Staff photo / Dan Hiner McDonald’s Naomi Sheesley runs during Tuesday’s Suburban League cross country meet at Woodland Park in McDonald.

MCDONALD — Just before hitting the final stretch, McDonald’s Naomi Sheesley ran through “Naomi’s Nook,” an area dedicated to the sophomore after a stellar freshman campaign last year.

Sheesley picked up where it left off on Tuesday, finishing first in the opening Suburban League girls’ race of the year at Woodland Park. She won the race with a time of 20:11.3.

The area was named after Sheesley after she received first-team All-Ohio honors last season. McDonald has various areas of the course named after All-Ohio honorees.

“It’s really a big honor,” Sheesley said. “The adrenaline hearing my name over the mic through ‘Naomi’s Nook,’ it’s just great to hear. It’s just a big up-lifter. I have so much to look forward to in my career, and I have so much time.

“It’s great. I love that tradition that our team has.”

McDonald won the meet with 15 points by default since they were the only team with the required number of girls.

Joining Sheesley atop the leaderboard was Juliana Krumpak, who was the runner-up with 21:40.1. Selah Sheesley was fourth with 21:52.7, and Addison Callow wasn’t far behind with a fifth-place finish at 22:16.1. Rita Domitrovich (23:27.5) finished seventh, and Mary Jasso (23:40.1) came in eighth.

It was a solid first race for the Blue Devils and Naomi Sheesley. It’s the first step toward a potential return trip to the state meet later this fall.

That return to the championship race is one of a few goals the sophomore has entering this season.

“I really want to make it as a team to state,” Sheesley said. “Just stay consistent, maybe run a few faster times and probably break 18 (minutes) again.”

Liberty’s Anani Lawrence took third with a 21:41.4, and Warren JFK got a sixth-place finish from Olivia Tilley, who ran 23:17.4. Additionally, Crestview had a couple strong performances from Kaley Blakeman (24:22.1) and Katie Mackay (24:27.2), who finished 10th and 11th, respectively.

BOYS

McDonald took the boys’ side with 33 points.

The Blue Devils got a third-place finish from Owen Cappuzello, who ran 19:08.6. Then the avalanche of McDonald runners came across.

Evan Soltez (20:12.5) was sixth, Joey Cappuzello (20:57.4) came in seventh, Caleb Lytle (21:00.1) crossed in eighth, Landon Scott (21:09.8) finished ninth and Jayton Mooney (21:31.5) was 12th-place.

Hubbard was the team runner-up with 54 points.

The Eagles had Logan Balla run 19:23.1 for fourth place. Then Noah Wittman (21:20.3) ended in 10th, Dom Gulu (21:29.6) was right behind in 11th, Leo Mariano (22:07.0) was the 14th-place finisher and Dom Martinez (22:09.2) was right behind in 14th.

Lowellville also had a strong showing in Tuesday’s race as the Rockets finished third.

The Rockets finished with three of the top five runners, including Nathan Yon’s first-place finish.

Yon crossed the finish line at 17:20 to take the top spot.

“I feel like I ran pretty well,” Yon said. “It was a good start to the season, just to see where I’m at. I think it was a good race.”

He was joined by Steven Yon, who finished second with 18:26.3, and Jayden Coon clocked a 19:38.9 for fifth.

Liberty came in fourth with 136 points as Clark Chandler was the top Leopard runner with 23:07.0, which was good enough for 19th.

Struthers ended the day in fifth with 170 points, and Drequan Allaby finished in 13th with a time of 21:50.8.

NEXT RACES

The Suburban League will have three more races on Tuesday.

Newton Falls, Poland and Girard will be the host sites. At each site, the girls’ races begin at 4:45 p.m. and the boys will run at 5:20 p.m.