High school cross country: Firelands girls and Keystone boys back on top in Lorain County League

Some past champions returned to the top Saturday at the Lorain County League cross country meet at Wellington High School. The Firelands girls outdistanced Oberlin 35-50 to win their first conference title since taking three straight between 2000-02 in the now-defunct Lorain County Conference. With four runners finishing in the top 10 and its No. 5 runner taking 11th, the Keystone boys won their first LCL title since winning three straight from 2019-21. Keystone finished with 33 points to beat Firelands (63). Two-time defending champ Black River was third with 80. Saturday's win was a nice step up for the Firelands girls, who finished fourth a year ago. Junior Audrey Smith led the Falcons, taking third overall out of 45 runners with a time of 23:00.46. Sophomore Dilynn Copley (fourth, 23:09.06), freshman Natalie Smith, Audrey's sister (fifth, 23:11.54), junior Gianna Camera (12th, 25:00.87) and sophomore Sarah Bartish (15th, 25:44.84) rounded out Firelands' top five. "With me having a pretty rough year individually, this means a lot to me," said Audrey Smith, last year's individual champion. "I'm super proud of my team and how we pushed each other and learned how to pace off of each other. Last year, I won conference individually and that was amazing, but this feels even better winning as a team because it shows how much time and work the athletes and coaches put into cross country." Firelands coach Bob Donelson's first year leading the Falcons was 2004 when the girls finished second to Avon (30-46) at the final Lorain County Conference meet. "It's fantastic," Donelson said. "The girls have worked very hard all season. My coaching staff (Steve Lias and Chelsey Copley) has been telling the girls for the last two years that they are capable of winning a conference championship." After taking second in 2022 and third last year, the Keystone boys got back on track to win their fourth LCL title since the league began in 2019. Freshman Jamie Yuronich led the Wildcats with a third-place finish out of 48 runners in 17:33.56. Junior Eli McConoughey (fourth, 17:40.36), junior Craig Stroud (fifth, 17:48.87), freshman Sam McConoughey (10th, 18:49.86) and freshman Brooks Thompson (11th, 18:59.02) completed the 'Cats top five. "I was very happy that Keystone was able to win," Yuronich said. "We've been training all season for this. It was a real team effort. I'm very glad that we were able to get it done. We're looking forward to the district meet next week and we're really hoping to move on to regionals." Keystone coach Tom Habenicht was upbeat after the win. "I'm proud of this team," Habenicht said. "They really wanted to get the conference championship back. Today was the result of lots of hard work. This honor is due to both are varsity and JV working together all year to get better and a great coaching staff that wants the best for them. I'm grateful to have great support from my athletes, my parents and my coaches to make this possible." Seniors Joe Fox of Wellington and Olivia Szmania of Black River took home individual honors. Fox, who clocked 16:53.44 to hold off Black River sophomore Connor Rhein (17:01.91), is a two-time Division III state qualifier and Rhein was a Division III state qualifier as a freshman. Fox is the Wellington boys' first conference cross country champion since Eric Evans won the 2000 LCC meet. Szmania was the class of the girls race, turning in a time of 21:24.35 to outdistance Wellington junior Lauren Vannatter (22:19.49). Rhein was third last year in 17:12 while Fox was fourth in 17:22. "The last three races prepped me for the conference meet," Szmania said. "I've faced some tough competition throughout my high school career. Winning the conference championship was one of my goals. To finish out my senior year with the conference championship and runner of the year is a great honor." Szmania finished only ninth at last year's meet in 23:00. "This was my first time running at Wellington and their course is very tough," Szmania said. "It's worse than LCCC but this is preparing me for districts. Without the current coaching staff (coach Steve Rhein, Connor's dad) and coach (Patrick) Brean, our previous coach, I wouldn't be at this level today. They've really pushed me to get better week after week." Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. BOYS TEAM STANDINGS: 1. Keystone, 33; 2. Firelands, 63; 3. Black River, 80; 4. Wellington, 112; 5. Columbia, 128; 6. Oberlin, 129; 7. Brookside, 132; 8. Clearview, incomplete team INDIVIDUAL RESULTS: 1. Joe Fox (Wellington), 16:53.44; 2. Connor Rhein (Black River), 17:01.91; 3. Jamie Yuronich (Keystone), 17:33.56; 4. Eli McConoughey (Keystone), 17:40.36; 5. Craig Stroud (Keystone), 17:48.87; 6. Carter Woods (Firelands), 18:07.68; 7. Dane Vanderpool (Firelands), 18:08.44; 8. Ryan Copen (Firelands), 18:10.93; 9. Noah Orgel (Black River), 18:11.35; 10. Sam McConoughey (Keystone), 18:49.86; 11. Brooks Thompson (Keystone), 18:59.02; 12. Mason LaScola (Brookside), 19:12.24; 13. Peter Caldwell-Kepner (Oberlin), 19:16.81; 14. Zane Palmer (Brookside), 19:23.49; 15. Jake Skor (Columbia), 19:23.55; 16. Grant Abeyta (Oberlin), 19:37.26; 17. Nicholas Sword (Wellington), 19:39.99; 18. Connor Adams (Columbia), 19:46.36; 19. Aaron Powers (Firelands), 19:50.85; 20. Brock Martin (Black River), 19:51.52; 21. Grant Brezinski (Brookside), 19:55.20; 22. Alex Willi (Keystone), 19:58.84; 23. Tanner Tubs (Firelands), 20:07.59; 24. Kyler Vonderau (Black River), 20:10.13; 25. Lucas Olive (Black River), 20:12.82 GIRLS TEAM STANDINGS: 1. Firelands, 35; 2. Oberlin, 50; 3. Black River, 69; 4. Keystone, 81; 5. Wellington, 114. Brookside, Columbia and Clearview all had incomplete teams INDIVIDUALS RESULTS: 1. Olivia Szmania (Black River), 21:24.35; 2. Lauren Vannatter (Wellington), 22:19.49; 3. Audrey Smith (Firelands), 23:00.46; 4. Dilynn Copley (Firelands), 23:09.06; 5. Natalie Smith (Firelands), 23:11.54; 6. Emma Palmer (Brookside), 23:18.52; 7. Aubrey Abeyta (Oberlin), 23:32.30; 8. Jade Mitchell (Black River), 23:43.61; 9. Courage Bielawski (Oberlin), 24:11.62; 10. Olivia Hudson (Oberlin), 24:49.28; 11. McKylie Cusano (Columbia), 24:57.46; 12. Gianna Camera (Firelands), 25:00.87; 13. Phoebe Schuck (Oberlin), 25:09.27; 14. Malenna Andel (Keystone), 25:32.04; 15. Sarah Barish (Firelands), 25:44.84; 16. Emma Wilson (Keystone), 25:52.70; 17. Marin Fedor (Keystone), 25:58.65; 18. Ashleigh Joyce (Brookside), 26:24.53; 19. Sarah Napier (Columbia), 26:31.61; 20. Youstina Hanna (Columbia), 27:06.05; 21. Jasmine McDearmon (Oberlin), 27:11.77; 22. Alathea DeBrosse (Keystone), 27:20.57; 23. Hailey Lambdin (Black River), 27:24.70; 24. Annaliese Garcia (Clearview), 27:27.94; 25. Reece Robinson (Firelands), 27:47.20