Leopards Qualify for State with 5th Place Finish at DI Youngstown Regional – Cross Country
Louisville – 194 (5th Out of 24)
The Louisville Leopards Boys Cross Country Team competed at the Division I Youngstown Regional Meet at Boardman High School Saturday Afternoon. Louisville finished with 194 total places which earned them 5th place out of 24 teams. With that result, the Leopards qualify for the State Meet for the second consecutive year and sixth time this decade.
Bobby Ganser again led Louisville by placing 8th individually (7 team points) with a team best time of 16:27.2. Miklos Hendricks (16:41.7) also took 29th (23 team points) and Logan Ison (16:57.7) captured 42nd (35 team points) individually.
Six Leopards runners competed at Boardman and punched their ticket to National Trail Raceway next week. Colby Adams (66th – 52 team points), Owen Pukys (97th – 77 team points), and Sam Chlebeck (139th – 113 team points) rounded out those runners.
The Kenston Bombers had 4 runners place in the top 30 to take the DI Youngtown Regional Title with 126 total place. The Hudson Explorers were runner-up with 134 total places. The St. Ignatius Wildcats edged out the Solon Comets for third place 178-179 ahead of Louisville in fifth.
Steven Zucca (15:54.4) led the Wildcats to their third place finish as a team by finishing second individually. Justin Iler (15:47.0) was the individual champion out of University School.
The Leopards will be in familiar company when they compete in the Division I Boys Cross Country State Championship race next Saturday in Hebron. The DI Youngstown District sends 8 of the 20 state qualifying team this year, whereas the other three regions only send 12 combined. Other teams qualifying for state included the University School Preppers (6th – 223), the Medina Battling Bees (7th – 262), and the Jackson Polar Bears (8th – 287).
This is the 10th time in school history that the Louisville Boys Cross Country Team has qualified for state in team history. This is also the 9th time they’ve qualified for the state meet in the last 13 years under Head Coach Bob Sudomir.
UP NEXT: The Leopards will next compete at the State Cross Country Championships Meet on Saturday, November 2. The Boys Division I race is slated to begin at 3:00 PM from National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio.
Boys Cross Country Schedule and Results