Mentor’s Savannah Dennison claims title at Boardman Regional

The following article was posted on the News-Herald’s website. Congratulations Mentor!

YOUNGSTOWN — For the first mile and a half of the Division I girls regional meet at Boardman High School on Oct. 31, something was off for Mentor’s Savannah Dennison.

Sure, Dennison had settled into the pack at the front of the race and was bouncing in and out of the top 10. But she wasn’t putting together the dominant performance she’s known for.

But once Dennison hit the back half of the course, that switch that had been missing flipped. By the time the Mentor sophomore reached the 4k mark, she had moved from ninth to fourth. And then it was third. And then it was second. By the time she hit the final 200 meters of the course, Green’s Olivia Gang — the first-place runner — kept getting closer and closer in her sights.

Dennison made her move, digging for Gang and passing her on her right side with 25 meters left. From there, she dug in, taking four big strides before diving across the finish line and collapsing in a heap. As she sat up, she shot a thumbs up to her family.

Dennison won the race by milliseconds, finishing the race with a time of 19:30.5, .03 seconds faster than Green.

“I’m going to be brutally honest; I gave up on myself during that race,” Dennison said after the race. “I was in that first pack and I knew I had the potential to win the race but once I got out there it felt like something was missing.”

The win is the second straight for Dennison, who won the Madison district meet with a time of 18:32. While she knows that her regional performance wasn’t her best, she’s confident she’ll be able to do what she needs to do to improve in time for the state meet.

“This was a confidence booster,” she said. “It’s a big confidence booster. I came into the race thinking I could win but I wasn’t sure I’d be able to.”

The Cardinals advanced as a team as well, as they finished fifth in the team standings. Kenston came in second in the team standings behind performances from Cecelia Paglia (10th place, 20:00) and Emerson Greene (14th, 20:10). Other area qualifiers in D-I include Riverside’s Cheyenne Durda (13th, 20:10).

After Dennison finished her photo finish, she walked to the Cardinals’ team bus in the adjacent parking. When her dad — and Mentor coach — Bill Dennison arrived at the bus, the two of them shared a hug. After finishing 11th at the state meet last year, Dennison’s ready to leave with some hardware.

“My goal is to be finish on the podium,” she said. “I missed that by one spot last year and to do it this year would be incredible.”

Mentor boys also qualified in D-I as the Cardinals finished fifth in the team standings with 192 points. They were led by Dominic Ricco (20th, 17:17) and Keaton Hahn (37th, 17:34).