PREP TRACK & amp; FIELD Greenamyer wins one for his great-grandma
Jason Greenamyer still was not pleased with his distance in the long jump.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
SALEM -- Some one ought to enter Jason Greenamyer in a "Most Refreshing Attitude" contest.
The Salem senior had just won the long jump with a leap of 19 feet, 7 inches at Friday's F.E. Cope Invitational at Reilly Stadium, but he couldn't hide his true feelings.
"It's horrible," he said, almost apologetically, about his jump. "I jumped 20-63/4 this season, but what are you gonna do? I don't work on the long jump as much as I should and I need to do better."
He paused, thought for a second, and said, "I mean, I know I won, but winning isn't everything."
A promise: Before the meet, he promised his great-grandmother, Mary, that he would "try his hardest for her." Mary has been sick lately, and he wanted to do something to lift her spirits. He did his best -- winning Division II MVP honors in both the running and field events.
"Could you put something in the paper about how I was thinking about her?" he asked. "It would mean a lot."
He ran indoor track his junior year, but was talked into playing basketball this winter. The Quakers went 1-20, losing their last 20 games.
"It's kind of an ego boost to do well [in track] after that," said Greenamyer, who plans to run the decathlon at Thiel.
He finished second in the 110 high hurdles to Boardman's Rich Lepore for the second-straight week, but said it didn't bother him.
Pals: "He's a good friend of mine so I don't get upset about it," Greenamyer said. "He's a great athlete. He pushes me to improve so it's nice to run against him."
Beaver Local sophomore Pat Woods jumped a personal-best 6-feet, 4 inches in the high jump to place first. He almost broke the school record of 6-6, but couldn't quite clear 6-61/4 on three tries.
"I can't believe I did that," said Woods, whose previous best was 6-2. "I mean, I feel really good, but it sort of felt like every other day. Six-four has been a big mental block for me. I didn't think I could do it, so this gives me a big boost of confidence."
Just missed: Woods just missed qualifying for state in the high jump as a freshman last year, placing fifth at regionals. (The top four go to state.)
Did that eat away at him this off-season?
"Yeah, a little bit," he said. "I couldn't wait to get started."
Maplewood's 4x800 relay of John Palmer, Terry Rush, Dave Pykare and Derek Armstrong took first with a time of 8:23.
They didn't necessarily say they were the favorites, "but it's always in the back of your mind," Palmer said. "You just try to do your best and hope no one gets injured. The hardest thing is getting everyone to run well on the same day."
Waller wins: Boardman junior Russ Waller took first in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9:49.1. Waller -- the MVP of last week's Ward Invitational -- was tied with Maplewood's Luke Botlorff with two laps left, but pulled away to win by 26 seconds.
"He had a heckuva winter," Boardman coach Dave Pavlansky said of Waller. "He's a really hard worker and he's doing phenomenal for just being a junior."
Boardman won the overall title, beating Warren Harding 111-60. Salem took first in Division II and Maplewood was first in Div. III.
Lepore won the 110 and 300 hurdles, Tom Albani won the mile and Steve Vallos and Evan Beard went 1-2 in the discus for Boardman.
Raiders 1-2: Harding was strong in the sprints as junior Tjawonkher Davis and junior Rob Massucci took 1-2 in the 100-meter, senior Travis Stanford won the 200-meter and the Raiders set a meet record in the 4x100 relay with a time of 43.2. The former record of 43.3 was set by Youngstown East in 1999.
Mooney senior Joe Taylor won the 800-meter run and was part of the Cardinals' winning 4x400 relay, Warren JFK junior Ben Nolan won the 400-meter and Leetonia senior Joe Bruderly placed first in the shot put.
scalzo@vindy.com