TRACK AND FIELD Harding cruises to Trumbull County crown

Maplewood edged Girard for the girls title on the final event.
By DOUG CHAPIN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
CORTLAND -- Warren G. Harding High cruised to the boys title while Maplewood broke a tie in the final event to edge Girard for the girls title Thursday in the Trumbull County Track and Field Championships at Lakeview High School.
Harding won eight of the 12 events contested, totaling 110 points. Runner-up Maplewood had 70.
The Raiders were paced by meet MVP Antwaun Molden who won both hurdle events and was in on two winning relay efforts.
Tjawonkher Davis claimed the 100- and 200-meter dashes, and was on one winning relay team. He won the trophy for top point scorer in running events.
"The kids did an outstanding job," Harding coach Dan Reardon said. "They did as good a job as they could have and some of them surpassed what we expected."
Record setter
Harding had more than just Molden and Davis. Treymayne Warfield set a meet record winning the 400 and ran on the winning 4x400 relay.
Mike Simpson won the long jump, was second to Warfield in the 400 and fifth in the high jump. He also ran on the 4x400 relay team.
Rob Massucci finished second to Davis in both the 100 and 200 and ran a leg on both the 400 and 1600 relay units.
The Raiders hope the momentum from the victory carries over into next week when they compete in the Steel Valley Conference meet.
"This was good for us heading into the SVC," Reardon said. "It was a good meet with quality competition and the kids came to run.
"Boardman is a very good team and they are who we'll be shooting for next week."
Maplewood got wins in the 1600 from Dave Pykare and the 3200 from Paul Moser, but it was far from enough.
Other winners Thursday were third-place Champion's Steve Burkholder in the discus and Ryan Petrick in the 800.
Burkholder claimed top scoring honors in the field events with his discus win and a second in the shot put on Tuesday.
The girls meet came down to the final event, but it was sort of anticlimatic despite the fact the score was tied at 70 heading into the 4x400 relay.
Needed only to finish
Girard did not have a team in the final event so all the Rockets had to do was finish in order to win the meet.
Maplewood freshman Jen Grayson was outstanding, winning the meet MVP award with victories in the high jump and both hurdles. She also finished second in the long jump on Tuesday.
Teammate Christen Clemson won field event top scorer honors with a third in the shot put to go with a discus win Tuesday.
Girard stayed in the thick of things despite winning just one event, the 200 claimed by Cachet Murray. However, the Indians had three seconds, a third, a fourth and two fifths.
"We were real pleased with the results and the effort of our girls," Girard coach John Spano said. "We work as a team, a unit, and they all did a super job."
Liberty's Jessica White was top scorer in running events, winning the 100, anchoring the Leopards' victorious 4x100 relay and finishing second in the 200 and 400.
White crossed the finish line just ahead of Murray in three races -- by 0.1 seconds in the 100, by 0.6 seconds in the 4x100 relay and by 0.6 seconds in the 400 -- showing how close the team competition really was.
Emily Freudenrich of Lordstown also was a big winner, taking the 400 and 800, and anchoring the Red Devils' winning 4x200 relay which also included Samantha Kistler, Amanda Kistler and Jessica Hall.
Other winners were Tiffany Hack of Mineral Ridge in the shot put, Marlena Wolfe of Champion in the 1600, Jenn Wenhold of McDonald in the 3200 and the John F. Kennedy 4x400 relay of Amanda Nolan, Sarah McNeil, Christin Ashdown and Jamie Musick.