MEADVILLE —
No, it wasn’t dust kicked up by Meadville sophomore Kyle Rose that caused a contingent of McDowell runners to get lost along the MASH cross country course. It was much too rainy for dust on Tuesday afternoon.
What happened was, some of the Trojans’ top runners simply took a wrong turn, which had them bringing up the rear once they got back on track.
Still, the McDowell athletes that made the loop correctly, even though they couldn’t come close to catching Rose, pulled out a 26-33 team victory over the Bulldogs during the Region 6 meet held at Meadville Area Senior High School.
Meanwhile on the girls side, Meadville was down to just four female runners. And while Meadville’s girls put forth some strong times, McDowell came away with a 15-50 technical forfeit victory.
McDowell’s boys and girls teams both improved to 1-0 overall and in Region 6 via the sweep. Both of Meadville’s teams are now 2-1 overall and 1-1 in region races.
“Kyle has been running very, very strong the last two weeks,” Meadville head coach Chuck Jones said about the sophomore Rose. “He put in a great summer. He’s learning how to race. And it’s starting to show in his performances.”
It certainly showed yesterday, as Rose set the pace early and never relinquished it.
McDowell’s Nate Law trailed Rose the whole way, but he couldn’t gain any ground. Rose eventually finished in a time of 17:27.
“That’s my best on this course,” said Rose. “(Law) is a great runner. He gave me some competition. He was right there. It was fun. We had a great race.”
Law came across the line in 17:38.
“Outstanding performance by Kyle and (Law),” said Jones. “Both had great times under these conditions. I’m pretty sure those will be top 10 times on the course.”
The rest of the pack fell way behind Rose and Law early. And this is how that pack ran into trouble.
“They got up over the hill and (Rose and Law) were gone,” said McDowell’s boys coach Jay Pratt. “The lead guy went the wrong way, so everybody followed him.”
At around the 2-mile mark, as the course winds through the woods along Mill Run, there is supposed to be a right turn. The Trojans, according to Pratt, went left.
“They said they ended up at somebody’s house at some subdivision up there,” said Pratt. “Our two through six guys ... they should have been up in the 17 (minute range), instead they were in the 23s.”
This opened the door for Meadville sophomores Louis McUmber and Matt Svetz. They worked their way into the third and fourth spots coming down the home stretch. But both were passed by McDowell’s Dan Mandus right before the finish line.
Mandus took third in 18:53. McUmber was fourth in 18:54. Svetz finished fifth in 18:57.
“We had some younger kids that stepped up and did the job for us,” said Pratt. “(Mandus) is usually in our top seven, like our seventh or eighth man.”
The Trojans’ sixth through 11th finishers, meanwhile, “They’re normally back in like 15th, 18th or 20th for us. They just responded for us and did a good job. It worked out,” said Pratt.
The girls race also featured a dominant individual performance, with McDowell’s Melissa Perseo finishing the course in a blazing time of 20:36.
“(Perseo) is in a league of her own right now,” said Jones. “I think that’s going to be a top-10 time too, in conditions that were just miserable.”
Well behind Perseo was a course-length battle for the next few spots on the scoresheet. Meadville’s Libby Volna eventually won out second place in 21:55. Fellow Lady Bulldog Abbey Peters claimed third in 22:23.
“Libby, I thought, did a real nice job,” said Jones. “She came on late. She looked like she was being pressed in the first half of the course. And in the second half she took control and really took care of business at No. 2.”
Other Meadville finishers for the girls were Sammy Whitney in ninth (23:21) and Maddie Moreland in 16th (24:04).
“We have two girls out with injury, and that really hurt us,” said Jones. “Our No. 3 girl is out and our No 5 girl is out — Paige Whitney and Emma Petasis. So we were shorthanded, and will be for the next two weeks.”
McDowell’s Rachel Willis finished fourth in 22:30 followed by teammates Amanda Krawec in fifth (22:38), Ashley Buseck in sixth (22:39) and Kaitlin Dawbert in seventh (22:54).
“A couple girls in the back did get lost,” said McDowell’s girls coach Becky Glus. “It’s going to happen on a new course when you don’t know that course very well. But our top kids were able to do what they needed to do, so it was OK.”
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