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Girard girls, Lakeview boys second in D-II district meet
Girard girls, Lakeview boys finish second at Division II district track and field meet
By Joe Scalzo
cortland
Girard junior Destiny Hall wants you to know that, yes, it’s nice that the Indians earned the runner-up trophy at this year’s Division II district track meet.
But she wants you to know something else, too.
“We don’t say, ‘Oh, yeah, we want to get second,’ ” Hall said. “We’re going for first. Period.”
For the second straight year, Girard took second to Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, which has won two state titles in the past five years and has more depth than a Terrence Malick movie.
But since the beginning of the indoor track season, the Indians have maximized their talent, relying on their work ethic and their chemistry, rather than one or two transcendent, Cachet Murray-esque athletes.
“We don’t have that 1-2 punch to get a championship, but we’re working on it,” said Indians coach John Spano, whose team lost 118-85.5. “We don’t have the depth [of CVCA] but our girls give it everything they have when they go out.”
Led by Hall, junior Justine Kagy and sophomore Caitlyn Trebella — who each advanced in three events — the Indians qualified eight individuals and two relays to next week’s regional meet in Bedford.
“Our goal coming in was to take the championship,” Spano said. “But I’m very proud of what we did today. They did a super job and worked hard all year. Motivation. Desire. You can’t ask much more from kids.”
Girard’s 4x200 rely and Ursuline’s 4x100 relay each placed first and LaBrae senior Megan Gunther won the 300-meter hurdles — the only Valley female athlete to capture a district title. Gunther also finished second in the 100 hurdles by five-hundredths of a second behind Streetsboro’s Destiny King, who set a meet record (15.05).
Not bad for a girl with a back injury.
“I’ve really learned to kind of ignore it [the injury],” said Gunther, a YSU recruit. “It’s been a character-builder.”
On the boys side, Mooney’s Dawan Britt (100) and Jayshawn Coleman (200) won individual titles and senior Marcus McWilson (a Kentucky football recruit) anchored the winning 4x100 and 4x200 relays as the Cardinals tied for fourth behind CVCA, Lakeview and Woodridge.
“We work really hard in practice, we have chemistry, we’re really cool together and we just have a talent that I think that we can take far,” said Coleman, a sophomore.
The Cardinals’ sprinters will face a much tougher test in the next two weeks against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary, but Coleman said they’re ready.
“I definitely think we can win it all,” he said of the sprint relays. “Even with St. Vincent-St. Mary. It’ll be tough. They’re really good. But I think we can do it.”
Champion’s Tyler Bishop (high jump) was the only other area district champion but Lakeview advanced four athletes in individual events (including senior Eric Harris in both the 800 and 1600) and had the second-fastest 4x100 relay to finish second two years after winning the district crown.
“I’m proud of the way our guys competed today,” Bulldogs coach Mark Swinning said. “We’re getting enough guys to the regional to make some noise there. And who knows? Maybe we’ll get some guys to Columbus and finish out the season on a real high note.”