Track stars inspire selves, other aces

Chaney teammates push each other daily.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
AUSTINTOWN -- For Chaney High's Michael Gibson, the competition comes from a teammate. For Lisbon's Dom DeFilippo, it comes from area rivals. For Mineral Ridge's Levi Leigh, it comes, well, eventually.
No matter where it comes from, it makes them better.
"It's a good challenge to have somebody just as good to go against every day," said Gibson, a long jumper whose teammate Clarence Howell is also one of the area's best. "We push each other every meet."
Gibson placed first in the long jump at Saturday's Optimist at Fitch High School, while Howell finished third. His jump of 21 feet, 6 inches wasn't quite as good as his personal best of 22 feet, and it's a couple feet short of the school record of 23-6 set by Cameron Widget at the 2003 state meet. Widget won the state title that year.
Needless to say, he has a lot of things to shoot for.
"I'll try to get that before the season is over," said Gibson, who was one place away from qualifying for the state meet last spring. "I think it's within reach."
Optimist MVP
DeFilippo, the field MVP at the Optimist, was competing against Fitch junior Sam Cassano in the discus on Saturday. DeFilippo won the event with a throw of 172-0, just 3 inches further than Cassano.
"When you face a kid like Sam, you're just trying to get the best throw you can," said DeFilippo, who also took third in the shot put. "When I'm competing against someone like him, I'm more focused on winning."
He takes a different approach when facing Springfield senior Nick Panezich, the defending Division III state champ in the shot put and discus.
"Going against him has taught me self-motivation," said DeFilippo, who earned his first MVP of the season. "I just try to throw as well as I can and I don't worry as much about winning."
Hurdles champion
Leigh, the defending state champion in the 110 hurdles, hasn't had much competition in the event so far this season. That changed on Saturday, when he finished second to Alliance's Steve Love.
Does that serve as motivation?
"Definitely," Leigh said. "He's a very good hurdler and when you see someone out in front of you, it makes you work harder."
Heavy load
Leigh was a little leg weary on Saturday. Trumbull County had its two-day meet earlier in the week and he has the Inter-County League meet next week. He said the heavy load doesn't bother him.
"This is just touch-ups," he said. "It gets you ready to go for the league meet."
He didn't get to rest his legs, but he finally put his mind to rest last week. After visiting several schools over the past few months -- including Florida State, Duke and Miami of Ohio, Leigh decided to walk on for track at the University of Florida.
"It's just a great program," he said.
And the weather's not too bad, either.
"Exactly," he said. "It's one of the top two programs in the nation and it's sunny year round. And it's outstanding academically also.
"I wanted to wait and see what came around," he said. "Once I saw my opportunities, it was just about choosing the right place to be."
Leigh was a state qualifier in the 300 hurdles last year and started competing in the long jump this season, but his main focus is still the 110 hurdles.
"There's more motivation after you win [a state title]," he said. "It requires a lot more effort. At first you're so focused on winning it. Once you win, you have to push yourself to get better."
His goal is to drop below 14 seconds -- he ran a 14.8 on Saturday -- which would put him among the top hurdlers in the state, not just in Division III.
"I have big goals," he said, "but I think they're very attainable."
scalzo@vindy.com