Stratford Cross Country Teams Bring HS Sports Back To Town

On Tuesday October 6th, after a lengthy high school sports absence, the Stratford High School Boys and Girls cross country teams brought the high school sports scene back to town in grand fashion.

At the confines of the Wooster Middle School campus the Red Devils faced off against the Bullard Havens Tech Tigers on a gem of an afternoon. The course serves as Stratford’s home course and is known as flat and fast, ideal for top speeds. Temperatures hovered in the mid 60’s, with a light westerly breeze, and golden sunshine conditions.

The near perfect weather conditions turned into a perfect afternoon for the Stratford girls as the first five finishers were all Red Devils.

The lady Red Devils bolster a roster of five freshmen. Leading the way was freshman Jaylen Evans at 27:11, followed by another freshman Isabella Pato at 27:34, first year runner and junior Kendall Smith was third at 28:37, veteran returning runner, now in her third year, junior Izzy Cola cruised in at 28:41, fifth place was freshman Lauren Ogrodowicz at 30:09, rounding out the Stratford lineup was McKenzie Moore at 34:14.

Katie Coble was a healthy scratch.

Outstanding efforts for the Tigers were from Karen Acevedo and Mia Franco.

On the boys side of things, Stratford was almost as perfect as the Red Devils girls by taking four out of the first five spots.

Stratford’s first year runner as a senior, Logan Seaburg, will draw some attention in the South West Conference this season, as he led from start to finish in commanding fashion earning the top spot with a time of 19:09.

In second, in his fourth and final season, was senior Elijah Brown at 19:51. Brown has excelled in his three previous seasons emerging as a top SWC performer during his career.

Tech Tiger Armani McIntosh and Stratford’s Joshua Kydes locked horns along the home stretch providing the Red Devil Hot Spot Restaurant (Longbrook Park) finish of the day. McIntosh, with one-half mile to go, creeped his way up and over to Kydes’s right shoulder before kicking it in the last two hundred feet and over taking Kydes with a 19:59.98 finish. Kydes in at 20:00.05.

Sophomore, Amos Colocho, held a steady pace, finished fifth at 21:01.

Fellow sophomore Ryan Munoz overtook Bullard Havens Pedro Rodriguez (22:05) in the race’s final stages placing fifth at 21:59.

Stratford first year finishers saw James Bragg-Phillips at 22:13, freshman Marcus Cavallo at 22:55, and Jelani Warburton Baker at 23:05.

Rounding out the Stratford line-up was senior Drilon Nusafi with a solid 29:01 mark.

Next up, Stratford travels to Masuk on Tuesday October 13th to square off against the Masuk Panthers and the same Bullard Havens Tech Tigers before returning home on Friday October 16th.