The boys regional cross country meet at Boardman on Saturday will be familiar to a number of runners and teams, but it will be new to a few more.

Luckily, nearly every area runner competing will have a teammate along for the race. And it’s those teammates that may just make the difference for the Edgewood, led by Thomas Butryn and Riverside, led by Dan Shafer and Zack McBride, teams, as well Dean Light and Brien Croff of Perry, Drew Avsec and Gabe McLeod of Geneva and Konner Lashley and Bobby Bismark of Madison.

“We’re only allowed to have seven run, but we still have 10 or 11 kids showing up to practice every day,” Riverside coach Phil Baioni said. “They’re there for moral support. They want to do whatever they can to help the team. They want to make things easier.

“They’re not running (on Saturday), but they’re there for moral support. That’s great. That’s uplifting.”

“It will be so nice,” Avsec said. “Last year, it was just me all alone. It’s a big help to have someone to work with at practice. It will be a big help in the race. My goal is to have (McLeod) run with me most of the race.”

“Eighty percent of guys are still practicing,” Madison coach Jeremy Verdi said. “They’re right along with (Lashley and Bismark) training.”

The lone area runner with out a teammate in his race will be Pymatuning Valley’s Kyle Eastlake.

Running begins at 11:05 at Boardman high school with races beginning every 45 minutes until the final race, the Division I boys, which starts at 2:50 p.m.

The top four teams and top 16 individuals in each race will advance to run at the State Cross Country Meet at Scioto Downs in Columbus next Saturday.



Teams

n Edgewood, Division II – Running in one of the toughest regionals, the Warriors have their work cut out for them. But Columbus is a possibility for coach Steve Hill and his crew.

“We need to have six personal records,” Hill said. “It will take a lot for us, but we definitely have to have a big day in order to make it out.”

“Everyone has to run a really good race,” Butryn said. “They all have to stick with the people they know they can run with and hopefully beat them in order for us to make it out.”

The regional is tough and the Warriors know exactly the kind of competition they face.

“We’re competing against Woodridge, who is No. 1 in the state and we’ll be chasing a few others,” Hill said. “The teams from our region will be no worse than sixth at the state meet. That speaks for itself.

“We have a young team, also. We have one senior and the rest of our guys are like freshmen and sophomores. It will be a good experience for them down there. They’ll see the competition and we’ll build for the future.

Running for the Warriors will be Butryn, Travis Dickey, Taylor Dufour, Chris Incorvati, Phillip Scheanon and Derryn Tomsic.

The goal for the Warriors is to have five runners within a minute of Butryn’s time.

“That still applies,” Butryn said. “They might go out harder for the first mile, but they just have to keep me in sight for as long as possible. They have to be within a minute of me, whether it goes out faster or slower.”

Butryn stands a good chance to qualify as an individual, should the team fail to qualify for Columbus in his fourth trip to the regional meet.

“It’s business as usual,” Butryn said. “That’s a good thing. I have a lot of experience and I know Boardman really well. I’m pretty confident. I know the course well. If it’s muddy, I know the parts that get muddy and I know the parts where I can make my move.”

Winning might not be a possibility, but Butryn knows this race is more about placing in the top 16 than it is about winning.

“I don’t think I have a chance to win,” Butryn said. “I’m worrying about being in the top 16. I just have to run a smart race and go out and run with the people I know I can run with. It’s just about running a good race.

n Riverside, Division I – The Beavers goal was to qualify for the regional meet. They did just that. Running as a team in Columbus might just be out of the question.

“It’s going to take a lot,” Baioni said. “Our goal was to qualify for the regional as a team. We reached that goal. You never know what could happen, but to make it to state, we have to have PRs across the board.

“At the regional, we have such great teams, to qualify you have to be at the top of your game. It’s going to take a little bit to get out as a team.”

Running for the Beavers will be Shafer, McBride, Jacob Burr, Alex Fuhrmann, Ian Kallay, Brian Nelson and Chris Rasch.

Shafer and McBride will have a chance to run in Columbus as individuals should the team not qualify.

