EAST PALESTINE Top shot putters billed in Bulldog

Two athletes from Columbiana will compete against standouts from Mooney and Leetonia.
EAST PALESTINE -- Four of the area's top performers in the shot put will compete Saturday at the Bulldog Invitational track and field meet at East Palestine High's Reid Stadium.
Twenty-one schools, including Cardinal Mooney, which won both the boys and girls titles last year, are entered in the event. Field events, dash and hurdle preliminaries are scheduled to begin at 9:15 a.m.
Columbiana's Kris Reash, who has tossed the shot 52 feet, teammate Jason Gebhardt (48-51/4), Leetonia's Kyle Kyser (51-9) and Mooney's Ken Kraft (50-91/2) lead an outstanding list of athletes in the event.
Kyser also has the area's best throw in the discus (165-8).
Hurdles: The hurdle races should prove entertaining, with Beaver Local's Jamie Olmstead, who placed second in the 300 intermediates (41.3 seconds) last year, Warren JFK's Alvin Shavers, Salem's Jason Greenamyer and McDonald's Adam Lewis entered.
Top entries in the 100 are Derek Garrod (11.1) of Columbiana, Lou Scudere (11.1) of Brookfield, Anthony Worthy (11.3) of LaBrae, Andrew Goddard (11.4) of Bristol, Tom Kweicenski (11.5) of Newton Falls and Ryan Witkowski (11.5) of McDonald.
Girls: In the girls distance races, some of the top contenders are Katrina Brickner of Lisbon, Jamie Musick of Warren JFK, Joy Hartman of LaBrae, Nikki Moore of Mineral Ridge and sisters Jessica and Jennifer Wenhold.
Challenging in the 300 low hurdles will be Aleece Harris (51.7) of Beaver Local, Kaitlin Nasci (54.0) and Lauren Hake (55.0) of Mineral Ridge.
Jessica Truchan of Brookfield, Michelle Russo of Warren JFK, Sara Toth of McDonald and Ivory Cieonna of Brookfield have all thrown the discus 100 feet or more.
Alex Casi of East Palestine, a junior, set the record last year in the 400 (58.2). Carol Holmes of McDonald and Lori Patrone of Mooney will test her.
Casi will also be the athlete to beat in the long jump, 100 and 200.
She was second (17-6) in the long jump at the East Palestine girls invitational last week. Paula Ferry of Beaver Local (16-23/4) was fifth and Marci Mancuso (15-33/4) of Leetonia was seventh. Fitch will be competing in the Walsh Jesuit relays Saturday, while the Lakeview relays get underway at 10 a.m.