DISTRICT TRACK Records fall in Div. III meet opener at Lakeview

Springfield's Nick Panezich and Maplewood's Jen Grayson set marks.
By MARK W. MILLER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CORTLAND -- Nick Panezich of Springfield High, McDonald's 4x800-meter relay and Jen Grayson of Maplewood all set records in the Division III district track and field meet Thursday at Lakeview High.
After four boys events, Middlefield Cardinal was in first place with 25 points and Springfield was second with 19.
Maplewood's girls were leading after three events with 16 points, while Springfield was second with 14.
Panezich, a junior, broke the district discus record (182 feet, 2 inches) on his second throw of the preliminaries and then bettered that with a toss (186-9) on his second throw of the finals.
He shattered the meet record (179-5) set by Dan Taylor in 1999 and the 30-year-old stadium record (184-10), by Steve James of Lakeview.
After winning the district title for the third straight year, Panezich said he was where he wanted to be, but that his main goal is getting to state and setting a record there.
He attained the area's best mark (191-3) in a dual meet at United earlier in the season and said to get the record at state, he'll have to do better than 200 feet.
"One thing was missing from it," he said of his tosses. "It's not there, but I hit it before and I'll get it again."
Record relay run
Jason Corman, Aaron Thornton, Anthony Puntel and Joe Kunkel of McDonald won the 4x800 relay in 8 minutes, 10.3 seconds.
"There were some good teams here," Kunkel said. "We just wanted to go out, run our race and get some good times."
Greg Dominic of Mineral Ridge, a senior, won the long jump (20-3 1/2). His best effort this season has been 22-6.
Disappointed about his performance, Dominic said, "Because of bad weather this week, the takeoff board was sunk in the ground somewhat, which made it unstable and you could feel it when you made jumps."
The Rockets' Grayson soared to a district and stadium record in the high jump (5-6), bettering the mark (5-5) she set last year.
"I hit the bar pretty hard and it stayed on. Lucky me," said Grayson.
"When I was in the middle of the air and completed it, I heard my grandmother's [Rosemary Grayson] cheers and the crowd applauded, so I knew I made it."
Katie Houk of Springfield won the shot put (34-0). She said it was her first year out for track and that a knee injury the past two years kept her from throwing.
"I could have done better," she said. "If possible, I would like to break the school record [37-9] at the regional meet next week."
Ashleigh Tondo, Nicole Tondo, Erin Koppel and Kyrsti Sowers of McDonald won the 4x800 relay (10:03.43), which bettered the Lakeview stadium record (10:06.1).
Saturday, field events will start at 9:30 a.m. and the running finals at 10.
Norwayne district
CRESTON -- Ursuline's 4x800 relay team of Mary Hendricks, Tiffany Walsh, Tiffani Miller and Cierra Bennett placed second at the Division III district.
Ursuline's Brittany Averhart also qualified by placing third in the discus. The top four in each event advanced.
Western Reserve's Amanda Barbone placed fourth in the shot put and the discus, while teammate Alex Rathburn was third in the shot put.
For the boys, Western Reserve's 4x800 relay team of Shawn Bryant, Jason Markijohn, Samir Awadallah and David Ferrando placed second. The Blue Devils' Matt Speece took third in the discus and Jackson-Milton's Chris Anderson was second.