“They both have a shot to go,” Baioni said. “They just need to run consistent. They need to run what they’ve run all season. They both have a great shot to qualify out. They don’t have to do anything special, just run the way they’ve been running and hopefully, that will be enough this weekend.”



Individuals

n Bobby Bismark, Madison, Division I – Bismark and Lashley will try to go out fast and let McLeod and Avsec pull them along in hopes of finishing well.

“They’ll go out faster than they normally would,” Verdi said. “They work and key off of the Geneva gentlemen.

“They’ll try and get out and have an extremely fast first mile and see if they can get out in the second mile still feeling good and let that carry over. They want to stay in the top 20 range, though everyone is trying to stay there, too.”

That strategy should help Bismark.

“Both guys are pretty good athletes,” Verdi said. “Bobby runs the 400 in track. They’ve been working out on the track trying to get to their maximum speed. They’re both competitors.

“They like to compete more than they like to run.”

“I want to go out strong and hopefully carry it through the race,” Bismark said. “I’ll do my best and be happy just to be at the regional in the first place.

“I’m used to being out fast. I’m a sprinter and I’m used to doing that. Hopefully, the adrenaline will push me through and help me at the end of the race.”

n Konner Lashley, Madison, Division I – The muddy track at Boardman is exactly the way Lashley likes it. He hopes that brings some of the field back to him.

“I think that evens out the playing field. It will bring the front of the pack closer to me.”

Consistency is what Lashley wants in the race.

“I just want to go out and run a consistent pace,” Lashley said. “I want ot be with the front pack and stay with them as long as I can.”

n Drew Avsec, Geneva, Division I – Avsec is returning to the regional meet for his second consecutive year. He’ll use that experience he gained a year ago to help him this week.

“Last year was a really good experience,” he said. “This year, I’ll try and take the positive result I got last year and try to turn it around this year and do even better.”

One of the lessons Avsec learned last year was that he doesn’t need to go out and try and win the race in the first mile.

“One thing to avoid is going out too fast,” Avsec said. “There’s always a group that starts the race too fast and you don’t want to be one of those ones to die and not make it out. You have to try and feel around for your own pace.

“I want to try and keep my second mile up. That’s been my biggest problem all year. I need to keep that first-mile pace.”

n Gabe McLeod, Geneva, Division I – McLeod has made strides all season. He’s now looking to continue along that path.

“I need to just kind of keep going with it,” McLeod said. “I’m aiming to do my best and push as hard as I can and use the good feeling from last week and use it as motivation for this week.”

McLeod is using his experience at Boardman to store knowledge for the future.

“I’ll do the best I can and the goal next year will be to be in the top 16,” he said. “I still have a shot to go (to Columbus), but next year it will be a definite goal.”

n Dean Light, Perry, Division II – Light is no stranger to the regional meet, having run there last year on his way to Columbus with the Pirates’ team. A rib injury brought on by a hip injury nearly kept him from qualifying, but he made the regional meet.

In order to get to Columbus, those injuries can’t hinder him.

“We don’t know if Dean will be healthy,” Perry coach Bill Sarvis said. “If he’s healthy, he’ll be right there.”

n Brien Croff, Madison, Division I – With Light hurting last week, Croff might have been responsible for getting not only himself to the regional, but Light as well. Croff made a point of staying with Light through the district race and pushing him along. It only helped him to have a good race for himself.

“He ran the race of his life,” Sarvis said.

Croff needs to just run his race and hope that’s enough to carry him through.

“Brien has to be Brien. He knows what he needs to do. You never know what can happen.”

n Kyle Eastlake, PV, Division III – Confidence is key for Eastlake. As well continuing to improve.

“He just needs to stay competitive,” PV coach Shauna Bryan said. “He has to go after guys he hasn’t beaten before. He did that at district. He’s a very competitive person by nature. He’s felt good and sharp lately. He has to continue on that and go out and run a really good race.

“It will take a really good race (for Eastlake to go to Columbus). But I keep telling the kids all it takes is one really great race on the right day.”