The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Rockets, Raiders dominate at LCCC
Senior Khaled Hamil won the maroon division boys race in 16 minutes, 33 seconds to lead Bay to a team title.
The Avon Lake Early Bird Invitational annually affords teams a chance to run a course where many begin their postseason at Lorain County Community College.
Bay and Columbia will each return to the course for their district meets in October, and each team compiled impressive performances.
Senior Khaled Hamil won the maroon division boys race in 16 minutes, 33 seconds to lead Bay to the team title with 34 points.
Three Bay runners placed among the top five finishers and all seven runners finished within the top 20. The Rockets placed fourth at the 2018 Division II state meet and, as D-I members, prioritize their pack mentality.
Bay won the team title ahead of second-place Shaker Heights with 68 points.
Hamil capitalized on his chance to leap into first as he hung with the lead pack of runners.
“We were starting to run as a team at the start,” Hamil said. “And then I saw the guys didn’t get that far ahead of me, and so (I) went for it and felt pretty good today.”
Columbia senior Matt Pettegrew won the gold division boys race in 16 minutes, 59 seconds. The Raiders finished second in the team standings with 53 points behind first-place Fairview’s 41-point team score.
After a 14th-place finish at the D-III state meet in 2018, Pettegrew’s goal is to improve on his personalbest time of 16 minutes, 52 seconds.
“I want to break 16,” Pettegrew said, “hopefully by the end of the year.”
Firelands senior Alessandra Davis won the girls gold division race in 21 minutes, nine seconds as the Falcons placed fifth overall. Holy Name won the team title with 46 points.
Davis, also a soccer player, didn’t expect a first-place finish due to her past results at Lorain Community College’s hilly course.
“Really, I was expecting to be somewhere towards the middle or the front, which is where I typically am at this race,” Davis said. “I typically don’t like running here so I’m pretty excited because I typically hate coming here.”
Bay placed third in the girls race behind Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, which won the team title with 27 points. Thersea Hagey won the maroon division girls race in 19 minutes, 6 seconds. Olivia Bird finished first among area runners in 13th place with a time of 20 minutes, 52 seconds.
“I’m looking forward to move on with my team,” Bird said. “And really excited because we have a ton of new freshman runners that are coming up and we’re, like, all very close, and that’s really good.”