AECHS Cross Country – Season 2 Recap

Lena Cao lc206@uakron.edu

AECHS’s second season of Cross Country has officially come to a close. Last year, AEC partnered with North High School’s Cross Country team, but this season we proudly represented AEC on our own. Our team included 18 runners from AEC, 2 from North, and 1

from STEM, for a total of 21 athletes representing AECHS.

Coach: Mr. Larry O’Neil

AEC – Boys

• Dominic Holowell (9th)

• Donald Kennedy (9th)

• Immanuel Bibby (9th)

• Jack Sisler (9th)

• Robbie Cunningham (9th)

• Santana Golden (9th)

• Anthony Cucuzza (10th)

• Leo W (10th)

• Harlem Parsons (12th)

• Jaden Blair (9th – STEM)

• Marcus Whatley (12th – North)

• Tao Tak Non (12th – North)

  
  

AEC – Girls

• McKinley Crum (9th)

• Rubina Rai (9th)

• Shelby Summers (9th)

• Elaine Zhu (11th)

• Riley Wang (12th)

• Marely Morales-Lara (12th)

• Lena Cao (12th)

• Londyn Garden (12th)

• Shayleia Davis (12th)

  

Throughout the season, our team competed in seven invitational meets as well as the Akron City Championship at Goodyear Heights. In between these meets, we also participated in the Akron City Promise Series, running several road races before, during, and after the official Cross Country season.

This year marked the third year AEC runners participated in the annual Akron Marathon Relay. On September 27, 2025, we proudly entered four sponsored relay teams. AEC XC #1 finished with an official time of 3:08:02, smashing our previous AEC record by 10 minutes.

We celebrated our senior runners at our dual meet against Barberton High School on October 1st. Seniors were escorted by family, friends, and teachers. Each runner received a photo print of themselves and a rose.

On October 7th, the night before the Akron City Championship, Mr. O’Neil hosted a team dinner at Dontino’s Italian Restaurant. Fueled by dedication, hard work, and encouragement, the AEC Cross Country team showed up proudly at the City Championship—turning many heads! Since AECHS is not an official OHSAA sports team, we were unable to score officially. However, our unofficial rankings were outstanding:

Boys Team – Unofficial Result

• 2nd place citywide, behind Firestone CLC

• Leo Ward (10th) finished 1st place overall

Girls Team – Unofficial Result

• 3rd place citywide

• Marely Morales (12th) finished 2nd place

• Riley Wang (12th) finished 7th place

To officially conclude the season, we held our awards ceremony on November 11, 2025, celebrating with pizza, JoJos, and a custom ice cream cake. Awards were presented to runners, followed by specialty awards and XC patches and pins. We ended the evening watching a video compiled by Mr. O’Neil, showcasing photos and videos from every race of the season.

Follow our AEC Track & Cross Country Instagram: @aectrackandxc

Track season begins in the coming months, and we always welcome new runners! Anyone interested in long-distance track events is encouraged to join.

Please contact Mr. Larry O’Neil for more information.