The Crestwood Red Devils girls’ cross country team ran in a deep field at the Pat Ritchie Invitational last Saturday at Walsh Jesuit High School but passed the test by taking fifth place in the Division I/II race, with a 3-13-15-50-87 finish to score 168.0 points.
“We were concerned with teams in our division and there are some good ones there so that was a good test but beating the other Division I and Division II schools is a bonus because those are some good programs but our goal was not necessarily to see if we could beat them but to compete with them,” noted Coach Jim Schweickert.
Crestwood was paced by freshman Luci Maschek, who came in fourth place with a personal record of 18:29.73, followed by senior Maddie Grace Gonczy, who secured 14th place by clocking a season-best 19:41.90, senior Piper Seibold secured 16th place with a season-best time of 19:43.36, senior Piper Freedline wrapped up 52nd place by recording a season-best time of 21:20.11 and sophomore Abby Pfost took 93rd place with a time of 22:31.95.
The 15-year coach acknowledged that the Red Devil girls were competing in a deeper field of competitors than they normally do during the regular season but saw it as a great opportunity to see what the team was truly made of.
Although the Red Devils return a wealth of experience with Gonczy and Seibold, each who were state qualifiers in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III state meet last season, they have added some young talent led by the talented freshman Maschek.
A week after taking second place at the Ashley White Invitational Small Division on Sept. 5, the Crestwood freshman once again raced in the top flight, finishing in fourth place, with eight seconds separating the runner-up and fourth place runner.
“She has clearly got some natural talent, but she is also coming to us having run for the club team and has trained and raced at a high level already,” added Schweickert. “I think she was at the new balance track meet in the summer, so she has got some experience coming in vs. a typical freshman.’
For the second straight week, Maschek ran stride for stride against Marlington senior Ireleyn Johnson, who won the Ashley White Invitational Small Division by 30 seconds, but Maschek finished only eight seconds behind her, with Cleveland Heights junior Kassadi Thompson taking third place.
“She closed that gap so that was good to see,” said Schweickert. “Irelyn Johnson is in our division, and we are going to see her next week and at the end of the year, so she closed the gap a little bit.”
Gonczy and Seibold each finished in the top 16, two seconds within each other while Freedline and Pfost crossed the finish line by recording finishes in the top 95.
“They have been running great,” Schweickert said of the returning Crestwood senior duo. “They did more work in the summer as well, so they started out better than last year, they progressed, I expect them to continue to improve like everybody else on the team, so it was a good start.”
While Seibold and Gonczy return with experience, Schweickert said that the 2026 season is a perfect blend of experience and youth, with Maschek pacing Crestwood in its first few races while Seibold and Gonczy are using their senior leadership to fuel the team.
“It is a mix of some experienced seniors and several new runners which is good,” he noted. “It is a good mix to have some upperclassmen show the way and the younger kids to follow and buy into it and follow so it has been good.”
After advancing a pair of runners to the OHSAA Division III State Meet last year, Schweickert said that the next step for the program is to have the entire team qualify for the state meet this year.
The Crestwood boys only had three runners place in the Pat Ritchie Invitational, with junior Evan Rhodes taking 107th place by clocking a time of 18:52.25, followed by sophomore Avery Sanwald coming in 152nd place with a personal best of 19:59.93, and sophomore Evan Bainey capturing 177th place by recording a personal best of 24:36.16.
The Red Devils will compete at the Boardman Spartan Invitational Division III race in Youngstown on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
