Men’s Cross Country Season 2009
Coach Rick Lyons
This season marked another set of great milestones reached by the men’s cross country team! Twenty high school guys committed themselves to another season of hard work and excellence. Many of these runners put in many miles during a long, hot summer in order to enter the season prepared to compete. This team proved to be one of the best teams in the state of Ohio each week by how they performed at invitational meets every Saturday, compiling an overall record of 179 wins and 23 losses.
Some of the team’s achievements included the Malone Invitational, the Cloverleaf and Legends Invitational’s, and for the fourth year in a row, the P.A.C. Conference Championship. All-Conference First Team honors went to Ross Crocker, Mark Talbott, Jake Warren, and Brad Adams. All-Conference Honorable Mention went to Matt Mucha, Dan Pastoria and Eric Huseman. (Will Anderson scored in the top 16 All-Conference, but only the first seven for an individual team can be counted.) For the first time, the boys won the District Championship and qualified for the State Meet as a team by placing third at the Northeast Ohio Regional. At the State Meet, the boys placed fifth out of 16 teams, the highest achievement of any men’s cross country team since the sport’s inception at CVCA.
The credit for much of the Royals’ achievements can be given to such a fine group of seniors running on the team this year. All seven seniors were varsity runners: Ross Crocker (captain—fourth year varsity), Mark Talbott (captain—fourth year varsity), Matt Mucha (captain—fourth year varsity), Brad Adams (first year varsity), Jake Warren (third year varsity), Eric Huseman (fourth year varsity) and Callen Oster (alternate—first year varsity). The only junior on the varsity team—Dan Pastoria—also had a tremendous season and made great contributions in post-season competition. Each senior led extremely well and, although no one achieved All-State honors as individuals, the Royals ran so well as a pack that they exceeded the final state ranking expectations. Each of these seniors will leave a legacy because of what they accomplished together, and they will be missed tremendously because each one of them is an extraordinary individual.
