Harvey junior, NDCL boys reign at Early Bird

Harvey’s J.T. Basco wins the boys race and Notre DameCathedral Latin captures the boys team title at the Berkshire Early Bird Invitational. Nate Barnes has a full recap from Burton.

JT Basco compiled a commendable sophomore season that culminated in a regional berth at Boardman. Harvey’s lead runner plans to advance a level higher during his junior season. Basco opened his 2019 season impressively at the Berkshire Early Bird Invitational Aug. 24. The junior set the school record in 15 minutes, 47 seconds to win the boys race by a five-second margin.

Basco broke 16 for the first time. He shattered his previous personalbest time of 16 minutes, 33 seconds.

“I’m on top of the world,” Basco said. “This would be a school record for me and this is where I want to be. I just want to start from here now and keep moving forward.” A race-time temperature below 70 degrees on a clear, breezy day created idyllic running conditions for a late-August morning. Many runners recorded PRs on the new course mapped out at the Geauga County Fairgrounds, neighboring Kent State’s Geauga campus. Whereas the previous course sprawled through the fields of the fairgrounds, the revamped 2019 race began and ended inside the fairgrounds to make for a more spectator-friendly event.

Basco ran a strong first mile and maintained his pace throughout a downhill course. He put together a strong spring running the mile and two-mile during track and field season and is confident last year’s cross country experience will benefit him this fall.

“When I get to the big races, don’t get psyched out by the competition,” Basco said. “Just realize I’m in this race, we’re all in this race, I’ve just got to race better than everyone else.”

Edgewood’s Lydia Randolph (19:26) and Eve Brunell (19:27) placed first and second to lead the Warriors to the girls team title. Edgewood’s 39 points left them comfortably ahead of runner-up Madison’s 96 points.

Berkshire senior Madison Romask led area runners in the girls race with a fourth-place result in 19 minutes, 43 seconds. Romask enters her final cross country season intent on returning to Hebron, where she was an All-Ohio selection as a sophomore, after her junior year ended in Boardman.

The Badgers’ girls team hopes to qualify for the state meet as a whole. Berkshire will count on Romask to consistently place high as its lead runner.

Following last season, Romask increased her training during the summer and ran five times a week. By her admission, Romask ran about five times more per week than she did last summer.

“I think it’ll pay off in the long run,” Romask said. “Coach always says it comes out in the end, who trained in the summer and who didn’t, by the postseason.” Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin’s boys team continued its winning streak at Berkshire. Jacob Gerhardt finished second overall in 15 minutes, 52 seconds, David Beebe was third in 16 minutes and Michael Welsh finished ninth in 16 minutes, 23 seconds. The Lions opened their season with the team title at Berkshire for the third consecutive year, notching 53 points ahead of runner-up Edgewood’s 77.

Lake Catholic junior Neil Jones (16:19) recorded a sixth-place result to round out area runners in the top 10.

Gerhardt’s emergence as NDCL’s No. 1 runner was a needed development for coach Karl Weinfurtner’s pack. The Lions lost a few of their top senior runners to the football team but Gerhardt, a former football player, is running cross country for the first time as a senior.

A prototypical distance runner with a long, wiry frame, Gerhardt performed well in his first high school race — even if he didn’t know what to expect.

“Just running in the grass and stuff is much better than going around a track,” Gerhardt said, “I can say that much. It’s better than going around in circles and just going up and down the hills, it felt good. Especially going down some of the hills, just picked up a little bit of speed.”

Beebe, a senior, and Steve Pirc are the captains of this year’s team. They’re assuming the leadership spot vacated by mainstays Cal Yackin and Augie King, leaders of NDCL’s top seven for the previous three years before their graduation. NDCL maintained the tradition started by its graduated seniors of carrying a wooden head of Jesus Christ around the course at races. With Gerhardt in the fold, Beebe is confident the Lions will sustain their status as one of the region’s top packs.

“He’s just a natural distance runner,” Beebe said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. I mean, look at him, he just looks like a runner.”