Mount Vernon’s Sophie Zoldak had the fastest time in the Girls Division of Saturday’s Ohio Cardinal Conference Cross Country Championships at Wooster High School, but Lexington had the second, third- and fourth-place runners to win the team title for the 13th consecutive year.
Mount Vernon finished in fifth place with 111 points, finishing behind Lexington, Wooster, West Holmes and Ashland. The Yellow Jackets’ top runner all season has been Zoldak, who won the race by 8.44 seconds over Lexington’s Emma Wise. The competition’s top three runners were within 27.26 seconds of each other, nearly a minute ahead of the next two finishers.
Mount Vernon’s girls cross country team was led by Zoldak at 18:25.56. Jacket runner Hannah Hofferberth was 19th at 21:43.33, with Ainsley Bonaudi 25th at 22:25.56.
On the boys side, Wooster won the event, followed by Lexington, Ashland, Mount Vernon and West Holmes. Ashton Dunlap of Wooster had the fastest overall time of 16:15.35, beating West Holmes’ Zeke Galbraith by 20.03 seconds. Mount Vernon’s top runner was Logan Eggert, who finished seventh at 16:59.84, just 0.02 ahead of teammate Eric Marofsky. Matt Salvucci finished 15th in 17:23.87.
The Yellow Jackets' full squad finished in fourth place combined, behind Wooster, Lexington and Ashland.
Awards presented after the racing included Girls Runner of the Year, Zoldak; and Boys Runner of the Year, Dunlap.
