Season Highlight: The entire boys team qualified for Regionals and from the girls team, Faith Sullivan and Nora Schwarten also represented JM. Lucas Sokol continued on his journey, also qualifying for State.
On September 13, 2023, the Jackson-Milton Varsity Cross Country team traveled to Austintown Community Township Park for their second Suburban League meet. The girls started it off and placed all 4 runners in the top 30 spots. Faith Sullivan came in 2nd place (21:35.01) and following is Nora Schwarten in 6th place (22:28.26) . Abby Bueno in 22nd(24:19.32) and followed by Serenity Perrine in 30th (26:00.44) closed out the team finishes.
“Austintown is a pretty difficult course compared to others. You need to come prepared because when you’re running here it takes a toll on you. I always feel ready to run, but feel very bad halfway through. Despite it being a harder course, I enjoy running there when we do,” said Freshman Nora Schwarten.
For the boys’ team, they had a great performance placing all seven runners in the top 31. Lucas Sokol led the team coming in 2nd place (17:57.42), followed by Alex Lipp coming in 12th place (19:55.37), Thomas Holko coming in 15th with a time of 20:28.52, Landon Fortunato in 17th (20:29.24), Ethan Sokol in 18th (20:58.29), Nate Craver in 19th (21:10.85) and Dylan Deville in 31st place (22:03.05). The team also finished right behind Division 1 Howland by 1 point and scored 55.
“I didn’t run too well, it was cold but running doesn’t stop for the weather. Overall the team did well,“ said Freshman Ethan Sokol.
There were no personal bests for this meet but each member of this team put up a great fight .
Coach Sheely explains what the team has been working on to grow and gain more success, “We have been working on the mental aspect of finishing the last 1.1 miles of the 5K race, and all of the runners were able to take a big step towards accomplishing that goal tonight as we progress through the season.”
On September 19, 2023, the Jackson-Milton High School Cross Country team traveled to the Canfield Fairground to compete in the Suburban League Championship Meet against 37 other schools in Trumbull, Mahoning, and Columbiana counties. The Jays’ put up another great fight. The girls started off the night with Senior Faith Sullivan placing 7th in 20:53.3. Freshman Nora Schwarten had another strong run placing in 17th with a career PR of 21:34.6. Senior Serenity Perrine continues to get back in the mid season placing 56th with a time of 23:59.0. Sophomore Abby Bueno also had a great run finishing 59th in 24:17.7.
“Boy oh boy. Another course with rolling hills that is all open with no shade. Running this in the heat is no easy task. I pushed my limits because I knew I would have to in order to do better. I didn’t think I would PR at this course but I ended up doing it which had me and my coach surprised.“ stated Freshman Nora Schwarten
The boys team placed 4th overall as a team out of the 22 scoring teams. Junior Lucas Sokol led the team placing 7 with a career PR of 17:09.1. Freshman Thomas Holko in 57th in 19:10.2. Sophomore Landon Fortunato with a career PR placing 60th with a time of 19:22.7. Junior Alex Lipp placed 64th in 19:27.8. Freshman Ethan Sokol placed 80th in 20:02.7. Freshman Benjamin Bacorn placed 86th in 20:08.7. Sophomore Nate Craver placed 98th in 20:34.1. Junior Dylan Deville placed 126th in 21:21.7.
“This was the meet before we went to the Spartan Invitational. I didn’t go out too hard because I wanted to run well at Boardman. The whole team took this approach as well.“ said Freshman Ethan Sokol.
Both teams did very well today and they have many more meets to come to do great in as well. Coach Sheely is doing a great job with this team by pushing them to do their best.
“We are looking forward to an easy run, and an off day this week sandwiched between a workout to prepare for our next meet this Saturday at the Cardinal Interventional at Middlefield Cardinal High School.” said Coach Sheely.
The Varsity team will travel north this Saturday to compete in the Cardinal Invitational at Middlefield High School against many other competitors from Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties.
On September 30, 2023 the Jays’ Varsity cross country team traveled to Columbiana to run in the Clipper Invitational. The team traveled through a hilly, windy course.
