HIGH SCHOOL TRACK 27 boys teams ready to run at F.E. Cope

Thirty-four girls squads will be competing in East Palestine Saturday.
Today's F.E. Cope boys invitational track and field meet, which was canceled by lightning last year, has 27 schools entered at Salem's Reilly Stadium.
Race preliminaries are scheduled to start at 4:15 and field events at 4:30 p.m. Finals begin at 6 p.m.
On Saturday, the East Palestine girls invitational has attracted 34 schools. Field events and running preliminaries will start at 9:15 a.m. Race finals are set for 12:30 p.m.
Boys: Fitch was the champion of the 1999 Cope meet and Salem was second.
Boardman, which placed third at last week's Ward Invitational, will have high hurdlers Shawn Carlson (14.9 seconds) and Rich Lipore (15.2) entered at Salem along Tyler O'Holleran (52.2) in the 400, Andy Crogan in the high jump and long jump and Steve Vallos in the discus.
David Pykare of Maplewood won the 1600 at Ward and he was second in the 800. Drew Frum of Poland took the 3200 in 9:42.4.2. Tjawonker Putman of Warren Harding (11.2) and Lloyd Hewlett of Wilson (11.5) should contend in the 100.
Beb Nolan of Warren JFK (23.7) and Hewlett (23.8) should be among the contenders in the 200.
Scott Kyser of Leetonia won the discus with a throw of 157 feet, 8 inches at Ward and was third in the shot and will be the athlete to beat at Salem.
Girls: Mooney's girls return to defend their title, but Boardman, which placed third, and Cleveland Glenville, which was fourth, should challenge for team honors at East Palestine.
Maplewood's Christin Clemson, who was MVP of the field events a year ago, will defend her shot put and discus titles.
Poland's Georgiann Pavlich, who won the 300 low hurdles (48.8) and was second in the 100 highs at the F.E. Cope meet last week, is the athlete to beat.
Alex Casi of East Palestine will be one of the favorites in the sprints and long jump. She was second at Cope in the long jump (16-5 1/4) and second in the 200 (26.9).
Boardman's Gina Mavrikis, Sarah Grabert, Sarah Wagner and Brittany Durkin are set in the 4x800 relay having posted one of the area's top times (10:19.4) this season.
Durkin won the 800 at Cope in 2:29.8. Amber Bland of the Spartans won the high jump (5-2). Monica Cuevas of the Spartans, a sophomore, was second in the 400 and fifth in the 200.