Quick Summary: Girard Girls and Lakeview Boys Capture Northeast 8 Championships
- Girard girls won the Northeast 8 track title with 149 points, outpacing Lakeview by 30 points.
- South Range boys claimed the team title at the Northeast 8 meet on May 14, 2025.
- Meet MVP Emmitt Slabach led South Range with standout performances in multiple events.
- Girard’s girls team success attributed to a strong four-year buildup under Coach Jennifer Gassman.
- Lakeview boys maintained a strong presence, reflecting ongoing rivalry with Girard.
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Northeast Championships: Key Takeaways
In a thrilling display of athletic prowess, Girard High School’s girls team and Lakeview High School’s boys team emerged as the stars of the Northeast 8 track and field championships. Girard’s girls clinched the title with a commanding 149 points, leaving Lakeview trailing by 30 points. This victory underscores Girard’s dominance and consistent performance in the conference.
Meanwhile, on the boys’ side, South Range took home the team title during the meet held on May 14, 2025, at Rominger Stadium in Beaver Township. Despite not securing the championship, Lakeview boys showcased their competitive spirit, finishing strong alongside South Range. Meet MVP Emmitt Slabach was a standout, excelling in the 800 and 1600 meters and the 4×800 relay.
Girard’s girls’ success is a testament to a robust four-year development under Coach Jennifer Gassman. The team’s cohesion and leadership have been pivotal, with the current squad growing together since their freshman year. This continuity has been a key factor in their triumph, marking a successful first-year coaching tenure for Gassman.
Tribune Chronicle later reported that Girard girls basketball coach Joe Bornemiss responded to a 37-36 playoff loss to South Range in February 2025 by “shak[ing] things up” despite having won the NE8, a sign that even conference champions inside this rivalry cluster are dissatisfied with stopping at league titles. In girls track in 2025, Girard beat Lakeview comfortably, but Lakeview had previously owned the 2023 NE8 girls track meet with 167 points, showing a recent reversal in conference power.
In the Northeast 8 Winter All-Conference teams published March 22, 2025, Girard was listed as girls basketball team champion and Ally Gassman was named Player of the Year, while Lakeview’s Mackenzie Stowe made the first team. In terms of timeline, the freshest relevant event in the reporting is the May 14, 2025 Northeast 8 meet at Rominger Stadium in Beaver Township, where Girard secured the girls crown over Lakeview.
Tribune Chronicle’s most directly comparable recent coverage shows Girard’s girls winning the 2025 Northeast 8 track and field team title with 149 points, 30 more than runner-up Lakeview, while South Range won the boys title, underscoring that the girls race was decisive even if the boys side has shifted across sports and seasons. Girard’s girls finished with 149 points, beating Lakeview by 30 and finishing just five points shy of South Range’s boys total on the day, a comparison that highlights how dominant the Indians were relative to their own field.
On the boys side of that same May 14, 2025 meet in Beaver Township, South Range and Lakeview combined for 304 points, with Lakeview clearly entrenched near the top of the conference race even though South Range captured the team championship. ” That quote matters because it turns the story from a simple standings item into a program-continuity story: Girard did not just win; it repeated as champion and did so under a first-year head coach who inherited and sustained a veteran nucleus.
The central competitive tension in this story is that Girard and Lakeview keep colliding near the top of the Northeast 8 across multiple sports, and the margins can be narrow or sport-specific rather than universally dominant. In boys competition, Lakeview has also had championship pedigree in other NE8 settings, including a bowling title where it posted 2,823 pins and beat Girard by just nine pins after baker games.
Meanwhile, on the boys’ side, South Range took home the team title during the meet held on May 14, 2025, at Rominger Stadium in Beaver Township. Meet MVP Emmitt Slabach was a standout, excelling in the 800 and 1600 meters and the 4×800 relay.
In girls track in 2025, Girard beat Lakeview comfortably, but Lakeview had previously owned the 2023 NE8 girls track meet with 167 points, showing a recent reversal in conference power. In the Northeast 8 Winter All-Conference teams published March 22, 2025, Girard was listed as girls basketball team champion and Ally Gassman was named Player of the Year, while Lakeview’s Mackenzie Stowe made the first team.