“Not only battling the course but also the weather,” said Coach Sheely.
The girls started off coming in the top 23 out of 86 runners. Faith Sullivan led the team coming in 2nd place (21:17.89). Nora Schwarten had another solid run, finishing in 4th (21:51.74). Abby Bueno passed 17 runners in the last 2 miles of the race and finished in 17th while Serenity Perrine passed 17 runners in the last 2 miles as well finishing in 23rd.
“Columbiana is a pretty fun course besides having to run a loop. I felt good running here because I was excited for how I would place and for homecoming later that day. I’m glad I was able to get 4th and come home with a plaque,” said Freshman Nora Schwarten
The boys’ ended the race placing all 8 runners in the top 53 out of 106 runners. Lucas Sokol led the team coming in 9th (19:03.01). Alex Lipp came in 24th (19:40.04), Landon Fortunato 37th (20:43.00). Benjamin Bacorn 40th (20:53.53), Ethan Sokol 42nd (21.02.31), Dylan Deville 44th (21:16.88), Nate Craver 47th (21:30.47) and Thomas Holko 53rd (22:19.30) finished off this race. The boy’s placed 5th out of 12 other teams (142 points) and was the top 3rd Division team in this meet.
“Columbiana was the day of homecoming and no one wanted to run. It was a very hot day it was just bad overall,” said Freshman Ethan Sokol.
The team will travel to Woodland Park in McDonald on Tuesday to take on not only the MVAC in the Championship meet, but also the heat and Billy Goat Hill.
On October 3rd the Jays’ Varsity Cross Country team traveled to Woodland Park in McDonald Park Tuesday to compete in the MVAC Championship meet.
“Not only did each runner battle Billy Goat Hill at the finish, but the warmer weather made it a lot more challenging for all,” said Coach Sheely.
The girls started off the meet with Faith Sullivan being their 2023 MVAC runner up finishing with a time of 21:46.77. Nora Schwarten claimed 1st team All-MVAC finishing in 4th with a time of 22:49.19. Serenity Perrine claimed 2nd team All-MVAC with an 11th place finish (23:44.81, senior PR) (a 91 second improvement year over year).
The boys’ team had another solid performance placing 8 runners in the top 37. Lucas Sokol earned 1st team All-MVAC finishing in 5th with a time of 18:03.06. Thomas Holko 11th (19:47.67) and Alex Lipp 14th (19:47.67) earned 2nd team All-MVAC honors. Ethan Sokol 16th (20:10.84) and Benjamin Bacorn 24th (20:44.50) closed out the top 5 scoring. Landon Fotunato 25th (20:52.18), Nate Craver 30th (21:30.22) and Dylan Deville 37th (22:14.59) finished the night.
On October 21, 2023 Jackson-Milton Cross Country team traveled to Canton Glen Oak High School to compete in the OHSAA Division 3 District meet with regional bids on the line. With only the top 16 individuals advancing to next week’s competition, the girls started off the morning and the pace went out fast and furious. Faith Sullivan ran a gusty race securing her Regional bid with a career PR finishing 7th with a time of 20:17.18. Nora Schwarten competed the entire race between 11th and 16th and with a strong finish and career PR of her own, finished 13 with a time of 21:27.97 securing her stop for regionals. Serenity Perrine (22:48.57) and Abby Bueno (23:25.88) competed and battled through the entire race finishing 24th and 30th.
And to end this long morning we have the boys. They made it in the top 5 teams and 20 individuals were up for grabs to advance to regionals.
“The team understood the importance of every position, and with a big surge over the last 1.5 miles, secured a 4th place team finish which solidified their spot in next week’s Regional race,” said Coach Sheely. Lucas Sokol led the team with an 8th place finish. Alex Lipp followed with a 28th place finish. Thomas Holko (33rd) led a pack if 4 runners including Landon Fortunato (40th), Ethan Sokol (42nd, career PR 19:32.11), and Benjamin Bacorn (43rd, career PR 19:32.70) out of the next 11 to help secure the 4th place team finish. Nater Craver competed hard and helped displace other teams’ 6th place runners finishing in 54th.
