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By David Lee Morgan Jr.
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 06:50 p.m. EST, Nov 07, 2009
DUBLIN: It was a focus, a determination, a belief, a commitment, an attitude and a goal.
In short, it was a dream.
And it was a dream that came true for the St. Vincent-St. Mary girls cross country team on a sunny and toasty Saturday afternoon at Scioto Downs.
All you had to do was listen to the players talk with excitement and look at the smiles on their faces to know what it meant to them to stand on the podium as they were crowned state champs for the first time in school history.
''I would have never thought in a million years we would do this,'' said junior Maria Arnone, who was St. V-M's top individual finisher in seventh place.
The top 25 finishers in each division earned All-Ohio honors.
''We didn't run like we thought we could, and after the race, we all said a prayer hoping for second or third,'' Arnone said.
When the results were announced, the dream became a reality for the Irish.
''I thought they made a mistake,'' Arnone said. ''It feels like it hasn't even happened.''
Senior Molly Miloscia, who finished in 53rd place, had the same feelings.
''It's so surreal,'' she said. ''During the postseason, I was racing like I've never raced before. This is a great feeling.''
Irish coach Dan Lancianese said he's happy that the team has been able to win.
''St. Vincent-St. Mary has a rich tradition in football and basketball and we just wanted to establish our little niche,'' Lancianese said.
He also said the key to the success this season has been team unity.
''There's no doubt, we ran as one unit all year,'' Lancianese said. ''Whenever one of our runners had an off day, another runner stepped up. The bottom line is that you can't describe what it's like here on race day. You have to be in it. And we have six out of our seven girls who were here last year.''
One of the runners who was in Dublin last year was senior Emily Tomei, and the one who wasn't was freshman Marissa Rosetti. They both made a major contribution with their performance in the biggest race of their young lives.
The two runners made up almost 25 places in the last 500 meters.
''Our motto this year was 'Whatever It Takes,' '' said Tomei, who finished ninth overall. ''Everyone has pitched in and we've all been there for each other. As a senior [winning a state championship], this was our goal; so during that last mile, I wasn't going to give up.''
Rosetti, who finished 47th, said: ''I really wanted to go out and do my best. I saw two CVCA girls in front of me and I knew I had to push myself if I wanted to make a run.''
CVCA's Blair No. 1
CVCA finished third overall as a team, but the Royals boast the individual state champion in junior Christina Blair. She won the title in impressive fashion, finishing 10 seconds ahead of Taylor Hatfield of Chillicothe Zane Trace.
Blair's winning time was 18:39.71, and Hatfield's time was 18:49.28.
''After the first 800 meters, that's when I made my move and went ahead,'' Blair said. ''After that, I could tell when someone was fading or if they were coming up on me.''
The Royals won the team championship last year, but Blair wasn't a member of the team. Her family moved to the area from the Valparaiso, Ind., area this past summer, and Blair has been a welcomed addition.
''They all get along like they've been teammates for all four years,'' CVCA coach George Hallis said about his team welcoming Blair.
Other Division II runners who earned All-Ohio honors were Woodridge junior Maria Moore (11th) and Minerva junior Emily Mapes (15th).
In the Division I competition, Rocky River Magnificat repeated as the state champ with 28 points. Springboro was second with 137 points, North Canton Hoover, which finished as the state runner-up last year, was third (142) and Brunswick was fourth.
Division I runners earning All-Ohio honors were Hudson freshman Madison Hartline (ninth), Stow junior Katie Betts (10th), Louisville junior Mattie Rankin (13th), Hoover senior Erin Garfield (16th) and Hoover senior Allison Peare (22nd.)
In the Division III competition, St. Thomas Aquinas finished sixth, and the highest area individual finisher was Waterloo junior Annie Wise, who was 11th.
David Lee Morgan Jr. can be reachedat dlmorgan@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Varsity Letters high school blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ABJ_Preps.
DUBLIN: It was a focus, a determination, a belief, a commitment, an attitude and a goal.
In short, it was a dream.
And it was a dream that came true for the St. Vincent-St. Mary girls cross country team on a sunny and toasty Saturday afternoon at Scioto Downs.
All you had to do was listen to the players talk with excitement and look at the smiles on their faces to know what it meant to them to stand on the podium as they were crowned state champs for the first time in school history.
''I would have never thought in a million years we would do this,'' said junior Maria Arnone, who was St. V-M's top individual finisher in seventh place.
