Geauga County athletes had a busy week of competition as the area's top track and field competitors looked to earn a spot in the OHSAA Regional Track Meet.
Geauga County athletes had a busy week of competition as the area’s top track and field competitors looked to earn a spot in the OHSAA Regional Track Meet.
Tops amongst Geauga County Track and Field teams were the Chardon Hilltoppers. In fact, the Boys Team won the Division I District Title at Mentor and the Girls Team won four individual District Titles.
In winning the OHSAA District Title as a team, the Chardon Boys won individual titles in the 400m (Karl Dietz), 1600m (Taman Chokshi), 3200m (Chokshi), 4x400m (Dietz, Caleb Hewitt, Jacob Nieset, Matthew Sopchak) and 4x800m (Chokshi, Nieset, Jack Roman, Sopchak).
Also, the Hilltoppers Girls Team won individual District Titles in the 1600m (Rae Kawalec), 3200m (Kawalec), 4x800m (Bethany Cappello, Cate Dawson, Eve Downs, Rae Kawalec), and the Shot Put (Jillian Morrison).
At the Division I District Finals at Austintown-Fitch, the Kenston Girls Track and Field Team won individual District Titles in the High Jump (Sadie Poudevigne) and the 3200m (Emerson Greene).
In the Division II District Finals at Perry, athletes from Chagrin Falls, Hawken, and West Geauga won individual District Titles.
The Chagrin Falls Tigers won the Girls 4x800m (Mila Gresh, Leah Kler, Bella Radomsky, Lilly Stukus), and the Boys 400m (Jack Kittle).
After winning the 400m, Kittle said that defeating a runner that had run a sub 49 second 400m was a cool experience. He explained that he had never before competed against a runner that had run below 49 seconds in the 400m.
In order to win the 400m District Title, Kittle said that having a good start was very important to his success.
Winning the Girls 400m District Title at Perry was Hawken’s Leila Metres.
Afterward, Metres talked about winning the district title.
“The 400 felt great,” Metres said. “The fastest I ran this year is 58 so going out and running a 56.5, it was amazing, I was shocked. The Chagrin girl really pushed me, and then once I got to the 300 mark I heard my coach yelling my split and I was like, ‘Oh my god I could actually do something.’ It’s super exciting, that’s an all-time PR.”
The Hawken Boys team also won an individual district title in the 4x800m (Sam Cohen, Parker Carrus, Nick Garcia-Whitko, Chase Levey).
Winning a District Title for West Geauga Boys Track and Field at the Perry District Finals was senior Matthew Dienes who won the 1600m with a winning time of 4:24.09.
Dienes expressed his excitement after winning his first District Title.
“This being my first time winning districts here in track, it’s such an amazing feeling,” Dienes said. “I had so much fun running that race. I was really able to push myself with this tough competition I had. We were battling back and fourth. The lead exchanged several times. In the end, I was able to pull through in the last 300 and win the District Title.”
Also, Kara Deister won the Girls High Jump for the Wolverines with a winning jump of 5’4”.
At the Division II District Finals at Lakeview, the NDCL Boys Track and Field team won the District Title in the 400m (Rob Bonchak).
In the Division III District Finals at Cuyahoga Heights, the Cardinal Girls Track and field team won District Titles in the 800m (Lily Ayer) and the Shot Put (Olivia Krebs). In addition, Max Soltis won an individual District Title for the Cardinal Boys Track and Field team in the Shot Put.
Geauga County Track and Field athletes will now compete at Regionals as they try to qualify for the OHSAA Track and Field State Championships.
