The Berkshire Badgers and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions are celebrating several OHSAA Division II regional qualifiers after the DII District meet May 24 at Cortland Lakeview High School .
For all track photos click here.
The Berkshire Badgers and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin Lions are celebrating several OHSAA Division II regional qualifiers after the DII District meet May 24 at Cortland Lakeview High School .
First up, Berkshire saw two athletes punch their tickets in their respective field events.
Freshman Makenna Felker finished third in the girls’ 300-meter dash, posting a time of 49.17 to keep her season alive.
“It feels exciting to get out of districts as a freshman. It was a good goal,” Felker said following the 300-meter hurdles. “This shows a lot of commitment, and what I’m able to achieve.”
The regional meet will take Felker to Austintown-Fitch, one of the biggest meets of the year, where Division I and II will compete.
Teammate and fellow field event competitor Samantha Snow also took third, in pole vault, with a personal-best mark of 8 feet 2 inches, behind two fellow Chagrin Valley Conference athletes in Madison Teppo of Conneaut (2nd) and Morgan Haywood of Edgewood (1st, who also set the meet record at 10-7).
“It feels great because this is my first year, and I’ve worked hard to get to this point,” Snow said. “I’ve seen a lot of growth, because at my first meet, I no-heighted, and I’ve done that a few times, and it made me mad because I knew I could do better. Today, I just proved that I can do it.”
Those trials and tribulations led to a breakthrough moment for the Berkshire sophomore.
“There are great competitors out here,” Snow said. “I was looking at the seedings, and I was tied for fourth with a four-way tie, and I was able to beat everyone. Having confidence in myself really helped.”
For Head Coach Bryan Wadsworth, it was a delight to see two of his younger competitors come through under the bright lights of the DII District meet.
“That was fantastic,” Coach Wadsworth said. “That district is tough to get out of, and for them to step up and be able to do that today was great to see. Both of them work hard, and it was well deserved. (Samantha) told me during cross country that she wanted to pole vault this year, and she took it upon herself to work hard. She stayed after it and did some extra work in the winter, which paid off for her. It was awesome to see her PR.”
Coach Wadsworth also has the utmost confidence in both Snow and Felker to handle to pressure of regionals, and potentially find themselves in Columbus for the state championship meet.
“With both of them, I’m not worried about it being too big of a stage for them,” their coach said. “They are tough, hard-nosed competitors. We talk about staying within ourselves and doing the best that we can, and not worrying about what’s going on around us. I will not be surprised if they handle the pressure with greatness. They don’t get nervous, they’re both excited, and we’ll see what happens.”
NDCL’s boys also shone towards the end of the meet, qualifying in the final four events after a rocky start.
“There were some adversities with the injuries with two of our top runners out, and that affected all of our relays,” NDCL Head Coach Ralph White said. “Normally we’re pretty strong in the relays, but people like Casey (McInnerney) stepped up. Overall, our kids always compete hard. It was rough, but we finished strong. We qualified in our last four events.”
Having two top runners out opened the door for some new faces to compete, and with the pressure on, the Lions found the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Casey said, ‘Hey, I’ll go,’ and you saw that competitiveness when it came down to the final 100 meters (of the 4x400m), and he dug down deep to put us in the lead, and that was all we needed,” Coach White said. “I was very pleased with something like that, and we have tough kids. They compete very hard.”
The qualifiers in the final four events were Peter Bates, taking fourth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.11; and Owen Thomas, who willed his way into third in the 3200-meter run with a 9:46.35, keeping his season alive.
NDCL took home a district championship in the 4x400m relay with a mark of 3:29.06, and took third in the 4x800m relay thanks to a time of 8:29.17, ending a tough day on a high note.
McInnerney was an integral part of the strong finish, helping to continue a long line of successful Lions’ track programs.
“Continuing the legacy, especially for the 4×4 because that’s what we’re known for, is a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun to come here and have the opportunity to run.”
McInnerney, a sophomore at NDCL, praised a strong senior class that has helped him grow.
“They’ve gone through a lot more meets than I have, and they just give me a lot of confidence,” McInnerney said. “They always boost me up, and tell me I can do whatever I put my mind to. We’re putting our trust in God, having Him carry us to the ultimate goal of getting where we want to be. They’ve left a lot of impact on me.”
The Lions will still be without two of their top runners at regionals, but there is confidence in the guys who will have to once again fill those shoes with the hopes of making a run to states.
“I just told the guys (who had to fill in) they did a very nice job,” White said. “It built a lot of confidence for them, especially going into next year. They understand that with some of these seniors graduating, this is their opportunity. We always have a few people every year who step up. We have a lot of seniors, but I have a feeling we won’t miss a beat (next year).”
The NDCL boys and Berkshire girls qualifiers will begin regionals on May 29 and also compete May 31 to wrap up the regional round.
