TRACK AND FIELD Hurdler Cicero shows top form

Springfield's Nick Panezich was named MVP of the boys field events.
POLAND -- Senior Angelene Cicero of Warren Kennedy High, the defending Division III state champion in the 300-meter hurdles, won the event in 46.31 seconds at the 10th Poland Invitational track and field meet Saturday.
"I was really smooth today, said Cicero of her win at Poland Stadium. "It felt great. It was dead even at the seventh hurdle, then I pulled it out.
"It was an exhausting day for us with a lot of races, but my coach's [Tim McNeil] support and his experience is why I've been having a great year."
McNeil was an outstanding high school hurdler for JFK.
Seven records
Thirty seven schools participated in the meet, which produced seven records. Hudson won the girls title with 100 points, Canton GlenOak was second with 96 and defending champion Poland was third with 47.
Nick Panezich of Springfield won boys field events MVP for the fourth straight year. He set meet records in winning the discus (189 feet, 2 inches) and the shot (60-2).
In other girls events, freshman Ashley Galbraith of Struthers won the 400 in 60.53. She just missed breaking the school record of 60.0.
"Usually I go slow until the turn for the stretch run, but with all the competition here, I knew I had to get ahead and run as hard as I could," Galbraith said.
Poland's Sarah Anderson, Rachelle Pavelko, Lauren Fithian and Collen Moran won the 4x800 relay in 9:43.83.
"We came close, but didn't get the school record [9:38]," Moran said. "This was the best competition we faced so far and we really wanted to win today.
"Our exchanges were good, because we have worked awfully hard to improve them," Moran said.
Last year at the regional, the Poland girls placed fifth in the 4x800 relay just missing a trip to state.
"That's been in the back of our minds since then and one of our goals is to get to state this year," Moran said.
Other MVPs
Jerica Mann of GlenOak was presented with the Iron Bulldog -- for high points -- and running MVP awards. She won the 100 and 200 and was a member of the winning 4x100 and 4x200 relays.
Jackie Clonch of Newton Falls was MVP of the field events. She was second in the shot put and third in the discus.
Michael Gibson of Chaney set a meet record (21-2) in winning the long jump. He bettered the old mark, 21 1/2, set by Clarence Howell of Chaney last year.
Last summer, Gibson competed in AAU meets and jumped 22 feet and he wants to be doing that before the district meet.
He's the defending Division I district champ and said he would like to beat the Chaney record (23-6).
GlenOak takes title
Canton GlenOak also won the boys title with 95 points. Salem and Warren Harding, last year's champion, tied for second with 48.
Aiman Scullion of Salem took first place in the 1600 (4:27.67).
Scullion, who ran with the pack for the first two laps, said, "I stayed tucked in the pack the first two laps because I wanted to make it a 800 race."
He took the lead early in the third quarter and said, "I knew I had get going because a lot of the guys would sprint the final 300 meters."
J'Aneb Provitt of Warren Harding was given the Iron Bulldog award, while Brian Hartline was presented with the running MVP award.
Provitt won the 100 and 200 and was a member of the winning 4x100 and 4x200 relays; the latter setting a meet record.
Hartline set a meet record in winning the 100 hurdles. He also won the 300 hurdles and anchored the winning 4x400 relay, and was a member of the second place 4x200 relay.