Demons run well in tri-meet against Midview, Amherst

“Their work ethic is just through the roof. They really want to race. They want to compete. The middle school program did a great job of getting these kids to buy in and to love running and to love racing.”

— Westlake girls cross country coach Travis Haselswerdt

This school year is the swan song for Westlake and the Southwestern Conference, and the Demons hope to go out with a bang.

In an SWC cross country tri-meet Sept. 19 at Lorain County Community College, Westlake showed it belongs among the teams in the hunt for the conference title, as both the boys and girls teams won easily against Midview and host Amherst.

The Westlake boys had six finishers in the top 10 to easily top the field, scoring 19 points to 50 for Midview and 68 for Amherst. In the girls race, the Demons had a bit more competition but still dominated, scoring 26 points. Amherst was next with 43, while Midview came in with 62 points.

“Hopefully, our last season in the SWC is a good one,” said Westlake girls coach Travis Haselswerdt, whose team last won the conference title in 2017.

The Westlake girls have succeeded this season despite having what has to be one of the youngest lineups in the state, with eight freshmen and two sophomores comprising the team’s top 10. Last year the Demons easily won the middle school conference title, and, contrary to what has happened in the past, most of the ninth graders chose to either focus on cross country or to split time between cross country and soccer.

“We’re really young,” Haselswerdt said. “But they make up for it with their effort. Their work ethic is just through the roof. They really want to race. They want to compete. The middle school program did a great job of getting these kids to buy in and to love running and to love racing. They’ve brought that up to the high school level. It’s just really cool to see this many freshmen care this much about running and care this much about each other.”

Midview’s Audrey Sanzone took the lead from the opening gun and ran solo the entire way, finishing the 5,000-meter course in 19 minutes, 57 seconds. Sanzone had a big lead for much of the race, but two Westlake runners closed the gap considerably in the final 800 meters to finish just 2 and 4 seconds behind.

“It felt pretty good,” Sanzone said of her race. “I felt like it was pretty consistent. I was trying to take accelerations throughout to make sure I don’t slow down. I felt that worked pretty well. It’s not a PR. I was hoping to get a PR, but that’s OK.”

The junior was a regional qualifier last year as an individual, and she placed eighth in the SWC meet.

“Audrey went out there and took control of the race,” said Midview coach Kathy Manning. “Every race she’s growing as a runner. It was great to see her out front from the start.”

The race between Westlake and Amherst was decided by the fact that the Demons had a pack of three in front of the Comets’ top three and then another pair right behind.

“For us, it’s part of a process,” Amherst coach Terry Kemp said. “We’ve got some pieces that we still have to put together, training-wise and racingwise. (Westlake) ran exceptionally well. They have a great group of young kids. They’re going to be very tough going forward.”

As for the conference meet, which will be held at LCCC on Oct. 17, twotime defending champion Avon is probably considered the favorite, but Olmsted Falls, Westlake and Avon Lake all should be up there as well.

On the boys’ side, Westlake should be in the hunt for the conference title, along with Amherst, Avon and Avon Lake.

“I think the conference is pretty top-heavy with Avon, Avon Lake and Amherst,” said Westlake coach Kyle Romansky. “I think we’re in there if we run to our potential. I think we’re all competitive. On any given day I think we’re all kind of in the same boat. It will be an interesting day.”

The Demons were able to dominate the meet at LCCC because Amherst took its varsity squad to an invitational at Boardman, the site of the regional meet. Knowing that his team wouldn’t really be pushed, Romansky designed a team strategy that had the front-runners holding back in the first mile and then breaking away.

“Our team strategy was to pack up our top 11 or so,” Romansky said. “The guys who have been running fast, we tried to get them to take it out in the second half of the race, and we told the younger guys to hold on as long as they could and then attack as much as they could after that. They ran great. We got a lot of guys in the top 10, so it was a successful day.”

Westlake had the top 11 runners about 800 meters into the race, which eventually turned into a 1-2-3 finish by K.J. Mueller (17:59), Joey Del Priore (18:10) and J.P. Mogyordy (18:33). The Midview pair of Ryan Carnahan and Zachary Janus placed fourth and fifth, followed by Jake Rintamaki, Charlie Hennessey and Tyler Schmitz of Westlake. Amherst’s Nicholas Glahn and Dillon Jones rounded out the top 10.

“We went out as a team for the first mile,” Mueller said. “We had some guys speed up and some guys slow down to try to stick together. In the second mile, me and my teammate, Joey, we started to pick it up. We took the lead and tried to get as many people as possible to speed up with us. In the third mile we just went as fast as we could. It’s not a great time for me, but I still got first place, and place is what matters, not time.”