The Student Voice of Chardon High School

The Hilltop Echo

The Student Voice of Chardon High School

The Hilltop Echo

The Student Voice of Chardon High School

The Hilltop Echo

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Boys Cross Country Finish Their Most Successful Season

Boys Cross Country Finish Their Most Successful Season

The Boys Varsity Cross Country team has had an unexpected ending to the season, finishing 14th out of 16 teams at the the Division I State Championship. Nick Elswick’s lower leg injury produced unsatisfactory results, causing him to fall behind two minutes than his regular time.  Also adding to the bad luck was when Jacob Krebs’ foot became injured after the two mile mark, which caused him to be unable to finish the race.

Coach Mark Shafer believed, ”With a healthy Elswick and Krebs, I had anticipated a top 10 finish at the State Meet.  Being injured in that situation is really hard.  The great thing is that I have no doubts that those two did everything they could to be prepared for the meet and it just didn’t turn out the way we wanted,“ Coach Shafer goes on to say how a situation like this is nearly impossible to predict or avoid, “Chance plays a role in every sport – it’s part of what makes sports interesting because you’re never sure of the outcome.  As an athlete you have to do everything you can to be able to perform your best in the competition.” However, not all was lost on this day. Josh Sopchak gained his best record for the year with a finish in 45th place. He was then followed by Adam Sopchak who finished in 66th place, and then by Steven Zombory in 87th place out of 145 people. The team’s total time amounted to 1:24:36.44, and each runner’s average time was 16:55.29.

            However, to dwell on the team’s misfortunes would not be fair to them. This is the first time in Chardon history that the Boys Cross Country team went to the Division 1 State Championship. That is not to be taken lightly. Along with this, the team won their fourth PAC title in a row. Although powerhouse Nick Elswick heavily contributed to the success of the team, the team was still able to perform exceptionally without him, placing fifth out of ten teams at Stow Invitational and 11th out of 19 teams at Midwest Meet of Champions, both without Nick Elswick.

            Coach Shafer was impressed with how far the team was able to come, saying “We probably ran the toughest schedule of any team in the state of Ohio this fall.  We got beat by several very good teams throughout the season.  At the District and Regional Championships, we ended up beating many of the teams that had beaten us earlier in the year.  I think taking our lumps early allowed us to be mentally ready for the post-season.  We weren’t scared of being beat, but we really wanted to win.”

The cross country boys performed phenomenally this season. Hopefully the team will have an even more successful season next year with the help from newly arriving freshman.

Coach Shafer encourages all who are interested in joining the Cross Country team, ”Over the years Chardon Cross-Country has had more success than any other sport at Chardon.  You don’t have to be a great athlete to start with.  Through your own desire and hard work you can become great, however.”