The top 25 finishers in each division earned All-Ohio honors.
''We didn't run like we thought we could, and after the race, we all said a prayer hoping for second or third,'' Arnone said.
When the results were announced, the dream became a reality for the Irish.
''I thought they made a mistake,'' Arnone said. ''It feels like it hasn't even happened.''
Senior Molly Miloscia, who finished in 53rd place, had the same feelings.
''It's so surreal,'' she said. ''During the postseason, I was racing like I've never raced before. This is a great feeling.''
Irish coach Dan Lancianese said he's happy that the team has been able to win.
''St. Vincent-St. Mary has a rich tradition in football and basketball and we just wanted to establish our little niche,'' Lancianese said.
He also said the key to the success this season has been team unity.
''There's no doubt, we ran as one unit all year,'' Lancianese said. ''Whenever one of our runners had an off day, another runner stepped up. The bottom line is that you can't describe what it's like here on race day. You have to be in it. And we have six out of our seven girls who were here last year.''
One of the runners who was in Dublin last year was senior Emily Tomei, and the one who wasn't was freshman Marissa Rosetti. They both made a major contribution with their performance in the biggest race of their young lives.
The two runners made up almost 25 places in the last 500 meters.
''Our motto this year was 'Whatever It Takes,' '' said Tomei, who finished ninth overall. ''Everyone has pitched in and we've all been there for each other. As a senior [winning a state championship], this was our goal; so during that last mile, I wasn't going to give up.''
Rosetti, who finished 47th, said: ''I really wanted to go out and do my best. I saw two CVCA girls in front of me and I knew I had to push myself if I wanted to make a run.''
CVCA's Blair No. 1
CVCA finished third overall as a team, but the Royals boast the individual state champion in junior Christina Blair. She won the title in impressive fashion, finishing 10 seconds ahead of Taylor Hatfield of Chillicothe Zane Trace.
Blair's winning time was 18:39.71, and Hatfield's time was 18:49.28.
''After the first 800 meters, that's when I made my move and went ahead,'' Blair said. ''After that, I could tell when someone was fading or if they were coming up on me.''
The Royals won the team championship last year, but Blair wasn't a member of the team. Her family moved to the area from the Valparaiso, Ind., area this past summer, and Blair has been a welcomed addition.
''They all get along like they've been teammates for all four years,'' CVCA coach George Hallis said about his team welcoming Blair.
Other Division II runners who earned All-Ohio honors were Woodridge junior Maria Moore (11th) and Minerva junior Emily Mapes (15th).
In the Division I competition, Rocky River Magnificat repeated as the state champ with 28 points. Springboro was second with 137 points, North Canton Hoover, which finished as the state runner-up last year, was third (142) and Brunswick was fourth.
Division I runners earning All-Ohio honors were Hudson freshman Madison Hartline (ninth), Stow junior Katie Betts (10th), Louisville junior Mattie Rankin (13th), Hoover senior Erin Garfield (16th) and Hoover senior Allison Peare (22nd.)
In the Division III competition, St. Thomas Aquinas finished sixth, and the highest area individual finisher was Waterloo junior Annie Wise, who was 11th.
David Lee Morgan Jr. can be reachedat dlmorgan@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Varsity Letters high school blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/varsity_letters/. Also on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ABJ_Preps.
Comments
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Canton, OH
Posted 07:21 PM, 11/07/2009
Parochials. . .
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
Posted 07:29 PM, 11/07/2009
Mercenary athletes for sale to the highest bidder!
norton, oh
Posted 08:38 PM, 11/07/2009
Great job, Annie Wise!!!!!
anywhere, oh
Posted 11:39 PM, 11/07/2009
Go Irish! Great job girls! We are very proud of you and your accomplishments.
Determination pays off. Your efforts are an inspiration to the rest of the athletic arena at StV-M.
Go Irish!
Stow, Oh
Posted 06:28 PM, 11/08/2009
I watched the St. V girls and the CVCA girls go back and forth all year. The St. V girls peaked at the right time. What a great year for both programs.
Posted 07:31 AM, 11/09/2009
I've seen the comment about parochial schools 'buying' athletes a number of times here, but c'mon...cross country? Cross is so UN-glamorous, so low budget, so tough, and frankly so often forgotten by schools (all schools) that the thought of buying up cross athletes, especially female cross runners, is just ludicrous.
