The grittiest team on the course
Coach Bryan Krosse, Jacob Harms, Brandon Harper, Braedon Paolini, Canaan Sommers, Tesfaye Young, Tommy Rice, Wesley Marsden, Ryan Bridenthal, Sean Lynch, Andrew Harold, coach Amanda Wightman, and coach Mark Mazzaferri at the State Cross Country Meet on Nov. 5. “What helped the team get to the state meet was coach Krosse’s emphasis on being the grittiest team on the course from day one of practice. This focused each runner on doing their best even when sick or sore and not letting their teammates down,” Mazzaferri said.
For any high school sports team, the winding road to the state championship is a long and grueling one. However, one team at GlenOak has traveled this path for two years in a row.
The boys cross country team has made their second annual trip to Fortress Obetz for the OHSAA Cross Country State Championship. The team consisted of seniors Tommy Rice, Tesfaye Young and Jacob Harms, juniors Braeden Paolini, Wesley Marsden and Braden Harper, sophomore Ryan Bridenthal, and freshmen Cannan Sommers and Sean Lynch.
The boys worked hard for their spot at the state meet. The cross county season begins all the way back in June, and the team works every single day to cut down their times. Only seven teams from the regional meet qualify to state. GlenOak placed 5th.
“What helped the team get to the state meet was coach Krosse’s emphasis on being the grittiest team on the course from day one of practice. This focused each runner on doing their best even when sick or sore and not letting their teammates down,” assistant coach Mark Mazzaferri said.
The grit the team demonstrated throughout the season carried over into the big day. In a preliminary coaches poll, the boys were ranked 18th in the state.
This low ranking was frustrating to the team as all 7 runners were under the 17 minute mark. The frustration pushed them to work even harder during the competition.
“Our biggest competition all year has been ourselves. We showed up at the meet knowing we were better than the 18th place ranking we were given. We went out and we knew we were better than that and people did what they needed to do,” Paolini said.
The boys ended up placing 11th, absolutely obliterating their ranking with seniors Tommy Rice and Tesfaye Young placed 3rd and 21st in the state.
Looking forward to next season, the boys are expected to make a return trip Fortress Obetz for another chance at the State Championship.
“The exciting thing for next year is our returning runners 2 thru 7 are only about 30 seconds apart,” Mazzaferri said. “Also we have a great group of underclass returning runners that were not on varsity at the end of the year.”
Having a young, and fast team has made the team excited for next season.
“Going into next season I’m very excited. The team is very young and we are going to continue to improve. We have five kids returning sub 17 the most we’ve had returning in a long time if not ever. We are looking to make it back to the state meet and I believe we can place higher than we did even this year,” Paolini said.
To view the final results from the boys D1 cross country state championship, visit
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Caris (she/her) is a senior at GlenOak this year. This will be her third year on staff, and first as editor-in-chief. Caris is involved in Speech and Debate,...
