The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Avon Lake boys, Avon girls take home titles
Frombach leads Avon, Nasr paces Avon Lake at SWC Preview
Make it a repeat. The Avon Lake boys cross country team won the 13th annual Southwestern Conference Preview title for the second straight year on Aug. 26 at Lorain County Community College.
The Shoremen finished with 53 points, well ahead of runnerup Amherst (79) and Avon (89)
in a field of 10 teams. The Avon girls took home the crown with 45 points, ahead of Amherst (60) and Avon Lake (77).
Avon Lake featured two runners in the top 10 and five in the top 14, with junior Jacob Nasr placing sixth with a 17:07.9 and senior Eric Alu coming in at eighth (17:10.9).
“We’ve been working really hard and it paid off,” Nasr said. “We just have to keep working and hopefully we can get the same result at the end of the year.”
The Shoremen had a trio of runners finish consecutively 12 through 14, with sophomore Ryan Keller placing 12th (17:28.9), Michael Kuban (17:33.4) and Zivon Stojanovski (17:34.6).
“The hill was the top challenge,” Nasr added about the course. “You have to pace yourself and save some for the hill. We’ve been doing a lot of hill work over the summer and strength training.”
Speaking of hills, the individual star of the day belonged to Amherst junior Josh Hill, who breezed past everyone with a 16:09.2, ahead of runner-up Jack Reed (16:37.3) of Avon.
Hill finished second at the preview meet last season.
“I was going for the school record,” Hill said, which is a
“I was a little tired from yesterday’s workout. But it’s OK and I’m happy with my time.”
After qualifying in the state meet in track and field in the mile, Hill ran roughly 30 miles per week during the summer and is eying the school record this season.
“I want to get a 15:10 at state,” he added.
Avon girls
Junior Jules Frombach was the driving force behind the Eagles’ win, clocking in at 20:01.5, barely edging Westlake’s Emma Jaros (20:04.9) and Teagan Walsh (20:10.8). Avon had three runners in the top 10, with senior Claudia Hermann placing sixth (20:42.1) and senior Sydnie Firment following with a 20:44.3. Frombach outkicked Jaros down the final stretch to separate herself.
“I passed her as I started sprinting, then she started sprinting and for a couple seconds we were running side by side,” Frombach said. “Then I just got a little step on her and pulled away a bit.”
Avon had four girls finish consecutively 15 through 18, with Alexis Firment (21:04.1), Meadow Smith (21:10.2), Abby King (21:25.9) and Shanna Koehler (21:27.4).
Although it’s the first meet of the season, Avon is poised to be a strong contender to win the SWC in October, and Frombach now has the pair of Westlake girls on her radar for when they meet again.
“It’s really cool because hopefully now we can start gaining on these Westlake girls,” Frombach said. “Because we know when we see them again it’s going to be really tough at conference.
“So if we could all work together and pack up, it’s going to be a really close conference. We have a good chance.”