Local Sports

Quakers run away with county titles

SALEM -- Salem sophomore Addison Hopple’s job wasn’t done after winning the Columbiana County Meet on Tuesday.

Hopple was passing out water to the line of Quakers who finished behind her.

“We always support each other,” she said. “I’ve learned that from my sisters.”

The Quakers swept the county meet for the 12th straight year with the Salem girls winning 13 straight times, which began before Hopple was in school.

“It’s a big accomplishment,” she said. “We face a lot of good teams here and it’s fun.”

The Salem girls featured the top three runners and five of the top six to win going away with 17 points. Columbiana was second with 51.

The Salem boys was led by senior Luke Stephens, the county champion, and five other Quakers joined him in the top eight. The Quakers won with 19 points, followed by Beaver Local with 56.

“We have to go in open minded,” Stephens said. “I don’t think we came in here thinking we’re going to destroy everyone.”

“I thought they raced great on this course,” Salem coach Ted Yuhaniak said. “They knew it was going to be tough and had to be strategic.”

The 3.1-mile course at East Palestine City Park is always one of the toughest tests and no one gets personal bests on it.

“The course is pretty hard,” Stephens said. “We haven’t ran here for a while.”

“I expected them to do well,” Yuhaniak said. “I think they finally trusted me this time. We go course to course.”

Stephens won the 56-runner boys race in 17 minutes, 14 seconds. He stayed ahead of Beaver Local senior Luke Warrick and East Liverpool senior Chris Miller the whole race.

“I’ve seen some stuff,” Stephens said. “I knew it was going to be a big mix.”

He wasn’t sure he would win until crossing the finish line.

“Coming up to the last part, it was different and it felt like I was almost walking,” Stephens said. “Probably the toughest course we’ve had this year.”

“They knew the East Liverpool boy and Beaver Local boy would be good,” Yuhaniak said. “They are going to be state qualifiers. We wanted to see how our pack measured up.”

The Quakers did just fine.

Following Stephens were junior Alex Rea in fourth, freshman Taven Tice ninth, senior Sam Yakubek sixth, junior Colton Hall seventh and senior Jackson Dowd eighth.

“They raced smart and had good focus,” Yuhaniak said. “It’s always cool to be the county champ.”

Hopple topped the 42-runner girls field in 19 minutes, 59 seconds.

“I was trying to break 20,” she said.

Salem junior Liliana Pimentel Alexander and Salem senior Emily Sinsley were second and third, respectively. They were followed by sophomore Chaya Murray in fifth and senior Cassidy Wallace in sixth.

“I think all the girls did really good,” Hopple said. “All of these girls are so good out here.”

The fun is just starting as far as the Quakers are concerned.

“As a team, I’m happy with the win,” Stephens said. “This has been one of our best training seasons. Now it’s a matter of going and and executing.”

“Our end goal is state,” Hopple said. “So we’re working for that.”

“We tell them just focus on Salem and we’ll be OK,” Yuhaniak said.

MEET NOTES

• The last time the Salem boys and girls swept the high school team and individual titles was 2021.

• The Salem girls have won the county meet 23 of the last 25 years.

• Stephens is the Quakers’ ninth individual boys champion in 11 years.

• Stephens and the rest of the varsity team took last Saturday off and watched the rest of the Quakers run at the Youngstown State High School Meet in Canfield.

“I took a bunch of pictures and cheered on the other guys,” Stephens said. “It’s nice to relax and watch every other person do it.”

• Salem is off this weekend for homecoming. The Quakers’ next race is the Legends Meet at the Trumbull County Fairgrounds on Oct. 10

“It’s a fast course, so I’m looking forward to that,” Hopple said.

• Salem will wrap up the regular season with its final Eastern Buckeye Conference Meet on Oct. 17 at Marlington High School.

“That should be a battle,” Yuhaniak said. “There are three of the top eight ranked girls teams there (Minerva, Marlington and Salem).”

• East Palestine will host the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference Meet next Tuesday, Oct. 6.

• The East Palestine course changed a little due to construction at the park. The most notable change is the addition of hill not far from the finish.

“With a doubt that one stretch makes it tougher,” Yuhaniak said. “It’s a monster.”