According to Crestwood Red Devils’ cross country Coach Jim Schweickert, it is easy to get wrapped up in the fast pace of a postseason high school cross country race. The Red Devil girls avoided burning out too early, ran as a pack, and wrapped up the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II District title with a 7-9-11-17-19 finish to score 63 points last Saturday afternoon at Madison High School.
“It was a really great day in terms of a total team effort for the girls,” said the 14-year coach. “It has been a little while since we have been to the regional meet as a team, so it is nice to get back there as a group.”
Sophomore Piper Seibold fueled the Red Devils by taking seventh place with a time of 19:43.33, followed by sophomore Madie Grace Gonczy who earned ninth place by clocking a time of 19:54.95, senior Erin Hallis netted 11th place with a time of 20:24.70, senior Abby Guyette captured 17th place with a time of 20:49.69 and sophomore Piper Freedline snagged 19th place with a time of 20:56.58.
It marked the first time the Crestwood girls earned a regional team berth since the 2020 district meet. The Red Devils will battle to earn one of six team berths to the OHSAA Division II State meet when they compete at the regional meet at Boardman High School in Youngstown on Saturday afternoon at 12:45 p.m.
After a successful Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division meet on Oct. 12, Schweickert said that Crestwood entered the district meet believing it could compete with some of the top-tiered teams. He acknowledged that his squad surprised even himself with how well they ran as a pack to dominate the meet.
“I think we ran smart,” he added. “We didn’t get caught up in the fast pace at the start, which a lot of kids get caught up in the postseason and try to get out faster than they are accustomed to which I think is a bad idea.”
Schweickert said at the first mile, the Crestwood girls still maintained their pack and used it to move up toward the front at the second mile. He noted that that the Red Devil girls were actually a little farther ahead than he anticipated but they were still keeping an excellent pace.
After a disappointing CVC Chagrin Division meet, Seibold returned to form to lead the Red Devils by being the first Crestwood runner to cross the finish line, keeping up with several of the individual lead runners from opposing teams.
“She looked good,” Schweickert said. “She looked like herself again. It was smart race tactics, she made up a lot of ground and ran strong the whole way and made up a bunch of places like she usually does, she looked like her old self.”
Gonczy finished strong to take ninth place, making the Red Devils the only team to have two runners finish in the top ten.
“Madie is super competitive, and she had a really good finish and ran a career personal record because of it,” said Schweickert. “I just think she is still getting better. She did not run in the summer at all because of an injury from track so she didn’t run a step before the season started so she is just getting better as we go.”
Schweickert said that Crestwood’s key to winning the race hinged on if they could stay ahead of CVC Chagrin Division rival Orange’s pack, which had propelled them to win the conference race.
After Hallis crossed the finish line, the Lions had their top three runners record a 14-15-16 finish, but Guyette and Freedline were not far behind, finishing well ahead of Orange’s final two runners allowing the Red Devils to handily win their first cross country district championship since the 2014 by 48 points.
“I think in the long run pack-running can be better, but front-runners are good too and it is low point totals,” said Schweickert. “Orange had a great pack and that is how they run, they have a fantastic pack, but our pack beat their pack enough and our two front-runners helped separate us a little bit and that helped us to pull away from them.”
When Schweickert saw Guyette and Freedline cross the finish line shortly after the pack of Lions, he said that he knew the Red Devil girls had claimed the district banner, as Crestwood was the only team to have their first five runners finish in the top 20.
