From May 24 through 27, Geauga-area athletes competed at the OHSAA Regional Track and Field Championships at Austintown Fitch High School and Norwayne High School.
Track meet photos click here.
From May 24 through 27, Geauga-area athletes competed at the OHSAA Regional Track and Field Championships at Austintown Fitch High School and Norwayne High School.
Kenston, Chardon and the NDCL girls team competed in the OHSAA Division I Regional Championships, while Chagrin Falls, Hawken, the NDCL boys and West Geauga competed in the OHSAA Division II Regional Championships, all at Austintown.
Berkshire and Cardinal competed in the OHSAA Division III Regional Championships at Norwayne.
In the Division I regional, Karl Dietz and Rae Kawalec from Chardon qualified to participate in the state championships.
Dietz won the OHSAA Regional Title in the boys 400m for the second year in a row.
“It felt great; Boland (from Geneva High School) and I have always been back and forth,” Dietz said. “I know he is going to be the guy to go after at the state meet, so today was a pretty big deal to me and I think I showed up, which I’m really happy about.”
Meanwhile, Kawalec finished as the regional runner-up in the girls 1600m.
“We went out kind of slow, which is a little different for me,” Kawalec said. “But when Daniela (from Lake High School in Uniontown) went, I knew she was going to, so I had to be ready for it.
“I wanted to execute my plan, not hers. I tried to be a little conservative, and I think it worked out.”
Kenston also had an OHSAA regional champion in Sadie Poudevigne, in the girls long jump, who also qualified for states.
“Coming in here, I was a little unsure because some girls were seeded well above me,” Poudevigne said.
NDCL had four state qualifiers, among them the NDCL boys 4x400m relay team (Brian Bates, Rob Bonchak, Javon King and Finn Mathney) and Bates alone (800m).
Bates also finished as runner-up at regionals, while the 4x400m relay team finished third.
Also qualifying for the OHSAA Division II state championships were athletes from Hawken.
Leila Metres won the girls 400m and finished second in the girls 200m.
Ethan Metz finished second in the boys pole vault, while Nick Garcia-Whitko qualified for states in the boys 1600m.
Parker Carrus qualified for states in the boys 3200m.
Also qualifying for states were the Chagrin Falls girls 4x800m team (Mila Gresh, Leah Kler, Bella Radomsky and Lilly Stukus), the West Geauga’s boys 4x400m (Grant Congdon, Matthew Dienes, Daniel Kearns and Christopher Whiting), and Kearns alone (boys 3200m).
At the OHSAA Division III regionals at Norwayne High School, Anna Layman from Cardinal qualified for the state championships in the girls pole vault.
The OHSAA state championships will be held June 2 and 3 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of The Ohio State University.
