Friday, May 20, 2005
The Lowellville long jumper qualified for next week's regional.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CORTLAND -- As a freshman, Lowellville High's Lucas Gonzalez finished fifth in the long jump at the district meet -- just 1 inch from qualifying for the Division III regional meet.
As a sophomore, Gonzalez finished fifth again. And again, he was 1 inch from qualifying.
He's a junior now. He entered Thursday's long jump finals at Lakeview High in -- you guessed it -- fifth. And again, he was 1 inch away from fourth.
"When they called us for the finals and I found out where I was, I was like, 'OK, this can't happen again,' " he said.
Then something good happened.
"On my second jump of the finals, I hit the board and as soon as I hit it, I knew it was good," he said.
Quite a leap
It was 19 feet, 3 inches. That's good. Not just regional qualifying good. District champion good.
"Finally, I got one of my better jumps in," he said.
It wasn't his best -- he's jumped 20-2 this season -- but it was good enough to edge Springfield's Mason McCambridge by a half-inch and to beat the favorite, Mineral Ridge senior Levi Leigh.
"Yeah, Levi got me by 3 inches at the [Inter-County League] meet and I got him today," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez isn't sure if he'll make it to Columbus, but he's happy he'll finally get the chance to find out.
"I'm looking forward to next week," he said. "We'll see what I can do."
State champ blues
Springfield senior Nick Panezich wasn't at his best in the discus and seemed a little frustrated after the event.
"It was just one of those days, I guess," said Panezich, the state champion in the event last year. "Everyone has an off day."
Of course, "off day" isn't accurate. Even when he's not at his best, he's still good enough to win. His throw of 178-9 was 34 feet better than the second place distance of Maplewood's Justin Wajda.
The same goes for Western Reserve sophomore Alex Rathburn, who won the shot put with a throw of 37-5 and wasn't remotely satisfied with her performance.
"Everything was just so 'piecey,' " said Rathburn, who finished third in the event at last year's district meet. "I was either too slow or too fast or my hip turn wasn't right. I just couldn't get it together.
"But that's OK. I'm saving it for regionals."
See a pattern? Whether it was the weather, or something else altogether, few athletes were at their best.
Mediocre kind of day
"It's a mediocre kind of day," said Maplewood senior Jen Grayson, whose winning high jump of 5-5 was 1 inch off what she did at last year's district meet. "Maybe I'm slacking.
"I think I know why, though. It's called senioritis."
The two favorites in the 4x800-meter relay -- Thursday's only running finals -- won the event as Lordstown's boys stopped the Maplewood-McDonald juggernaut for the first time in recent memory. Either the Rockets or the Blue Devils have won a state title in the event every year since 1999.
For the second straight year, McDonald junior Ashleigh Tondo ran the anchor leg on the winning 4x800 relay, coming from behind both times. She was sick last year and collapsed after the race.
This year, she kicked in for the last 100 meters and sprinted past Warren JFK's Michelle Chaves for the win.
"I just tried to hang on as long as I could," she said. "I was going to try to take the lead earlier, but I didn't know how safe that would be.
"We put some pretty tough training in and it's all tough competition. And we're going to have a tough regional, so we'll see what happens."
scalzo@vindy.com