Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Maplewood senior Alex Donaldson gains a lead late in the first lap at Lordstown during the NAC cross country meet Tuesday. He won with a time of 16:56.06.

LORDSTOWN — A far cry from the 80 degrees athletes ran in early last week, more seasonable weather made for a pleasant afternoon during this year’s iteration of the Northeast Athletic Conference meet at the Lordstown Village Park. Maplewood swept all four team titles between the varsity and junior high events.

STAYING HOME

Maplewood senior Caleigh Richards has won more shares of her events — and state titles — over her varsity career, and Tuesday afternoon was no different, clocking a 18:24.62 for the event win.

One thing left in her high school career was her college decision. Richards recently verbally committed to Youngstown State, which boasts a track and field program that has dominated the Horizon League for the past several years.

A massive factor in wanting to stay at home was her younger sister Melody, who won the junior high event prior to the varsity race.

“I’m pretty excited about that and seeing what God has planned for me for my next chapter, so just taking it one day at a time and enjoying my senior year,” Richards said. “I wanted to stay close around here with my family, and my sister will continue to run so I get to cheer her on. They also have a great running program established, great coaches, great runners and facilities and I’m excited to be a part of that.

“I know they’re going to do the best they can to (help me) reach my highest potential. (Melody) and I both got to come out with a victory today which is cool that we can share in that because she’s my best friend, my little sister, I know she looks up to me so that’s really cool to be a role model to her and the other girls.”

Emma Phillips from St. John’s took second place at 19:24.62, with Chalker sophomore Abbey Castle placed third at 19:57.36.

Keeping pace was key for Castle.

“Basically I wanted to try and keep up with Caleigh but then I didn’t, so I just kept pushing and passed up (Jenna Perris), she had a big gap on me at the beginning, so I tried to push it really hard and I passed her and tried to keep that pace,” Castle said. “(Keeping pace) hurts a lot, but it’s good to try and practice like that, because I know in the future I’m going to be better and I can get faster.

“The mulch makes it feel like you’re running in slow motion, so it was kind of difficult and in one of the spots it was really run down and muddy, so I kind of got stuck there for a second. I like courses with hills usually, because that’s my best thing that I’m good at is hills. I don’t like the flatness of the course, but in the woods there’s a lot of ups and downs and turns, so I feel like that’s difficult.”

PREPPING IS KEY

Maplewood’s distance programs have had a tradition of excellence for many years, and senior Alex Donaldson hasn’t been an expectation to the rule. With the middle of October arriving in the Mahoning Valley, the time for the meets with more weight is near.

Earning an event win at 17:27.04, Tuesday was an opportunity to compete against some of his friends in neighboring schools while gearing up for the postseason.

Much of the course takes place in the woods, something that the Rockets didn’t mind.

“I don’t really mind the woods being by yourself, I don’t really care for the crowd, I just get in a groove in the woods and I’ll be alright,” Donaldson said. “We’re still running pretty hard, keeping the mileage up. We’ll keep it up almost until regionals, but districts is not too big of a task for us, we should be able to win that, just looking at the end of the year with state and regionals.

“It feels good to be able to race some kids around us.”

Of course when expectations are high, the effort has to match it.

“I try to run every race like it’s my last I guess. I had a couple of bad races this year, but I’m just looking forward to state at the end of the year,” Donaldson said. “(The bad races) help me refocus, and be able to keep my mind in it sometimes. It’s a long season, you get tired of it, you unfocus, but getting beat every once and awhile is good for you, keeps me focused.”

Bristol sophomore Ryan Church took second 17:23.32, running strong ahead of a slew of Maplewood runners down the finish stretch toward the finish line. After taking 18th place at the same meet last fall, the improvement was dramatic.

“Kind of just stayed with the group the first two miles. (Donaldson) kind of took off, I was going to try and chase him, but it wasn’t my place to do so,” Church said. “I hit the two mile and I’ve always gone by ‘last mile, best mile,’ so I kind of just took off, got up to the second pack, hit the last 100 meters and took off.

“I like to sit and kick a little bit, so it was kind of my race to do that. Overall, it was a good race for me.”

The difference between last fall and this fall? A plethora of extra steps.

“About 400 more miles between now and the start of training really helped a lot with placement and times this year,” Church said. “Very proud of that, ended up being the fastest runner my coaches had in over a decade. It was a push to get there but it was definitely well worth it.”

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