Author: dlancian

Congratulations to both Men and Women’s team for their dominating performance at the Legends Invite this past weekend as both teams took 1st place. Despite the fact that the spread between our number 1 runner and #5 runner was too large, the key take away was the fight and determination shown by most of you while you battled through a very difficult terrain. It appeared as though many of you didn’t let the muddy conditions alter your fight towards beating a runner in front of you. This intangible is exactly what we will need if we want the final destination to be the top of the podium.

Congratulations to Senior Alex Phillips for ending his regular season career as the champion of the Legends Invite.

Now the journey is down to two more mountains in order to earn the right to go to the “Big Dance”

Photos from the race courtesy of Christian Lisle:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AlMMInR3s6uQiJUg3K8t-Xoen2oSyw

The Midwest Meet of Champions race was by far the strangest invitational we have been in this year starting with the soft ground conditions to a gator directing the guys race the wrong way! However, despite these bizarre situations, the competition was as extremely intense as anticipated. Unfortunately,  many of our Irish didn’t rise to the challenge.

The good news of the day was the depth shown by our younger runners. Due to their efforts, we now are going into our final regular season invite with a challenge for both teams as to who will be our top 7 for the post season. The final chapters will now begin to be written.

Here are the photos from this past weekend thanks to Christian Lisle:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AlMMInR3s6uQiIhY5Xsgmb3YIl4qWA

The Lady Irish not only dominated the Silver division, they also won the overall race beating out some of the top division 1 schools from Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. This has only been done one time before at the All Catholic and that was done by our Lady Irish in 2010. The All Catholic has been contested for 24 years.

The men’s team also won the Silver division in convincing fashion by placing all 7 runners in the top 20.

The Lady Irish have won their 2nd straight Invitational this past weekend at the Youngstown Boardman Invitational.  The Fighting Irish took the title over 50 other teams. The Irish were led by Sophomore Theresa Hagey who finished 2nd overall in a field of 425 runners. She was followed by Amelia Moll, Nina Zraik, Sadie Porchowsky, Natalie Tobin and Quincy Powers. The Lady Irish are currently ranked 2nd in the state.

Chapter 2 – GlenOak Invite: Both the guys and girls teams dominated the Division II/III race winning in convincing fashion. Senior Alex Phillips lead the charge for the Irish men as he won the race in division II. Nina Zraik led the way for the ladies. Both team victories was decided by the closeness of the top 6 finishers. Both teams showed tremendous pack running and all showed a great fight at the end of the race.

Chapter 3 – Avon Lake: Sophomore Theresa Hagey won the overall title by a convincing margin of 33 seconds as she helped lead the Irish to a 6 point title over Shaker Heights. Theresa was followed by Amelia Moll, Nina Zraik, Sadie Porchowsky and Natalie Tobin. The ladies team won the title against all division I schools. This is now the ladies second straight title.

The guys team were without 2 key runners and yet they still ended up in a respectable 3rd place finish only losing the runner up title by 4 points. The guys team also ran up in division I. Matt Sollenberger was the first finisher for the Irish. he was followed by Colin Scahill, Andrew McSteen, Chase Powers and Nick Steel.

Now the mountains become even more intense – stay tuned for more of the 2018 story!

Thanks to Christian Lisle here are the links for both the Glen Oak and the Avon Lake invites:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AlMMInR3s6uQiIEOa2QQzR8u0–M1A (Avon Lake Invite)

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AlMMInR3s6uQh_1PT-tdD1TiSumyng (Glen Oak Invite)

The first chapter of the 2018 journey concluded with a resounding success by both the Men’s and Women’s team as we traveled to Hebron (the location of the state finals) for the OHSAA Early Bird Invitational.

The guys team started the day off with an impressive win over a field of 22 teams and 220 runners. The ladies then followed suit with an impressive 2nd place showing, only losing by 9 points for the title.

Now, onto chapter 2 – Glen Oak invite …. ( how will this chapter be written?)

Thanks to Christian Lisle, I am able to submit the following link for a variety of photos from Saturday’s race:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AlMMInR3s6uQh_h_xhiEX7vbiE09qQ

The 2018 Cross Country story began this past weekend at Camp Wanakee.  I would like to thank all of the athletes who were able to come for the weekend. I was most impressed by the team bonding between the guys team and the ladies team that happened throughout the entire weekend culminating in a very interesting video presentation on Saturday night. As we now embark on our quest to the state finals, I am encouraging all to continue to grow and accept the pitfalls along with the successes. REMAIN FAITHFUL IN YOUR GOD GIVEN ABIILTY. COURAGE IS THE ABILITY TO GO BEYOND THE PAIN.

THE 2018 FIGHTING IRISH CROSS COUNTRY TEAM ARE LOOKING FOR THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO WOULD LIKE TO JOIN OUR FAMILY AS WE EMBARK ON A QUEST FOR A STATE TITLE FOR BOTH THE GUYS AND GIRLS TEAMS.

IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY  SIGNED UP, PLEASE CONTACT COACH DAN LANCIANESE AT 330-352-5602 OR EMAIL AT DLANCIAN22@GMAIL.COM. OR SIMPLY SHOW UP TO ANY OF OUR SUMMER SESSIONS. ALL ARE WELCOME – EVEN IF YOU ARE IN ANOTHER FALL SPORT.

THE FIRST SESSION OF SUMMER CONDITIONING BEGINS MONDAY JUNE 18TH @ FIRESTONE METRO PARK (TUSCARAWAS SHELTER).