News and Results

Wolfson eleventh, Ainsman eighth at Spartan Invite

BOARDMAN, Ohio, Sept. 15 - “Let’s take a moment of silence to honor those killed in Tuesday’s attacks,” coach Ed Flynn said before the start of today’s race here. “They can no longer direct their lives,” he continued, “but you can. So go have fun, and run hard.”

And so the Dragons did. Senior Ian Wolfson placed eleventh and junior Molly Ainsman eighth in the 14th annual Spartan Invitational, one of the premier races in the tri-state area.

Wolfson stressed the importance of a fast start, especially on the crowded, curvy Spartan course. “I started out with the lead pack, and I let them carry me through the race,” he said. Wolfson’s spectacular 16:45 finish is his personal record for a 5k.

Sophomore Tom Jech (17:48) and junior Edwin Uber (18:22) joined Wolfson as the top boys finishers. “I took it out way too fast,” said Jech, who, after the first quarter mile, was in second place with Uber right behind. “After that, everyone kept passing me.”

Jech has dropped minutes off his times since joining the team midway through last season. Why the improvement? “I practice hard. Practice makes perfect. I’ve been listening to my coaches and not doing drugs,” Jech said with a sarcastic smile.

Ainsman (20:05) was equally pleased with her improvements this season. She said, “Deep Creek was hard because I hadn’t done a real workout. You just get into shape quickly when you run a lot.”

The cooler weather and flatter course made for times faster than at last week’s California University Invitational in California, Pa. “I didn’t know the course, and it felt like it just kept going and going,” said Junior Erica Pasciullo (20:31) in reference to the California race.

Senior Tina Karan (21:13), too, had a better race than last week. Struggling to push herself into the role as one of the team’s lead runners, she seems to have finally found her place. “Last week I didn’t feel like I lived up to my high potential. I didn’t really trust myself to be in the front.” This week, she said, was different. “I felt I had nothing to lose, and I went for it.”

The junior varsity boys worked hard to make headway in their race, which, with 345 runners, was the largest of the day. Because of the location of Allderdice’s starting box, many got caught on the inside of the first turn. “The start was ridiculous,” said senior Sam Ennis (19:18). “People threw elbows, and I didn’t think it was very sportsmanlike.” But he added, “I cut off so many people that I don’t have much room to speak.”

Just ahead of Ennis was sophomore Alex Wein, who led the JV with a personal record 19:12. Agreeing with Ennis, he said, “The start was crowded. You had to run out as fast as you, but I didn’t."

Still, the coaches were pleased that the Dragons tried to start out fast. "I thought that the best part was that everyone took it out tough. Green was always first at the top of the first hill," said Coach Deb Weaver, referring to the 15 foot bump at the end of the funnel.

The Boardman course, although the flattest course the Dragons run, is one of the most technically challenging. Runners constantly jostle for position around the sharp corners, and, sometimes, nothing short of acrobatics is required to tiptoe around a crowd or leap over a fallen runner. Still, the course was in better in condition than it was last year, when overnight rain turned the grass to mud.

This past week a cold spread through the ranks of Allderdice’s runners, and it definitely affected them today. Juniors Ron Warnock, Matthew Meisel, and Greg Herschlag, sophomores Torrie Caruso and Casey Rubenstein, and freshman Lara Nagle were all beleaguered by cold symptoms. “I was super sick,” Caruso said. Despite the bug, all six ran.

The Dragons travel to the Uniontown campus of Penn State next weekend for the Uniontown Invitational. Both boys and girls will have a fair chance at capturing the team crowns there.