Revere Captures Title; Wheeler Strong In Suburban League Championship

BY DAVID LEE MORGAN JR.
Beacon Journal sportswriter

During the regular season, Revere boys cross country coach Dave Parry knew he would have a team that could compete for a league title.

At the same time, Parry was smart enough to know that the Suburban League was loaded with talented teams- Green and Wadsworth, to name a few.

All three teams battled for the league championship title Saturday afternoon at Goodyear Heights Metro Parks and it was Revere standing tall in the end as the Minutemen won the tile with 49 points.

``This has been our goal all season,'' Parry said. ``We knew if we weren't training, they were and that drove us. If we took a day off or weren't eating right, they were. We always kept that in the back of our minds.''

Revere also had its No. 4 runner who didn't run today because of injury.

``We relied on a couple of other guys to step up and (today) showed that we have the depth and the heart to finish it off.''

Leading the way for Revere was Josh Sabo (3rd), Dave Povitsky (5th), Mike Lostosk (7th), Marc Salopek (12th) and Tim Moneypenny (22nd).

And an interesting note is that when Povitsky, who is a senior, was a freshman, the Minutemen were tied for last in the league championship.

The seniors have come a long way since then.

``We were pretty bad,'' said Povitsky, who is a senior. ``But we've been working hard all year long for this so the championship means a lot to us.''

Parry added: ``This was quite a turnaround for my seniors.''

Meanwhile, the individual league champion was Green senior Kyle Wheeler, who finished with a time of 16:10.

And Wheeler's ``Aunt Kimmie'' was impressed with her nephew.

After Wheeler won the Suburban League championship, his Aunt, along with his mother, Julie Wheeler, went sprinting towards Kyle.

``This is the first time I've seen him (run),'' his Aunt said. ``I have to start coming more often.''

Wheeler's teammate and close friend- senior Dylan Papp- was the runnerup with a time of 16:31.

``This is the third year I came in second here but coming in second to this guy here...I have no problem with that,'' Papp said, patting Wheeler on his back. ``We're always pushing each other.''

On the girls side, Wadsworth won the team title and sophomore Paige Szabat won the individual championship with a time of 19:20 and defended her championship from last year.

Szabat said last season was a major stepping stone into this season in her development.

``Last year was a learning year for me,'' she said. ``After the season, I knew I was going to have to train harder and it took all of last year to learn that.''

Szabat's teammate, Nicole Cargill, finished second with a time of 19:40.