Cross Country: Division I, District 2
Irish’s McCartney, Eagles’ Gyurke shine
10/21/2012
Central Catholic's George McCartney helped the Irish to a third place finish.
The Blade/Lori King
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Four of Northview's top five runners placed in the top 11 spots to give the Wildcats the Division I District 2 boys championship on Saturday afternoon at Pearson Park.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame Academy's long-standing district dominance continued.
Northview finished with 54 points to win the boys championship, followed by St. John's Jesuit 73, Central Catholic 76, Ashland 103, Norwalk 112, Bowling Green 166, Tiffin Columbian 172, Anthony Wayne 186, Wapakoneta 261, and Bowsher 270 to make up the top 10 teams.
Central Catholic's George McCartney helped the Irish to a third place finish.
Central Catholic's George McCartney and Charlie Gibbons came up strong and pushed each other to get out in front of the pack to take the top two spots. McCartney pulled away down the final stretch and won the race with a time of 16 minutes, 21.10 seconds. Gibbons followed closely to come out as the runner-up with a time of 16:24.70.
Northview's Kyle Brooks placed third (16:28.50), followed by Tiffin Columbian's Brandon Gibson (16:29.20), Norwalk's Quentin Howell (16:50.80), St. John's Drew Savage (16:54.0), Central's Casey Gopp (16:55.30), St. John's Nicholas Jarrell (16:59.70), Northview's Jared Noe (17:00.00), and Northview's Tyler Rayoum (17:00.90).
Northview's Chris McKown finished 11th (17:01.60) and Haden Aldrich was 21st (17:27.00) to help the Wildcats run to the district title.
PHOTO GALLERY: District cross country meets
"We're thrilled," Northview coach David Briggs said. "Our guys ran really well. Winning here is awesome. St. John's is a great team. We've got some tough kids."
St. John's competed without top runner Tevin Brown, who has been sidelined for three weeks with a stress fracture.
"We're happy with second place even though we were hoping to come in and win with our No. 1 kid out," St. John's coach Todd Black said. "We'll take it."
Clay's Erin Gyurke, a junior, got her first district title, winning the race by 14 seconds.
Clay's Erin Gyurke completed the 5K race 14 seconds faster than the rest of the pack to claim her first district title.
Gyurke, a junior, crossed the finish line in 19 minutes, 5 seconds.
"It's icing on the cake," Gyurke said. "It's about getting back to where I was before all the injuries. I feel strong. I'm ready."
The Eagles' standout cross country/track runner had been hobbled with some nagging injuries since the spring when she competed as a member of the Eagles track team. She spent most of the summer months limiting her workouts to allow her injuries to heal.
Over the course of the cross country season Gyurke has steadily showed signs of regaining her all-around strength. A near-complete health recovery clearly showed at the district meet, where she took over the race midway through and never looked back.
Perrysburg's Taylor Monheim came across the finish line second (19:19.40), followed by Notre Dame's Stephanie Sherman (19:27.50), Clay's Haley Hess (19:42.50), Ashland's Brooklyn Duewel (19:54.70), Notre Dame's Lindsey Myers (19:55.40), Southview's Alex Wainstein (20:12.10), Clay's Hannah Hess (20:16.60), Central Catholic's Alex Matus (20:24.50), and Maumee's Madison Buck (20:25.00).
Sherman, who was one of five freshmen to place in the top 10, led NDA to its ninth district title in 11 years under longtime coach Becky Mincheff.
Sydney Sherman ran 12th (20:31.50), Samantha Hill 14th (20:41.80), and Cortney Haubert 16th (20:49.20) to complete NDA's top five finishers to help lead the Eagles to the district championship with 51 points. Clay placed second with 59 points, followed by Ashland 70, Perrysburg 85, Central 149, Maumee 155, Springfield 182, Southview 189, and Bowsher 280.
"We're pretty happy with it," Mincheff said. "Obviously, you want to get out of district as a team, and we did that and won."
Contact Donald Emmons at: demmons@theblade.com, 419-724-6302 or on Twitter @DemmonsBlade.