year, I honestly had no idea if we'd be any good," said McDonald coach Michael Richards. "I knew we'd be decent with our seniors, but I didn't know how the freshmen would develop.

"So we just concentrated on enjoying the small accomplishments. We didn't want to just focus on going to state and end up disappointed."

The strategy has worked so far. But the Blue Devils, who have made it to Columbus every year since 1999, might want to start thinking big again.

"We've got a strong pack of runners," Richards said. "To win this meet, it's not bad for this time of year."

scalzo@vindy.com

Wednesday, September 20, 2006