St. C runner raising funds to compete in Australia

ST. CLAIRSVILLE, Ohio — St. Clairsville high school sophomore and stand-out cross country runner Zach Orzolek was at Buffalo Wild Wings on Monday raising money for a June trip to Brisbane, Australia.

Orzolek was chosen to represent the state of Ohio in the 2017 Down Under International Games. The trip will take him across the world to stay, train and compete down under on behalf of the U.S.

“We're really excited for Zachary,” said Susan Orzolek, Zach’s mother. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to go and represent Ohio in Australia."

“Zach has been running since he was little,” said Brad Orzolek, Zach’s brother. “He joined the soccer team when I was a senior and he was a freshman and he pretty much kicked all of our butts in the conditioning drills. He's pretty good at it."

"My favorite thing is hanging out with my team and it’s kind of fun at meets to just run and once it’s over its just great,” Zach said.

The family has set up a GoFundMe page at gofundme.ocm/zach-xc-trip.