MADISON TOWNSHIP — Ontario Warrior and newly-crowned county champ Brett Cortelletti summed up the 28th annual B-Dry Richland County Cross Country Championship in a single word.
“Lonely,” said Cortelletti when asked to describe his race around the grounds at Madison Comprehensive High School.
Lonely indeed.
A senior, Cortelletti ran away and hid from the competition en route to a first-place finish of 17 minutes, 35 seconds. Shelby’s Danny Friebel was a distant second in 19:13. Friebel out-kicked Plymouth’s Daren Gies (19:15) in a thrilling battle for runner-up honors.
“Overall I’m pretty happy with the effort. It got a little tough in the middle, but I was able to carry through,” said Cortelletti, who finished fourth in the 3,200 meter run at the Division II state meet in June. “You can’t go as fast when you don’t have the adrenaline rush that comes with competition.
“It’s not as exciting, but you push yourself as hard as you can.”
County heavyweight Lexington didn’t send its varsity teams to Madison. Both the Lex boys and girls teams competed at Saturday’s OHSAA Early Season Invitational at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, site of the state meet.
“Not having Lexington here had its ups and downs, the up side being that I kind of got an easy win,” Cortelletti said. “The down side is Lexington is great competition. I got beat out by a Lexington guy (Nick Stricklen) in the home stretch of the two mile at state. Having guys like that here is just the best way to get experience for the big meets later on in the season.
“There’s no way that you can race someone at that level without getting something out of it.”
Shelby won the boys team title with 33 points. Mitch Noel finished fourth overall for the Whippets in 19:39. Robert Moore (19:56) was seventh, while Joe Emerson (20:11) was ninth and Darien Payne (20:37) was 11th.
Plymouth was runner-up in the team standings with 56 points. Ontario (80) was third and Crestview (80) was fourth. Madison (108) and Mansfield Senior (162) rounded out the team scores.
In the boys open race, Shelby’s Alex Moore was first in 21:28.
Shelby Sweep: Like Cortelletti, Shelby sophomore Macy Lynch raced out to a big lead early and sailed to the county crown in 21:36 in the varsity girls race.
“I’m really happy with the win, but I would have liked my time to be a little faster,” Lynch said. “It wasn’t too fast compared to my times last year.
“My PR last year was 20:50 and I’m hoping to get into the 19s this year, but this is a good start.”
Teammates Dani Hoffman (22:25) and Mallary Lynch (22:59) were second and third, respectively, as the Whippets rolled to the girls team title with 19 points.
“My time could have been a little better, but I’m happy with the way I finished,” said Hoffman, a junior.
Madison was second with 60 points, while Ontario (65) was third and Crestview (88) was fourth.
Shelby’s Marissa Lynch was sixth overall in 25:00, while Brianna McNeely was ninth in 26:14.
Shelby took the top four spots in the girls open race, with Chloe Hlad (24:32) leading the way.
Little Lex: The Lexington varsity teams may have sat out Monday’s county meet, but the junior high teams had fine showings. Lexington won the boys junior high team title with 24 points. Kyle Johnston won the two-mile run in 11:55.
On the girls side, Lexington won with 39 points. Shelby’s McKenna Hiemlich was the girls junior high winner in 13:58.
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
