It was a beautiful day for running, jumping and throwing at a local track meet, but only if you were in a warm weather state like Arizona, Florida or California.
It was a beautiful day for running, jumping and throwing at a local track meet, but only if you were in a warm weather state like Arizona, Florida or California.
In Northeast Ohio, as often happens in late spring, more challenging conditions sneak in, affecting how athletes perform.
Such was the case this week in regional track and field action at North Royalton and Austintown Fitch High Schools, and athletes will take their skills further this coming weekend toward state meet action at Jesse Owens Stadium at The Ohio State University.
While not as plentiful, body-wise, as in years past, the Maple Leaf area will send some top-notch athletes to Columbus for the big event.
Junior Kara Deister of West Geauga will lead the way. After taking three first-place finishes in district action last weekend at Lakeview — winning the 100 and 300 meter hurdles, plus the high jump competition — Deister came out on top again in frigid and blustery conditions at Fitch, winning the high jump event with a leap of 5-5. She was third in the 100 meter hurdles and fourth in the 300 meter hurdles to solidify her efforts heading to states.
“Things didn’t go like we would have hoped for this weekend,” Wolverine Coach Mike Taurasi said late in the day. “Kara was very solid when she had to be, for sure, and it is good to get her through in all three events for the state meet. Jacob (Williams) ran well, too.”
Williams, another Wolverines junior, started out in the middle of the pack in the Division II 800 meter run, then hung well with the front. About halfway through the second lap, still stuck in the middle, Williams made a valiant try to get free by moving to the outside of the group, but had to drop back a few places to get free and was not able to catch up, finishing fifth with a time of 1:59.01. This was .06 faster than his first-place time in the district meet the week before.
Sadly, only the top four finishers at regionals go to state, but Williams could be called as an alternate should those ahead of him be unavailable for the meet at Owens Stadium.
Gabby Byrne, a freshman from Chagrin Falls, had a good day running. After winning both the 1600 and 3200 events at Lakeview, she faced much stiffer competition at Fitch and finished third in the 3200 to earn her ticket to state. Her time of 11:09.13 was solid in positioning.
Chagrin’s Natalie Zalud won the pole vault event with a vault of 11-1 to earn her spot in Columbus.
The Chagrin 4×800 team took fourth place with a time of 9:43.81 to make the trip.
Nick Tropf of Chagrin took fifth in boys vault action with a vault of 12-1, putting him in place as an alternate, too.
After winning both boys distance runs at Lakeview last week, Chagrin senior Tommy Mooney took third in the 1600 at Fitch with a time of 4:21.72 to set himself up for the trip to Owens this week.
After a good week at districts, NDCL had more problems at Fitch in DII action and did not qualify anybody for state, but NDCL athletes made their presence felt nonetheless.
Senior Brennen Burke had similar issues as Williams, only in the 200 event. Stuck in the middle, he could not get free of the pack, ending up in sixth place with a time of 23.18 seconds.
“It was tough running today in the cold,” he said. “That said, everybody had to deal with it. We didn’t make our expectations as a team or individuals today. We had a couple kids hurt, we had some younger kids here for the first time, and some of our best athletes didn’t come out for the team this year. It’s tough, but it’s a thing each of us must get beyond. I was proud of my teammates and proud of myself to get here.”
One of those teammates was freshman Owen Thomas, who in the districts took third in the 3200 and had to battle a big crowd in the regional event for an eighth-place finish. For three quarters of his race, as the deep chill touched everybody, he hung tough until the last quarter lap.
“I think if I had gone out faster, I would have been in a better position to finish better,” Thomas said. “I know where to make my move, but today I was in a crowd and just couldn’t do it like I know I can. My goal is to win state, and to make consistent progress all the time. As I get stronger, I think that can happen, but it will take a lot of work.”
Not much happened in Division I action at Fitch. The area’s only representative is going to be Chardon senior Caleb Hewitt, who qualified for both the 100 and 200 meter dashes for the Hilltoppers. He ran a 10.87 in the former race and a 21.96 in the latter to punch his ticket to Jesse Owens Stadium.
Kenston senior runner Brianna McIvor had the best effort for the girls with a fifth place finish in the 3200 run with a time of 10:54.27.
In Division III track and field, Cardinal senior thrower Max Soltis qualified for state with a fourth place finish in the discus of `157-9.
