ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP —
If there was any sibling rivalry between Edgewood long-distance runners Josh and Chris Lemay, it had to take a back seat Wednesday afternoon at Lakeshore Park. Chris led a trio of Warrior cross country runners to the top finish at the All-Ashtabula County Cross Country Meet by posting a time of 17:22. His twin brother, Josh, finished third at 17:58 just behind Darryn Tomsic at 17:50.
“In the beginning, I was going with Darryn,” Chis said. “Then I saw (Matt) Kantor (of Jefferson) fell, so I took over. My dad told me before the race if I use my endurance I could beat him.”
His twin brother was excited not only for Chris but for his team.
“It feels great, best feeling I’ve ever had,” Josh said. “I said to myself, ‘imagine if we got first, second and third,’ and I really pushed myself.”
The second-place finisher, Tomsic, was also happy for the team.
“I knew Lakeside’s No. 1 and Jefferson’s No. 1 was out,” Tomsic said. “We really wanted to take advantage. I just wanted to come out and run my race today, I had a lot of people telling me to relax.
“About the second mile is when realized we were one, two and three. Guys are really stepping up for the team.”
Edgewood coach Steve Hill is appreciative of how his team pushes each other.
“That’s been the heart of our team all year,” Hill said. “Chris and Josh are great, they work hard, they talk shop, they do a great job to work with each other. Darryn has been a leader all year.
“For us to have a sophomore finish first and his brother third with Darryn in between them is great.”
While Edgewood had the top team score of 31, Lakeside finished in a close second with a score of 49. The first Dragon to cross the finish line was junior Brady Bunnell, who finished fourth overall with a time of 18:10.
“Brady ran a fantastic race today,” Lakeside coach Greg Zannelli said. “He’s been working really hard and it paid off for him today.”
“It’s probably the hardest course we have,” Bunnell said. “A lot of people were slipping and sliding out there but the times were pretty stellar”
Junior Will Taggart finished second for Lakeside and sixth overall with a time of 18:19.
“We just had to step it up today,” Taggart said. “This was the toughest race of the year.”
The third Dragon to finish was another junior, Caleb Henry who came in eighth overall with a time of 18:26.
“I felt great out there today.” Henry said. “It was one of my best races and I knew my team would do great things today.”
“Overall, we feel good about how we did today,” Zannelli said. “They (the team) just put in a lot of hard work and it paid off. My hats off to Edgewood. I have a lot of respect for coach Hill. He can find talent and develop it better than anyone in the county.”
Other top finishers were Kantor of Jefferson, who finished fifth with a time of 18:15. Heath Martin of Grand Valley took seventh at 18:22. Drew Wunderling was ninth for Pymatuning Valley at 18:36, while Jefferson’s Steven Houser finished 10th with a time of 18:40. Conneaut’s top finisher Christian Tusai in 24th with a time of 19:33.
Jefferson placed third as a team, followed by Grand Valley in fourth, Pymatuning Valley in fifth and Geneva in sixth.
“I was really happy with the way things turned out today, the weather held out for us and I appreciate all the volunteers that made this happen,” meet organizer Warren Dillaway said. “Most of the schools here today are in different leagues now. This gives everyone a chance to run against each other.”
Shaffer is a freelance writer from Ashtabula.
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