High school cross country: Lorain County's best a mix of new and repeat winners

The Lorain County Cross Country Runners of the Year awards have been given out since 2001. In all that time, no freshman had ever won the Division I girls honor. Until Kaitlyn Reese. The Avon freshman is this year's girls Division I Runner of the Year after earning All-Ohio honors at the state meet. "I'm definitely grateful for my teammates and coaches and my family for always believing in me and pushing me to the next level," Reese said. Joining Reese as this season's top county runners are Open Door senior Michael Couture, Division II-III boys; Brookside senior Madison Palmer, Division II-III girls; and Ty Perez, Division I boys. The athletes were honored Monday at the 22nd annual All-Lorain County Cross Country teams ceremony hosted by Schlather Insurance of Elyria. Reese made an immediate impact at Avon after winning the Division III middle school state cross country title for Open Door last year. She led the Eagles to their first state berth since 1988 and finished 20th out of 172 runners at state in a time of 18:45.0. She's the first Avon girl to earn All-Ohio since Jenny (Schaefer) Parker finished 13th in the Division III (then Class A) meet in 1988. Reese placed second in 19:51.23 at the Southwestern Conference meet while helping the Eagles to their third league title in four years and fifth overall. She went on to place fifth in 19:33.7 at the Elyria district to help the Eagles earn their ninth straight regional berth. She was sixth in 19:10.3 at the Boardman regional. "My fourth grade gym teacher at Open Door remarked to my parents that I was very fast," Reese said. "It was a lot of fun so my dad got me into a Healthy Kids Running Series at Westlake Rec and things just kind of took off from there." The award is the first for Couture, a three-time Division III state qualifier and two-time All-Ohio (top 30) runner. Couture earned his second straight All-Ohio award by taking 19th at the Division III state meet in 16:26.7. He was 20th at state as a junior in 16:19.9. He's the third Open Door boy to earn the all-county top honor. Cameron Rusnak won it in 2011 and Denver Daniel in 2016. In addition, he's the first Patriots boy to win All-Ohio twice since Brian Bechtel in 1986 and '87. "I'm very honored to get the award and super thankful for the award," Couture said. "I wouldn't be who I am today as a person or a runner if it weren't for the awesome coaches I've had all four years and my great teammates that pushed me to get better better everyday." Couture won his second straight Lake Effect Conference title this year with a time of 17:18.79, leading the Patriots to their second straight team title. He was runner-up in 16:51.3 at the Elyria district and then placed fourth in 16:31.6 at the Boardman regional. "I'm just super thankful for all talents that God's given me and the awesome team that he surrounded me with," Couture said. "It's great to be following in the footsteps of Brian Bechtel. He was an awesome runner. I'm glad I got to do a little bit of what he was able to accomplish." The award was a nice bookend to Palmer's career. The three-time Division II state qualifier and All-Ohio runner this season also won the award as a freshman. Palmer had an off day early in the season at the Avon Lake Earlybird meet, finishing 29th in the Maroon race in 21:50. But she bounced back quickly and went on to have a strong postseason that culminated in a 19th-place finish at the Division II state meet in 19:45.2 "I'm just really happy with how I finished at state because that was a really great finish to my senior year," Palmer said. "It was my last race and I'm really happy with that, and then getting the runner of the year is really great because I also got it my freshman year. I started my career on a strong note so I'm very proud that I finished strong too." Palmer won her second conference title in four years, winning the Lorain County League title in a school-record time of 18:52, which was also a personal best by 34 seconds.Her performance led the Cardinals to their second team title in four years. Palmer finished fifth in 20:03.8 at the Elyria district and sixth in 19:52.6 at the Boardman district. She's the Brookside girls' first state qualifier. "In seventh grade my mom asked me if I wanted to go out for cross country and I didn't really give her an answer," Palmer said. "The next year in eighth grade