Big Effort for Tigers
Published 3:41 am Wednesday, September 30, 2009
RIO GRANDE — Rio Grande means large river. For the Ironton Fighting Tigers on Saturday it meant the team on the river came up large.
Ironton’s boys cross country team turned in a big performance as the Fighting Tigers captured the University of Rio Grande Invitational in the White Division.
Ironton had just 36 points to easily outdistance St. Marys who had 79 points. Williamstown was third with 82 points, Bishop Hartley had 92 and Capital (W.Va.) was fifth with 181 in the 19-team field.
Gary Monroe led the Fighting Tigers as he ran an 18:40 time to finish second overall.
Turning in strong efforts were Dustin Moritz who was fifth at 19:13 and Adam Stumbo with a 19:14 time to finish just one spot back in sixth.
Levi Runyon at 19:30 and Pierce Reeves with a 19:35 clocking placed 11th and 12th, respectively.
Other team scores were:
Westfall 189, St. Bernard 219, Manchester 235, South Webster 240, Portsmouth Clay 273, Trimble 319, River Valley 353, Logan Elm 357, Whiteoak 359, Oak Hill 364, Gallipolis 368, Waverly 375, Minford 445 and West Union 478.
Other runners for Ironton were: Tyler Lawless 24:47, Bobby Sizemore 24:58, Sean Lawless 26:19 and Nathan Hale 29:23.
In the girls’ Red Division, Hurricane, W.Va., had 30 points to win in a six-team field, but Ironton’s Taylor Hacker claimed a sixth place finish individually with a 21:30 time.
Teammate Ariel Schweickart was No. 26 with a 24:01 clocking, No. 48 Hannah Cronacher at 27:59 and No. 49 Kaylie Sturgill at 28:00.
The Fairland Lady Dragons were fourth in the 13-team White Division field with 123 points. St. Marys won with 37 points followed by Williamstown with 79 and Bishop Hartley had 116.
Megan Ashton ran a 23:12 to lead Fairland with a 12th place finish. Carrie Tanner was No. 15 at 23:24, No. 26 Tori Hutchison 24:23, No. 37 Carmen Webb 25:27, No. 53 Mariah Chaffin 26:15 and No. 113 Presley Lewis 31:15.
In the boys’ Red Division, Winfield (W.Va.) had 64 points to win followed by Hurricane (W.Va.) with 90, Athens 91, West Branch 109 and Fairland was fifth with 151 points.
Next was Greenbrier East (W.Va.) with 157, Southern 195, McClain 225, Zane Trace 248, Federal Hocking 254, Vinton County 268 and Alexander 269.
Joe Stewart led Fairland once again as he placed seventh overall with an 18:14 time.
Raine Wireman was No. 30 with a 19:39 time, Garrett Wireman No. 38 at 19:58, Logan Rowe No. 45 with a 20:16 time and Robbie Hinshaw was No. 52 at 20:35.
Other runners for Fairland included:
Jesse Emery 20:48, Logan Froehlich 20:54, Sam Nelson 20:56, Ryan Stewart 21:01, Hunter Gibson 21:55, Ian Beaty 21:57, Alex Guzman 22:25, Dylan Hannon 23:00, Tanner Shenewark 23:12, Grant Clarkson 23:30, Chase Mcdowell 23:51, Brenden Tweel 24:10, Trey Davis 27:24 and Josh Montgomery 27:38.