Strong races from Tim Eckard, Jorge Mendoza and Brad Mader and an impressive debut by freshman Justin Harper paced the Marshall boys to a 24-35 victory over Ireton in a season-opening scrimmage Wednesday, August 29 at Burke Lake Park.

Ireton senior Nick Mazzenga won the race with an outstanding early-season time of 17:07. Seniors Mendoza and Eckard followed in second and third places, respectively, with times of 17:51 and 17:55.

Harper clocked 18:29 in his first-ever high school cross country race to take fifth place, and Mader, a junior, followed one second behind in sixth. Senior David Wadley then led a string of Marshall runners across the finish line to secure the victory. After Wadley finished eighth in 19:34, junior Jesse Bradford (ninth, 19:38), junior Sharif Sabur (10th, 19:44) and sophomore Irving Duncan (11th, 19:53) were Marshall's other top finishers.

Other Marshall runners who impressed in their cross country debuts were freshmen Red Daly (14th, 21:04) and Andrew Campos (15th, 21:04), junior A.J. Frank (19th, 21:55), and sophomore Ryan McElveen (22nd, 22:31).

1. Nick Mazzenga - I - 17:07
2. Jorge Mendoza - M - 17:51
3. Tim Eckard - M - 17:55
4. Mike Bruce - I - 18:21
5. Justin Harper - M - 18:29
6. Brad Mader - M - 18:30
7. Tyler McKnight - I - 19:28
8. David Wadley - M - 19:34
9. Jesse Bradford - M - 19:38
10. Sharif Sabur - M - 19:44
11. Irving Duncan - M - 19:53
12. Matt Kidwell - I - 20:02
13. Matt Gordon - I - 20:38
14. Red Daly - M - 21:04
15. Andrew Campos - M - 21:04
16. Ryan Raftery - I - 21:24
17. John McAneny - I - 21:37
18. Nick Mararac - I - 21:42
19. A.J. Frank - M - 21:55
20. Mike Jamros - I - 22:10
21. Dan Mai - I - 22:28
22. Ryan McElveen - M - 22:31
23. Mark Alexander - I - 22:47
24. Michael Eckard - M - 23:11
25. Dennis Witowski - M - 23:21
26. Kevin Davis - M - 23:23
27. Kevin Bohm - I - 25:07
28. Alex Finnell - M - 25:13
29. Steve Cotroneo - I - 26:25
30. Greg McDermott - I - 27:12
31. Bobby Hill - I - 27:19
32. Morgan Schickler - I - 28:15
33. Ryan Tumulty - M - 31:53