DIVISION I TRACK Strong finish lifts Boardman to title

Canfield edged the Spartans for the girls district crown.
By MARK W. MILLER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
AUSTINTOWN -- Both the boys and girls Division I district team championships came down to the 4x400-meter relay Saturday at Falcon Stadium.
Before the final races, Tallmadge led Boardman's boys by 21/2 points and Canfield's girls led Boardman by seven points.
Although Twinsburg won the boys relay (3 minutes, 26.76 seconds), Boardman's Frank Ocasio, Rick Lape, Dave Haushalter and Jim Hlebak came in second (3:27.1) and Tallmadge was fifth.
The second-place finish gave the Spartans the title with 921/2 points and Tallmadge followed with 90.
The top four athletes in each event qualified for the regional meet at Fitch Thursday and Saturday.
"I like our chances when it comes down to the 4x4," said Boardman coach Dave Pavlansky. "We've been in that kind of a situation before. We needed to beat Jackson and Canton McKinley in the Federal League championships and the kids came through.
"It was nice to get a win here. It was big for our program because we hadn't done much the past two years," said Pavlansky.
Hlebak, a senior, anchored the Spartans to the second place.
"He's the best anchor I've had since I started coaching here," said Pavlansky.
"We were ranked sixth out of the eight teams in the 4x4 final, so we had to do it; it was for our team and the championship," said Hlebak.
Strong performances
Warren Harding junior Patrick White came into the meet having made only 6 feet in the high jump. He cleared 6-6 to win the event.
"I didn't expect to go 6-6, but thought, 'Go get it,'" he said. "It was the district and I worked hard all season just for this."
Brothers Benja'Lan and J'Abneb Provitt were 1-2 in the 100 and 200 for Harding.
In the 200, Benja'Lan sprinted past his brother with about 50 meters to go to win in 22.07. He won the 100 in 11.01.
The brothers weren't pleased with their starts.
"Our goal is to get out of regional, so were going to have to work on starts at practice if we want to get to state. The competition next week will be a lot tougher," said J'Abneb Provitt.
Adam Kagarise of Fitch took first place in the 400 (48.81) and Harding's Darren Lee won the 300 hurdles (40.69). Chaney won the 4x200 relay (1:31.82).
Girls
Boardman took first place in the girls 4x400 relay (4:02.27), but the Cardinals weren't going to be denied the crown as they placed second (4:08.99).
Canfield won with 131 points and Boardman was second with 126.
Stephanie Jarvis, a senior at Canfield who is headed to Youngstown State, set a meet record (10-7) in winning the pole vault.
She took three days off from practice this past week because of tendinitis in her knee.
"It's been bothering me for a long time, but when I started warming up today it felt good," said Jarvis. "I did everything normally, trusted my ability and I knew I could do it."
She said one of her goals at next week's regional will be to get the stadium record (10-9) and qualify again for state.
Boardman's Jenna Agnew (59.39) and Liz Yazbek (59.72) finished 1-2 in the 400.
"It's awesome running with each other," said Yazbek. "I try to keep up with her [Agnew] 'cause she goes so fast."
Added Agnew: "We push each other at practice and at meets. She [Yazbek] pushed me today. I need to be a little stronger in the last 100 and she'll help me do that."
The Spartans' Autumn Parish won the long jump (17-2) and Canfield's Natasha Kassim won the discus (124-4), and the Cardinals took first in the 4x200 relay (1:47.93).
Crestwood's Bridget Frank (4:52.61) set a meet record in the 1600 and teammate Cassandra Schenck (11:02.69) set a record in the 3200.