by Jim Isabella

Correspondent

Explorers head coach Rod O’Donnell makes no bones about it.

The Hudson boys cross country team is far from the finished product it should be by the end of the regular season and the postseason.

Keeping that in mind, the Explorer boys came in third at the Revere Invitational at Howe Park in the National Park with 107 points behind a tremendous showing by champion Medina with 45 points and runner-up Wadsworth with 103. Medina’s five runners that scored its team points all finished in the top dozen positions.

“It was a very good showing and we weren’t at full strength,” O’Donnell said. “Medina is No. 1 in the Coaches Poll and they really look like state champions.”

Eight of the Explorers finished 40th or better in the individual races.

Nolan Reilly was the top finisher for the Explorers. The junior was eighth with a time of 16 minutes, 22.32 seconds.

The No. 2 runner turned out to be Ben Schaller. The Explorer senior ran a 21st-place time of 16:52.58.

Austin Zedak and Matt Chojnacki finished 23rd and 24th, respectively. Zedak, a senior, came in 17:04.3, while Chojnacki, a junior was clocked at 17:06.34.

“Zedak ran really well and hung in there,” O’Donnell said.

The next two runners were Greg Yanda and Nick Bacon. The juniors were 31st and 33rd, respectively, with times of 17:21.76 and 17:25.59.

Coming in 38th and 40th overall were Jacob Browning and Mark Zubenko. Browning, a junior, ran 17:30.41, and Zubenko, a sophomore, came in at 17:31.07.

Hudson is scheduled to compete at the Wooster Invitational Sept. 11 at 9 a.m.

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