TRACK & amp; FIELD Athletes prepare for key meets


April 15, 2004 at 12:00a.m.


Talent will be on display this weekend in East Palestine and Columbiana.
EAST PALESTINE -- Some of the area's top Division II and III teams will compete in the Bulldog Invitational track and field meet at Reid Stadium at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Garfield Heights Trinity will return to defend its boys title against 16 other schools.
Shane Golden of Warren John F. Kennedy, Matt Gillespie and Anthony Barnes of Newton Falls, Darren Johnson of Campbell, David Koval of Poland and Ty Campana of Struthers will be the top sprinters in 100-meter dash.
Eric Anderson of Struthers, Mike Dickson of McDonald and Dan Kinsey of Beaver Local will be among the top contenders in the 300 intermediate hurdles.
Poland, Struthers, Liberty and Beaver Local are entered in the 4x100 relay.
The discus will feature Nick Panezich of Springfield, Dom DeFillipo of Lisbon, Kinsey of Beaver Local and Justin Fowler of Newton Falls.
Girls
Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas will defend its girls title in a field of 21 schools, with Poland and Warren JFK expected to challenge for the team title.
Paula Ferry of Beaver Local and Kaitlyn Nasci of Brookfield are the athletes to beat in the 100 hurdles. Angeline Ciccero of Warren JFK and Nasci will compete in the 300 hurdles.
Ferry has the area's top marks in the 100 hurdles (15.2 seconds) and the long jump (17 feet, 2 inches), while Jeanne Brian (124-2) of Warren JFK has the best effort in the discus.
Ellen Midgley of Poland and freshman Dominique Clark of Campbell are entered in the 200 meters.
The 4x100 relay should be interesting with Liberty, Struthers and Poland competing.
Boot Hawkins meet
COLUMBIANA -- Chardon, Columbiana, Crestview, Mineral Ridge, Southern Local, South Range, Streetsboro and Waterloo will participate in the Boots Hawkins meet Saturday at Columbiana High School.
Field events are set for 10 a.m., hurdles and running preliminaries at 10:30 and finals at noon.
Mineral Ridge, the defending boys champ, has Levi Leigh returning in the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles.
Teammate Greg Dominic has the area's best mark in the long jump (21-5). Dominic and Leigh will be among the favorites in the 100. Dominic will also compete in the 200 and 400.
Streetsboro will defend the girls crown.
Andrea Sanders of South Range will be the athlete to beat in the 1600 and 3200.
Andra Cardera of Mineral Ridge is entered in the 3200.