The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Chagrin girls aiming for better finish in Hebron
The Chagrin Falls girls cross country team wants to finish higher in the team standings at the state meet this year, including a more strenuous practice regimen. The Tigers started their season Sept. 2.,
Chagrin Falls spent the entirety of last fall ranked at, or near, the top of the state among Division II’s girls teams. At the state meet, Annie Zimmer finished second to lead a fourth-place team effort by the Tigers.
Zimmer leads a group of five runners who return from last year’s top seven: Hannah Clark, Katherine Coffey, Hannah Zaluski and Kate Flynt. Zimmer made her third state trip in three seasons and set a personal best time of 18:02.
But the accomplishments of Zimmer and her teammates last season didn’t earn them any respite.
Rather, coach Clay Burnett amped Chagrin Falls’ offseason training to a more rigorous level with an eye on taking steps farther up the state podium come November. By Bur- nett’s assessment, the Tigers ran more miles at a more demanding pace than ever before.
“It was definitely a different schedule,” Clark said. “It was hard to get used to, but it’ll pay off at the end.”
The Tigers ran longer distances at faster times. Burnett tasked them running anywhere from 30 to sometimes 50 minutes at strenuous paces. When the season began, Chagrin Falls tapered its mid-week training back to the short, fast workouts.
“That’s what we’re doing now,” Zimmer said. “But during the summer we had a really big base build-up, so I think at the end of the season that’ll pay off.”
The varsity team ran for the first time at Kenston’s Gibas Invitational on Sept. 2. Zimmer (19:03) placed second and Clark (19:52) sixth to lead the Tigers to third place.
Defending state champion Leah Roter of Beach- wood opened her senior season with a 17:34 to win the girls race. After Zimmer, Chardon’s Denali Selent (19:24) was third and Kenston freshman Elyse Pleune (19:30) finished fourth to round out area runners in the top five.
Chardon’s girls were second behind champion CVCA and Kenston was fifth.
University sophomore Justin Iler (15:55) won for the second time in as many races this season. Kenston’s Jakob McConnell (16:10) and Sam Markel (16:32) were second and third, Lake Catholic’s Matt Kirchner (16:37) placed fourth and Wickliffe’s Dylan Barnes (16:38) finished fifth.
McConnell and Markel led Kenston to the team title with 27 points. The Preppers were third, Cougars fourth and Madison fifth in the team standings.
Early in the season, Burnett’s keeping his team’s focus process-oriented. He evaluated the Kenston meet as a good first race, but the team is still building to peak performance.
For him, the regular season meets will be checkpoints.
“Some of them are confidence-builders,” Burnett said. “We did have some girls PR today which is exciting, especially seeing how much work they’re putting in during the week right now. That’s definitely a good sign and it points to good things down the road.”
The Tigers will also benefit from state experience, and a schedule packed with challenging meets. After running in Hebron last year as a freshman, Clark has a better knowledge base alongside a goal to break the 19-minute mark this year.
“I didn’t really know what to expect going in,” Clark said. “I know what the course is like now and I know the atmosphere and how to go about the race. I feel like that’ll help, not only the meets in the regular season but also if we make it far this year.”
The potential for a highplacing team again exists for Chagrin Falls, evidenced by their No. 5 preseason ranking in the state’s preseason coaches poll.
Just how high the Tigers could place in Hebron will depend on their improvement through each meet.
“Throughout the season we’re just thinking about the end of the season,” Zimmer said. “Right now we just want to be healthy and get good workouts in, then race on the weekends and try our best. We know t hat d istr ic t s, reg ionals, states are what we’re looking toward and obviously we want to go back down to the state meet this year.”