Salem, Poland top MAC meet

The Quaker boys dethroned Howland, while the Bulldog girls upended Canfield.
By MARK W. MILLER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
POLAND -- Two new champions were crowned Friday in the Metro Athletic Conference track and field meet at Poland High School.
Salem took honors in the boys division with 121 1/2 points. Howland, last year's champ, finished second with 111. The Poland girls scored 137 points to edge last year's champion, Canfield (135).
Patrick Gorby of the Quakers won the 1600 (4 minutes, 36.2 seconds) and was third in the 800. Aiman Scullion (10:11.1) and Paul Shivers (10:15) of Salem placed one-two in the 3200.
Sophomore Drew Matak of Salem won the long jump (20-11 1/4).
Howland's Vinny Freedman, Chad Holley, Mario Zambelli and Marcus Johnson won the 4x800 relay in 8:23.9.
"We were third last year, and that motivated us," Freedman said. "We came in here wanting it real bad."
Davis sets mark
Tony Davis of Howland took first place in the 110 high hurdles in a record 14.3 seconds, which broke the old mark of 14.4 set by Mark Tipton.
The defending champ said, "I got off to a fast start and pulled away at 50 meters."
Davis said that he would like to beat the school record (14.2) that he tied earlier this week.
Named MVP of the running events, Davis also won the 300 hurdles (39.8). He was fifth in the 100.
Struthers' Eric Anderson, Larry Wiley, Justin Person and Ty Campana won the 4x100 relay (43.3).
"After we lost the 4x2, that disappointed us, and we wanted to win the 4x1 bad. It's one of our strongest events," said Anderson. "Every day we work on our exchanges, and that helped us today."
Dave Sedlacko of Struthers was MVP of the field events. He won the discus (158-9) and was second in the shot put (47-6 3/4).
Girls competition
Kim Brogan, Sarah Anderson, Daniela Bova and Cassey Turic got Poland off to a good start in winning the 4x800 relay in 10 minutes, 8.6 seconds.
Colleen Moran (5:27.3) and Lauren Fithian (5:30.7) of Poland took first and second, respectively, in the 1600-meter run.
Emily Wollet of Canfield won the 400 meters in 58 seconds.
"There were really good runners here, and I didn't want them to catch up because I knew they were right there," Wollet said.
Wollet, who was chosen MVP of the running events, also won the 200 in a record 26.1 seconds, anchored the Cardinals' 4x400 relay and was second in the 100.
New shot record
Defending champ Aubree Horning of Salem set a record in the shot put (39 feet, 9 inches), which bettered the mark (35-8 1/4) she set last year.
"My throws in the prelims weren't good, but the finals were better," said Horning, who would like to go to state and thinks a throw of 40 feet will get her there. She was MVP of the field events.
Sophomore Deidre Clary of Salem set a record in the 3200 (11:54.9). The old mark (11:59) was held by the Quakers' Jenny Brown.
Lizzie Jesko of Salem took first place in the 100 (12.7), finished second in the 200 (26.5) and was the leadoff runner in the winning 4x200 relay (1:47.25).
The defending 100 champ, who also won the event as a freshman, said, "The race was between me and [Canfield's Emily] Wollet, and I just wanted to win it bad."