she asked me again and I didn't give her an answer. This time she didn't wait for my answer and told me she was going to sign me up. I ended up loving it so much. I had a great time. I met a lot of great people and the coaches were great so I came back as a freshman and I've been running cross country ever since." The award is the second for Perez, as well. He also won the honor two years ago as a freshman. The junior had a challenging end to the season for the second straight year. He finished 29th in 16:34.6 at the Boardman regional, less than one second from the 28th and final state-qualifying berth. As a sophomore, Perez finished 34th at the Boardman regional, missing the 32nd and final state-qualifying berth in by 3.8 seconds. "After the regional race I just felt like I had failed, but at the same time I was thinking about what a great comeback it would be to turn it around for next year," said Perez, who placed 58th at state as a freshman. "In times like this you just have to stay positive even when it's really hard. I learned that last year when the same thing happened. "As far what I need to do to get back on track is just keep giving it my all. I just need to try to get better training under me, like strength training to help with my legs and running workouts that really hit the areas that will help me improve, along with staying healthy because consistency is key." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-71354 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. BOYS Division I Lorain County Runner of the Year: Ty Perez, jr. (Amherst) First team: Liam Noss, sr. (Avon Lake); Luke Bowlsby, jr. (Amherst); Bradan Schnabel, sr. (Avon Lake); Lucas Edgell, so. (Midview); Jared Robinson, jr. (Midview); Zachary Janus, jr. (Midview) Second team: Colin Plunkett, sr. (Avon Lake); Franco Gallo, fr. (Avon); Henry Isaacs, jr. (Amherst); Dylan Robinson, jr. (Midview); Samson Arnold, jr. (Avon); Chase Jackson, jr. (Elyria); Ben Susi, so. (Amherst) Honorable mention: Jacob Michalak, so. (Amherst); Asa Nicely, fr. (Amherst); Josh Pomfrey, sr. (Avon); Michael Taylor, jr. (Elyria); Henry Lochbihler, jr. (Avon); Gavin Smith, so. (Elyria); Logan Bittle, jr. (Avon) Division II-III Lorain County Runner of the Year: Michael Couture, sr. (Open Door) First team: Anthony Januzzi, jr. (Open Door); Joe Fox, so. (Wellington), Andrew Young, so. (Lake Ridge); Micheal Gale, jr. (Keystone); Thomas Moore (Elyria Catholic), sr.; Joseph Webb, so. (Vermilion) Second team: Daniel Grisel, so. (Vermilion); Nolan Raack, so. (Open Door), Michael Spatafore, sr. (Keystone); Marty Joyce (Brookside), sr.; Evandor Fedor, jr. (Keystone); Jack Mungle, jr. (Open Door); Aiden Kunkle, so. (Elyria Catholic) Honorable mention: Cody Grimmet, sr. (Keystone); Zane Lassen, so. (Vermilion); Frank Washburn, sr. (Columbia); Nate Otero, so. (Open Door); Rylan Copen, so. (Firelands); Jake Skor, fr. (Columbia); Christian Gorney, fr. (Lake Ridge) Girls Division I Lorain County Runner of the Year: Kaitlyn Reese, fr. (Avon) First team: Maddie Harrington, jr. (Avon); Aurora Wilson, sr. (Amherst); Anna Argabright, jr. (Avon); Maddie Gettings, fr. (Avon); Catherine Turner, sr. (Amherst); Katherine Low, so. (Amherst) Second team: Carolina Reed, so. (Avon); Madeline Betz, jr. (Avon Lake); Sophia Pecora, so. (Amherst); Anika Singh, so. (Avon); Winter Carrell, so. (Amherst); Savannah Reed, so. (Avon); Ruby Mitchell, sr. (North Ridgeville) Honorable mention: Alaina Alflen, fr. (Amherst); Termeh Shahmir, so. (Avon Lake); Avital Shmois, jr. (Avon Lake); Madeline Cooper, sr. (Avon Lake); Sophia Elios (Avon Lake), jr.; Madelyn Palcic, jr. (North Ridgeville); Grace Henely, jr. (Midview) Division II-III Lorain County Runner of the Year: Madison Palmer, sr. (Brookside) First team: Isabella Watters, jr. (Wellington); Courage Bielawski, fr. (Oberlin); Emma Palmer, so. (Brookside); Ashleigh Joyce, so. (Brookside); Riley Egli, jr. (Columbia); Gracie Jones, so. (Elyria Catholic) Second team: Sarah Napier, so. (Columbia); Audrey Fote, so. (Elyria Catholic); Zoe Gifford, sr. (Firelands); Taylor Morris, jr.; (Wellington); Hana Bodo, jr. (Columbia); Lauren Schemmel, jr. (Elyria Catholic); Olivia Hudson, fr. (Oberlin) Honorable mention: Piper Webber, jr. (Columbia); Hope Dudziak, jr. (Wellington); Ava Lyczkowski, fr. (Vermilion); Gianna Camera, fr. (Firelands); Aubrey Abeyta, fr. (Oberlin); McKylie Cusana, so. (Columbia); Kayleigh Conners, sr. (Elyria Catholic)