Medina girls place second at GlenOak cross country invite; boys finish fourth

Medina’s cross country teams opened up their big-meet season in solid fashion, both placing among the top four at the GlenOak Eagle Invitational on Aug. 23.

Medina’s girls team started its season by placing runner-up among 20 scoring teams. The Bees totaled 76 points, placing five runners among the top … Massillon Jackson won with 71 points, despite not placing a runner in the top 10. The Polar Bears also had no juniors or seniors in their lineup.

Medina didn’t have many, but senior Alexis Warnement, who placed 51st in the state a year ago, was their fastest runner, placing fifth in 19:51.68. Sophomore Julia Black was next for the Bees, finishing 10th in 20:31.09.

Freshman Addison Joffre came in 20th in 21:11.21. She was three places ahead of senior Julia Dietrich (21.22.40), who in turn placed a couple places before junior Julia Bugner (21:26.35). Junior Ella James had a solid 31st-place finish in 21:51.66; and junior Mariana Cunningham (70th, 23:25.21) rounded things out for Medina. There were 154 finishers in the girls competition.

Medina’s boys finished fourth among 27 teams with 128 total points. Soon-to-be Suburban League rival Hudson won with 68, with Division II power Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (93) and Massillon Perry (113) also ahead of the Bees.

Senior Riley Dworznik was Medina’s top finished, placing 14th in 16:58.28. Fellow senior Joey D’Aurelio was next, placing 20th in 17:03.57. Others finishing in the scoring column were seniors Nate Fischer (23rd, 17:07.42), Liam Meade (35th, 17:34.77) and Peyton Davis (36th, 17:36.75). Senior Logan Jones and junior Trent Schirmer (56th, 18:01.51) rounded out the top seven. There were more than 200 finishers in the race.

In other Medina sports goings-on:

Volleyball

After a bit of a sluggish start to the season, Medina turned things around with its first win of the season, 3-2 over North Ridgeville. The victory stopped the Bees’ three-game losing streak to start the season.

Kate Schellenberger led Medina with 20 kills. Oliva Fedor had a team-best four blocks. Leah McKinley had 33 digs, 60 service receptions and six aces, all team-bests. Lauren Sherman led the way with 53 assists,

Boys soccer

The Bees evened their record at 1-1 with a 2-1 win over Canton GlenOak on Aug. 19. The outcome was significant because it was the Golden Eagles who ended Medina’s season last year with a 2-1 victory in a district semifinal. The Bees got a first-half goal from Tyler Cobb and one in the second half from Chase Wilbur. Jackson Gummo and Cooper Korduba assisted.

Medina had a second-long 11 days between that game and its next contest, a 3 p.m. Aug. 30 trip to Hudson, where the Bees will look to reverse another 2024 outcome; the Explorers topped Medina 2-0 last year.

Girls soccer

Medina had what will go down as one of its best results of the year on Aug. 20 in a 2-2 tie with Walsh Jesuit, the 2024 Division I state runner-up. The Bees got a pair of goals from Emma McTigue, the first assisted by Caitlyn Taylor as they made the most of four shots on goal.

After road trips to New Albany (Aug. 30) and Shaker Heights (Sept. 3), Medina will again hit the road for a Sept. 6 match at defending Division III state champ Bay, which was upset 1-0 in its season opener against Avon.