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Boardman dominates at Mahoning County XC championships

Staff photo / Preston Byers L-R: Boardman’s Jonathan Burgos-Perez, Jacob Turek, Dylan White, Adam Nigro and David D’Altorio stick together in the early portion of the 2024 Mahoning County Cross Country Championships at Austintown Township Park on Wednesday.

AUSTINTOWN — For the second consecutive year, Boardman won both the boys and girls titles at the Mahoning County Cross Country Championships.

The Spartans cruised to a double team victory at Austintown Township Park in part due to the performances of individual race winners David D’Altorio and Olivia Brady, who finished with times of 16:49.00 and 20:12.86, respectively.

While this marks the second year in a row the boys team has won the county championship, it is no less than the fifth consecutive year in which the Boardman girls have stood atop Mahoning County.

For first-year head coach Luke Gidorkis, though, it’s county title No. 1. The successor to Rick Sypert, Gidorkis said he is still working through the stress of watching his team race.

“It’s always nerve-wracking,” Gidorkis said. “I feel like I’m never prepared enough, but I do my best. .. I’m always excited to race, and I always get nervous right before the gun goes off, so I don’t think that’ll ever leave.”

Once the race got underway, however, it became clear the Spartans would be taking home yet another county title.

In addition to Brady, a sophomore who improved her time and placing from a fourth-place finish a year ago, Boardman earned three spots in the top five and seven in the top 18 placers.

As a whole, the team earned 28 points, 28 ahead of second-place Canfield. Austintown Fitch, Poland and Ursuline rounded out the top five in the team points standings.

Brady said the Spartans benefit from competition and persistent drive within the team.

“We’re definitely really lucky that everyone on the team does try as hard as they do, because it kind of stinks for other teams where just one person wants to try and everybody else wants to slack off,” Brady said. “I would not be anywhere near where I am if I didn’t have my teammates to push me every day.”

A first-time county winner, Brady finished more than 50 seconds ahead of runner-up and teammate Gabby Vennetti on Wednesday.

“That’s what we were hoping for,” Gidorkis said of Brady’s performance. “We figured it would be a little close with a few other people, but I’m just happy and proud that she got it.

“I told her the goal’s to go up and catch the Gator up at the front.”

D’ALTORIO LEADS BOARDMAN BOYS TO VICTORY

As a senior, D’Altorio wanted to go out on top. So he did.

The 2022 Mahoning County champion reclaimed the title after finishing third last year — and he did it with some style.

At more than one point during the race, D’Altorio gestured to the crowd, seemingly asking them to make more noise as the more than 100 runners competed.

As he ran across the finish line, D’Altorio raised his arms above his head and pointed his fingers to the sky in celebration.

“This is my last one, being a senior, so I just kind of want to have fun with it and not take things as seriously as I probably should,” D’Altorio said. “[I want to] just enjoy each moment, and getting the crowd involved is always fun.”

In securing his second county title, D’Altorio finished a little more than three seconds ahead of Fitch’s Justin Sahli. As a team the Spartans, which had six of the top nine placers, finished with 27 points. Fitch earned second with 74 points, while Jackson-Milton, Canfield, Poland and Lowellville finished third through sixth, respectively.

Last year, D’Altorio finished behind Canfield’s Blake Baker and teammate Brock Farris, the latter of whom edged D’Altorio out by 0.02 seconds. Compared to his time at the same event last year, D’Altorio ran more than 11 seconds slower Wednesday.

He said it is not indicative of his pace, though, but rather that the senior is trying to stay fresh for future races, especially with the county meet being pushed back a week.

“I didn’t want to push it too hard,” D’Altorio said. “I knew I have a big effort on Saturday, so I just kind of wanted to come out here and stay with our team for the first couple miles, and then just kind of do whatever was necessary to get the win.”

The county victory is D’Altorio’s second in three years and the Spartan boys team’s second in as many seasons.

But the senior and his coach have bigger goals in mind.

“We accomplished what we wanted to do,” Boardman boys cross country coach John Phillips said. “We wanted to come in here, get the job done, which is defend our championship… and looking forward to this weekend at the Legends meet, which is another meet that we won, to defend the championship that we won last year.”

The Legends meet will take place Saturday at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds in Cortland.

GIRLS TOP 10 MAHONING COUNTY XC CHAMPIONSHIPS PLACERS

1. Olivia Brady – Boardman (20:12.86)

2. Gabby Vennetti – Boardman (21:03.30)

3. Tayrismar Mendez – Austintown-Fitch (21:14.96)

4. Nora Schwarten – Jackson-Milton (21:17.03)

5. Lauryn Swantek – Boardman (21:22.46)

6. Sabrina Baskett – Canfield (21:31.11)

7. Lillian Klimas – Canfield (21:39.50)

8. Brenna Bosley – Austintown-Fitch (21:42.35)

9. Abbi Mihok – Boardman (21:45.07)

10. Lilly Trolio – Austintown-Fitch (21:59.35)

BOYS TOP 10 MAHONING COUNTY XC CHAMPIONSHIPS PLACERS

1. David D’Altorio – Boardman (16:49.00)

2. Justin Sahli – Austintown-Fitch (16:52.09)

3. Lucas Sokol – Jackson-Milton (17:03.38)

4. Nate Yon – Lowellville (17:18.89)

5. Jacob Turek – Boardman (17:30.00)

6. Dylan White – Boardman (17:41.17)

7. Dominic Theodore – Boardman (17:45.35)

8. Adam Nigro – Boardman (17:51.05)

9. Chase Moore – Boardman (17:51.59)

10. Jackson Berni – Austintown-Fitch (17:52.91)

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