Trevis, Sevek soar to league records

Howland won the boys title and Canfield cruised to the girls championship.
By BRIAN RICHESSON
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
POLAND -- Jacquie Trevis had trouble containing her emotions. So did Garrett Sevek. Together, they leaped into the Metro Athletic Conference record book.
"Sometimes you have bad days," said Trevis, a Struthers High senior. "You're not feeling so good or you wake up on the wrong side of the bed."
Trevis is smart enough to realize that, as a track and field athlete, you have bad days. That's what makes the good ones so rewarding.
Friday was a good day.
On a cool, breezy day at Poland High, Trevis made MAC track and field history by high-jumping 5 feet, 6 inches to break the previous record (5-3), set by Poland's Maggie Slosser in 1999.
"I've learned that if you have a positive attitude, it affects the way you jump," Trevis said. "I had it in the back of my head that I was going to do it."
Trevis believes in writing down her goals. She thrives off the support of her family, friends and coaches, and she trusts in motivational sayings such as this:
"Good, better, best; never let it rest; until your good is better than your best."
Trevis now has won the last three MAC high jump titles and will go for her third straight district crown next week.
Salem's Sevek
Sevek, a Salem High senior, paved the way earlier in the day when he high-jumped a MAC-record 6-6, breaking the previous mark (6-4), set by Poland's Josh Miletta in 1996.
"I'm one of the most emotional athletes," said Sevek, who, upon making the record jump, shouted, ran and hugged team members.
Sevek held off Howland junior Brandon Alexander (6-4), who fell short of matching 6-6. Sevek said he was motivated by the competition from Alexander.
"He beat me one time this season, and I wasn't going to let that happen again. I took that to heart," said Sevek, the defending MAC and district champion. "I wasn't going to come back here and lose my title."
Team race
In the team competition, the Howland boys (172 points) and Canfield girls (184) soared to titles. It was the Cardinals' seventh straight MAC title, first-year coach Mary Domitrovich said.
"We're always aware that somebody is trying to knock you off," Domitrovich said. "We try to stay grounded and let our abilities speak. It's a tradition, and all the girls seem to get up for this."
Canfield got key contributions from senior Melissa Lee and junior Emily Wollet in the sprints, junior Andrea Murdock in the discus, sophomore Makenzie Kline in the high jump and senior Mara Boak, who will run next season at John Carroll University, in the distance races.
"It's hard to set the pace by yourself," said Boak, on the 800, which she won in 2:27.70. "So I decided to hang back and give it my all in the end. I wanted to let someone else block the wind for me."
Tiger tales
Highlighting the Tigers' MAC championship was the effort of senior Matt Zakrajsek, whose discus throw of 174-3 shattered the previous meet record (144-8), set by Poland's Sean Heck in 1996.
"I had a good week of practice," Zakrajsek said. "I started lifting the past couple of days to get my strength back up. Everything felt good today."
Zakrajsek made the record toss on his final throw of the preliminaries. He had thrown 164 feet on his previous attempt before everything came together.
Does this mean that Zakrajsek is ready to make an impact at districts and beyond?
"You can't be thinking about that right now," he said. "I'll see how next week goes, I'll keep practicing and hopefully I'll improve on that."
Howland's 4x200 relay of Willie Davis, James Justice, Anthony Jefferson and Tony Davis also set a meet record in 1:33.17, besting the Tigers' previous MAC mark of 1:35.78.
richesson@vindy.com