Miles Pittak ninth at District; on quest for state

Miles Pittak qualified for the Tiffin Regional Cross Country Meet following the District Meet held Saturday at Lorain County Community College.

Pittak finished in ninth place out of 14 teams and 92 competitors to earn a ticket to Regional. The Amherst boys varsity team finished in seventh place with 198 points.

Following Miles into the chute were sophomore Mark Matos pulling in at 31st place in 18:26 as the Comets number two man, followed by Stephen Hause (47th) 19:04, Adrien Hall (55th) 19:21, Jack Byrne (56th) 19:23, Adam Ross (65th) 19:55 and freshman Jordan Reynolds (71st) 20:13.

"As a team we really pulled it together at the District Meet," coach Scott Snyder said. "We were missing two of our key runners; Brian Szczodrowski and Kevin Burgett were both out for the season with shin splints. Miles had been sick at the SWC Championships the week before and rebounded quite nicely at District. Adrien was so sick at SWC that he didn't even toe the line for that meet; so this was quite a courageous effort for him on Saturday."

Mark Matos again finished as the Comets number two man with a great performance. Stephen Hause and Jack Byrne continue to improve as the season goes on and Adam Ross and Jordan Reynolds have been strong wire to wire varsity runners for the team this year.

"We were shooting for under 250 points at District and the guys came up big going sub-200; so it was a great way for the team to end the regular season," Snyder said.

In the Open race, freshman Austin Miller led the Amherst charge with his time of 20:33. The Open was the fifth race of the day and the muddy course and slower times reflected it.

Freshman Dakota Walker was Amherst's number two man in 20:57, followed by Donald J. Wymer (21:10), Aaron Ambrosio (21:29), Chris Petek (21:32), Michael Kuhn (21:47, Michael Kemp (21:48), James Anderson (21:56), Zack Endrai (22:59), and freshman Quinn Miller, running his first high school cross country meet, in 24:35.

Pittak toes the line for theTiffin Regional Meet Saturday at Hedges Boyer Park. The top four teams, and top 16 individuals whether on a qualifying team or not, advance to the High School State Cross Country Championships at Scioto Downs in Columbus on Nov. 7.