Cross country: Memorable day for Amherst freshman Ty Perez at Keystone Icebreaker

Ty Perez will never forget his first high school race. Despite the hot, humid conditions for Monday's Keystone Icebreaker at Lorain County Equestrian Center, the Amherst freshman not only won his first race, he set his school's freshman record with a time of 16:41.8. "I've been training with my teammates for a long time and I was anxious to get out and race and the result was pretty good," Perez said. "I thought I could run pretty well today. I wanted to break the freshman record and that's what I wound up achieving." To maintain social distancing and keep each race under the Ohio Department of Health's limit of 150 runners, the teams were broken into pods, with the boys running three races and the girls running two. Amherst finished third in its race, right on the heels of winner Avon and second-place St. Ignatius. Comets coach Rob Glatz was pleased with what he saw from his team in its first race. "The boys have been really dedicated in their summer training. I knew they were gonna run well today. I was really proud of their efforts," he said. Perez, wasn't the only freshman to have a big day for the Comets. His his teammate Luke Bowlsby finished third with a 17:28.5. "We push each other a lot," Perez said. "Luke is my best friend. We build off of each other and we have a fun time training together." Perez credits his coaches for getting him ready for the race. All of the runners and coaches had rave reviews for the organizers from Keystone for making the first race run during the COVID-19 pandemic a successful one. "The meet managers did a wonderful job of going above and beyond all of the mandates that were handed to them by the county, the coaches association and the state," Glatz said. "Everywhere I looked, I saw people following the rules and having a good time. I think they set the stage to show everyone how we can a successful season in a global pandemic." The Eagles were led by senior Jett Wieber (16:57.9) and junior Evan Haemmerle (17:53.7), who finished second and seventh. However, the key to Avon's success was its depth, with all five scoring runners finishing in the top 13. "It was nice to start out the season with a win. I was happy with the performances," Avon coach Matt Nortz said. "We packed it up real good from third place through sixth. That's good, because we have something to work with when they are training together." Although they were near the front, Nortz felt like Wieber and Haemmerle might have been thrown off by only having five teams in the race. "I think sometimes it takes adjustment, especially after not having raced for five or six months," Nortz said. "I think they might have competed better if it was more packed at the front. I know Jett had some difficulty figuring out the pacing end of it." Avon had the top finishing girls team, placing second behind Olmsted Falls. Freshman Maddie Harrington (21:03.1) finished sixth. Columbia had two girls Kelsey Pettegrew (21:26.9) and Madeleine Finton (22:07.0) finish third and fourth, but Raiders coach Adam Bailey was equally excited about his three freshman — Riley Egli, Rachel Washburn and Hannah Bodo, who all finished in the top 25. "Even though they were unknown to everyone else, I knew how good they were and how good we could be," Bailey said. "These three girls dominated the middle school races last year and led us to a league championship. So I knew we were coming and we would surprise some people this year. They are going to know about us now for sure." Contact Todd Shapiro at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Boys Race 1 Team Standings: 1. Avon 45, 2. St. Ignatius 48, 3. Amherst 56, 4. Strongsville 92, 5. Keystone 121. Top 10 finishers: 1. Ty Perez, Amherst, 16:41.8; 2. Jett Wieber, Avon, 16:57.9; 3. Luke Bowlsby, Amherst, 17:28.5; 5. Guillaume Carrolll, St. Ignatius, 17:32.4; 6. Connor Geary, St. Ignatius, 17:33.0; 7. Evan Haemmerle, Avon, 17:53.7; 8. Mike Mayer, St. Ignatius, 10:07.2; 9. Cael Walker, Amherst, 18:10.1; 10. Joseph Maloney, St. Ignatius, 18:17.0 Race 2 Team Standings: 1. Cloverleaf 48, Black River 61, 3. Elyria Catholic 68, 4. Buckeye 93, 5. Columbia 122, 6. Lutheran West 128, 7. Brookside 170. Top 10 finishers: 1. Nolan Freeland, Cloverleaf, 17:38.7; 2. Jared Bradford, Black River, 17:54.8; 3. Wyatt Royster, Black River. 18:05.2; 4. Brett Gucker, Cloverleaf, 18:18.7; 5. Matt Krese, Elyria Catholic, 18:40.9; 6. Luke Malena, Cloverleaf, 18:50.8; 7. Scott Saksa, Columbia, 18:58.6; 8. Sam Sikorski, Columbia, 19:01.1; 9. Dillon Royster, Black River, 19:03.0; 10. Sam Silva, Lutheran West 19:19.9 Race 3 Team Standings: 1. Olmsted Falls 44, 2. Firelands 62, 3. Norwalk 62, 4. Midview 100, 5. Open Door 120, 6. Keystone 130. Top 10 finishers: 1. Kyler Kromer, Norwalk, 16:36.6; 2. Luke See, Vermilion, 17:26.6; 3. Wyatt Hale, Norwalk, 18:17.3; 4. Douglas Kukura, Olmsted Falls, 18:22.7; 5. Ryan Carnahan, Midview, 18:26.1; 6. Chayce Baldwin, Firelands, 19:02.7; 7. Kyle Neckar, Olmsted Falls, 19:03.6; 8. Michael Couture, Open Door, 19:05.7; 9. Anthony Januzzi, Firelands, 19:09.9; 10. Luke Brown, Norwalk, 19:16.0 Girls Race 1 Team Standings: 1. Cloverleaf 38, 2. Buckeye 55, 3. Columbia 65, 4. Brookside 79, 5. Elyria Catholic 125, 6. Clearview 187. Top 10 finishers: 1. Maria Porras, Cloverleaf, 20:56.1; 2. Alyssa Stoner, Cloverleaf, 20:56.3; 3. Kelsey Pettegrew, Columbia, 21:26.9; 4. Madeleine Finton, Columbia, 22:07.0; 5. Sandra Dolata, Buckeye, 22:25.1; 6. Madison Palmer, Brookside, 22:28.0; 7. Alicia Fike, Brookside, 22:33.2; 8. Paige Munchik, Cloverleaf, 22:49.0; 9. Madi Kiraly, Lutheran West, 23:08.6; 10. Morgan Sejak, Buckeye, 23:11.9. Race 2 Team Standings: 1. Olmsted Falls 37, 2. Avon 42, 3. Strongsville 73, Midview 102, Norwalk 124, Firelands 170. Top 10 finishers: 1. Katie Clute, Olmsted Falls, 17:59.4; 2. Lillie Katsaras, Olmsted Falls, 20:06.2; 3. Sydney Wingler, Strongsville, 20:28.4; Audrey Sanzone, Midview, 20:32.8; 5. Marquis Globokar, Strongsville, 20:34.0; 6. Maddie Harrington, Avon, 21:03.1; 7. Liz White, Avon; 21:04.7; 8. Meadow Smith, Avon, 21;14.5;; 9. Savannah Reed, 21:24.1; 10. Danielle Andrews, Olmsted Falls, 21:45.