Turner leads Nordonia cross country to title at Brecksville

Chris Turner showed why he should be a post season threat this fall as he captured the individual championship in the 31st annual Bruce Lerch Invitational in Brecksville Saturday.

Vaulting the Nordonia boys to the team crown at Brecksville, Turner won individual honors by over 15 seconds as the senior stood out in the pack.

Turner crossed in 16-minutes and 55.1 seconds to easily beat Orange senior Brian Gent, who was clocked at 17:11.4.

Head coach Sean Sandvick saw his boys place first over Brecksville 87-131 as well as Brunswick (132), Aurora (137) and Westlake (144).

The Knight girls also impressed in the meet as they placed fourth out of 14 schools with 116 points in a field that included Brecksville (31), Mayfield (33) and Brunswick (101).

Freshman standout Emerson Beery led the Nordonia girls with a third-place effort, crossing in 21:25.7.

Veteran senior Nathan Gerhart also enabled the boys to win the crown as he ran third overall with a time of 17:19.3.

Following Gerhart for the Knights boys was sophomore Kaden Seredick, who ran 21st overall in 18:21.9.

Senior Riley Thaxton finished 30th overall with a time of 18:37.4, followed by junior Caleb Rayle, who was 32nd in 18:38.2, junior Andy Cundra was 41st in 18:53.1, and senior Tre Jackson finished 65th in 19:45.9.

For the youthful Lady Knights, Beery was supported by sophomore Payton Pelkowski, who registered a clocking of 22:39.9 to place 21st.

A four-pack of freshmen followed – Avery Holtz ran 28th in 23:29.5, Carley Sutton was 29th in 23:38.6, Olivia Pecic was 35th in 24:11.7 and Ella Rathbun ran 43rd in 25:10.0, followed closely by junior teammate Rachel Lahrmer, who was 48th in 25:36.9.

In upcoming action, Nordonia will compete at the 37th annual Spartan Invitational in Boardman Sept. 17 and the Strongsville Fleet Feet Invitational Sept. 24.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Turner leads Nordonia cross country to Lerch title