The third annual Streetsboro Rockets Invitational was a big day for several young squads. The Garfield G-Men girls’ cross-country team shined by placing as the runners-up with a 5-10-14-15-36 finish, scoring 80 points last Saturday morning at Streetsboro Middle School.
“They were proud of themselves,” said Garfield Coach Matt Pfleger. “I saw all smiles after that meet; after running as fast as you can for 3.1 miles, it is hard to smile. But those girls were just ecstatic after the meet, they came out and performed great.”
Sophomore Nora Yukich paced the G-Men by taking fifth place with a time of 21:11.00, followed by senior Kathlene McMayon who placed 10th by clocking 21:33.00, junior Abigail Kolar came in 14th with a time of 22:24.00, junior Rebecca Evans finished in 15th place at 22:38.00 and freshman Emily Penney snagged 36th place with a time of 24:42.00.
According to the fifth-year coach, the G-Men were short-handed, with two of their usual runners being absent. The G-Men’s depth still shined through by finishing only 16 points behind Portage County rival Southeast.
“I think every single one of the girls that competed on Saturday had at least a season-best,” he added. “We have some time before the conference and district race, I really think that we can pick up some time here and there and we should be able to make a really good showing in the postseason this year.”
The G-Men were fueled by the sophomore Yukich, who has continued being one of Garfield’s leading runners. Pfleger said that she is continuing to trend in the right direction in terms of valuable seconds off of her time.
“I had the pleasure of helping out with her in the middle school and just seeing how natural a runner she is and how easy she can make the race look. Just to see her go out and start dropping down into those times, there is no doubt in my mind that she can go low 20s and high 19s by the end of the year,” Pfleger noted.
With Yukich leading Garfield’s pack, the G-Men’s pack-running strategy proved fruitful, as its top four runners finished in the top 15.
Pfleger noted that the G-Men’s pack-running has stood out since their first race as a full team at the Ashley White Invitational on Aug. 29.
“Seeing them all within 10 spots of each other, that is what we are going to need to have a team make it to Columbus this year,” he said.
Although Garfield is a young squad this year with only one senior on the roster, Pfleger credited their underclassmen for dictating a new set of goals, which has the G-Men having big aspirations for not just this season but beyond.
On the boys’ side, the Streetsboro Rockets boys’ cross-country team enjoyed a fourth place finish with a 6-9-20-22-36 finish to score 93 points.
“I think we executed really well,” Rockets’ Coach Jon Hannan said. “In terms of placement, we wanted to be a little bit higher in terms of team place, but you can’t really be mad about that when other teams also had good days. We had a lot of personal records, so I think that the team ran well.”
Freshman Preston Krzeminski led Streetsboro by placing eighth with a time of 17:50.26, followed by junior Ares Miller who took 11th place by clocking 17:56.65, freshman Ryan Haber captured 22nd place with 18:48.38, sophomore Troy Mazer netted 24th place at 18:53.03 and freshmen Brendan Malloy took 41st place with a time of 19:43.25.
The Rocket boys are also a young team this year, with only two seniors, but the top five is layered with underclassmen and only one junior.
On Saturday, Krzeminski continued progressing, setting a personal record.
“He had a great middle school season and I know coming into the season, he didn’t really know what to expect out of himself other than he is a really good runner. He is definitely stepping up,” Hannan noted.
According to the seven-year coach, the Krzeminski and Miller have combined to form a leading duo, which has paced the Rockets and continued doing so in the race. With Krzeminski and Miller forming a talented one-two combination, Haber, Mazer and Malloy have formed their own pack.
Hannan said that one of the Rockets’ biggest goals has been to try and merge the two packs as closely together as possible because once that happens, that will bode well for a lot of success.
Garfield will hit the road to compete in the Spartan Invitational at Boardman High School in Youngstown on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
Meanwhile, the Rockets will race in the Norton Panther Invitational at the Silver Creek Metro Park on Saturday at 10:45 a.m.
