Panezich puts name in ICL record book

The Springfield junior broke a 48-year-old discus record.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
MINERAL RIDGE -- An hour after breaking his own league record in the shot put on Wednesday, Springfield junior Nick Panezich stepped into the discus area and was introduced as "Panzevich."
For good measure, he was also called "Penzivick" and "Panzavick."
He also fouled on his first two throws -- the first time he's done that this season.
Something wasn't right.
But just before his final throw, the official (finally) got his name right. And Panezich (finally) got his throw right.
Sort of.
Panezich threw 147 feet on his third attempt, more than 40 feet off his career best but good enough to make the finals.
Once he got to the finals, Panezich returned to form, breaking Ken Scarborough's 48-year-old Inter-County League discus record with a throw of 182-1.
Was that a little more suspense than he would have liked?
"Of course," he said.
Panezich, who finished second in the shot put and fourth in the discus at last year's state meet, said he's happy to hold both league records, but he has bigger goals.
"Springfield has never had a team win a state title and we haven't had an individual win a title since the 1950s," he said. "I want to do it."
He's got a good chance. Panezich's best throw in the discus this season (191-3) is 14 feet better than his next closest competitor in Division III, he said. He's also got the best shot put throw.
And the crazy thing is, he's still improving.
"But I can't take any credit for this," he said. "I just try to put God first and let him take me where he's going to take me. Without him, I wouldn't be doing anything."
McDonald's Tyler Lunn set a league record in the 400-meter dash -- one of five records to fall -- as the Blue Devils repeated as boys team champions. McDonald also won three relays.
"The kids ran well," said McDonald coach Louis Domitrovich. "Things actually went smoothly, which usually doesn't happen since so many things can go wrong at a track meet."
McDonald has won the team title for the past several years -- "I think it's five or six," Domitrovich said -- but doesn't pay much attention to streaks.
"I don't want to sound obnoxious or conceited, but we just try to take care of the things we need to take care of," he said.
Solid performance
Lowellville's girls team cruised to their first ICL title in more than 30 years despite having just 12 runners and only three upperclassmen.
"We thought we had an outside chance," said Lowellville coach Bob Ballone. "There's no one really super on our team, but we've got a lot of good athletes. We knew that if everything went our way, we could do it."
The Rockets won just three events -- the high jump, the 300 hurdles and the 4x400 -- but got solid performances from everyone on the team, Ballone said.
"We have a lot of good girls and they came through today," said Ballone. "We did what we had to do. I couldn't ask for anything more."
scalzo@vindy.com