ELYRIA – Avon Lake’s boys survived a brief scare Saturday at the 33rd annual Avon Lake Earlybird Cross Country Invitational at Lorain County Community College.

Avon Lake finished third in the Maroon 5K for Division I schools, but underwear issues almost ruined the day when No. 1 runner, senior Mike Parsons, was temporarily disqualified for a uniform violation by a meet umpire in the finish chute.

Meet referee Bill Buttermore reinstated Parsons after a review. The Avon Lake runner was initially penalized for wearing multicolored green and white underwear. Parsons said he has worn the same briefs for meets since freshman year for good luck.

“The referee told I me that the national (high school sports) federation said I was allowed to wear multicolor as long as it wasn’t spandex,” Parsons said. “They weren’t spandex. But I won’t be wearing these at meets any more. It’s back to solids.”

Parsons’ performance in the No. 1 slot was critical to Saturday’s result. He finished third in 16:25 to lead the Shoremen to third (109) behind No. 2-ranked St. Ignatius (66), the defending state champ. No. 12 Toledo St. Francis (102) was second in the 18-team field.

Sseniors Justin Housley (sixth, 16:44), senior Matt Marron (16th, 16:59), junior Trevor Norris (41st, 17:31) and sophomore Tommy Parsons (43rd, 17:37) rounded out the top five.

“The wind was a little tough,” Housley said. “You had to try not to float by yourself. It was brutal.”

Meet temperatures were in the high 50s, but the wind gusts, which blew from 15-30 miles-per-hour were the big problem.

“I’m happy with where we’re at,” Avon Lake coach Rob Juergens said. “I have a couple guys that could have run a little better, but we had our top six all under 18 flat. Our training is more geared so that we’re better ready for the meat grinder at our regional at the end of the year. It’s always tough and I don’t see it changing. That’s what we have to deal with so we have to work with what we can do.”

And make sure they wear the right underwear, of course.

“I was quite a shock that this happened,” Parsons said. “Now it’s OK. It was a case of back-and-forth emotions.”

The unranked Avon boys delivered a shock of their own by winning the Gold race for Division II-III schools. It was their best-ever finish in the event, having finished fourth last year and in 1983 and ’84.

Senior Tyler Kvach led the way with a second-place time of 16:43. Only Independence senior Mike Rusnaczyk (16:41) was faster.

“I felt very good,” said Kvach, a 2009 Division II state qualifier. “Our team is doing well. We’re really starting to turn the corner. We just have to keep up the intensity, momentum and keep working hard.”

Senior Sam Bickley (ninth, 17:33.2), sophomore Blake Pecoraro (10th, 17:40.5), freshman Austin Fasciana (12th, 17:52.5) and senior Ayoub Kirresh (15th, 18:08.3) rounded out Avon’s top five.

The Avon girls were second for the third time in four years, finishing behind Bay, 25-43.

Senior Liz Bruno topped her personal record by 30 seconds in taking third in 21:11.9. Last year she was 48th in 25:00.

“I had kind of a bad season last year,” she said. “I really don’t know what it was. It was mostly mental stuff. I finally just got mad at myself. I knew I needed to go after the next level. It’s my senior year and I have to make it good.”

Junior Emily Starr (eighth, 21:47.4) and sophomores Monica Bickley (ninth, 21:54.0), Emily Roessler (10th, 21:54.5) and Linda Morales (13th, 22:10.3) rounded out Avon’s top five.

In her first race since mid-June because of a sore knee, Avon Lake junior Katy Link finished 10th in the Maroon race in 19:42.3. She finished five seconds within seventh place. Last year, she was sixth in 19:26.8.

“I’m still feeling a little rusty,” Link said. “The hill really got me because I haven’t been able to train hills. Last week was my first full week of race-pace-type training. The week before that was just a series of 20-minute easy runs. No matter how many times you’ve raced you’re kind of surprised what it really takes and how much it hurts.”

Keystone sophomore Brittany Gates returned from an injured growth plate (ankle) suffered at the Midview district track meet to take 19th in the Gold race in 22:44.5.

Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

BOYS

MAROON

Team standings: 1. St. Ignatius (SI), 66; 2. Toledo St. Francis (TSF), 102; 3. Avon Lake (AL), 109; 4. St. Edward, 128; 5. Brunswick, 132. Other local teams: 11. Amherst Steele (AM), 282; 14. Black River, 372; 15. North Ridgeville, 386; 18. Elyria, 563

Top 5: 1. John Sweeney (SI), 16:10; 2. Russ McCune (Wadsworth), 19:19; 3. Mike Parsons (AL), 16:25; 4. Dan Zupan (Berea), 16:38; 5. Bryant Byrd (Perrysburg), 16:42.

GOLD

Team standings: 1. Avon (AV), 48; 2. Buckeye, 108; 3. Rocky River (RR), 117; 4. University School, 129; 5. Bay (BA), 142. Other local teams: 11. Open Door (OD), 297; 13. Brookside (BR), 329; 14. Keystone (K), 355; 15. Lutheran West, 365; 16. Firelands (FI), 377; 17. Clearview, 464.

Top 5: 1. Mike Rusnaczyk (Independence), 16:41.0; 2. Tyler Kvach (AV), 16:43; 3. Sam Allen (BA), 16:50; 4. Kyle Polman (Independence), 16:55; 5. Eric Stoddard (RR), 17:05

GIRLS

MAROON

Team standings: 1. Magnificat (M), 73; 2. Toledo Notre Dame (TND), 86; 3. Perrysburg (PE), 89; 4. Brunswick (BR), 115; 5. Rocky River (RR), 119. Local teams: 7. Avon Lake (AL), 200; 14. North Ridgeville, 387; 16. Elyria, 481

Top 5: 1. Selena Pasadyn (BR), 19:03.0; 2. Katelyn Llewelyn (PE), 19:09.4; 3. Katherie Stultz (M), 19:14.0; 4. Alexandra Aughenbaugh (TND), 19:19.8; 5. Andrea Alt (PE), 19:21.1

GOLD

Team standings: 1. Bay (BA), 25; 2. Avon (AV), 43; 3. Holy Name (HN), 95; 4. Buckeye, 130; 5. Open Door (OD), 153. Other local teams: 6. Keystone (K), 183; 9. Black River (BRI), 226; 10. Lutheran West (LW), 256; 11. Columbia (CO), 296; 12. Brookside (BRO), 326; 13. Clearview, 384. Vermilion (V) – incomplete team.

Top 5: 1. Hanna Sterle (BA), 20:06.0; 2. Maddie Britton (BA), 20:24.9; 3. Liz Bruno (AV), 21:11.9; 4. Alyse Arko (BA), 21:25.5; 5. Therese Thomason (HN), 21:31.5

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---