Cassano throws it down
Sam Cassano secured a Division I regional title in the discus.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
AUSTINTOWN -- Fitch High throwing coach Joe Brooks sat on a folding chair on the edge of the discus area Thursday at Falcon Stadium, watching his star pupil, junior Sam Cassano, put the finishing touches on a Division I regional title.
As Cassano released his final throw, Brooks watched it land, then shot up from the chair and shouted, "That's the throw, Sam! That's the throw!"
Cassano looked at the tape measure, clapped his hands and smiled.
"It felt really good," he said.
The throw, measured at 175 feet, 11 inches, was Cassano's personal best, beating last year's throw at the regional meet by 3 inches.
Alas, it wasn't quite as good as he would have liked. He's still 3 feet shy of the school record of 178-8.
"Well, stuff happens for a reason," Cassano said. "Maybe I'll get it next week. Maybe next year. It's going to happen eventually.
"Right now, I'm just enjoying the ride."
Cassano placed third in the event at last year's regional. His distance hasn't changed much in the past year, but his consistency has.
"Last year, I saw more big jumps," he said. "Once I got to 175, I knew it was going to be hard to improve. But my averages have gone up a lot, so that's good."
Cassano will benefit from last year's state experience and will enter this year's meet knowing his regional throw was one of the best -- if not the best -- in Division I this season.
"I'll probably still be nervous, but I'm going to have more confidence because I've already thrown in that ring," he said.
He'd like to break the school record -- "That'd be nice," he said -- but there's another goal in reach.
"I'd like to go for the Division I championship," he said. "But whatever happens, happens."
On the bubble
Boardman's 4x800-meter relay entered Thursday's meet with the 11th best seed time out of 16.
That was the bad news.
The good news was, the Spartans were only three seconds off the pace of the fourth-fastest time.
The top four make it to Columbus. A state berth was in reach.
"I always wanted to make it down to state," said senior Jim Hlebak, the anchor on the relay. "I knew this team could do it."
Sophomore Jake Lape led off, followed by senior Dave Haushalter and sophomore Jake Lape. By the time Hlebak got the baton, the Spartans were in third with two teams, Canton GlenOak and Massillon Perry, right behind him. He knew it was going to be dicey, especially since Perry's anchor had caught him at the Federal League meet.
"I was scared," he said. "I don't like to run in front. I don't know where everyone is and I can't judge what's going on.
However, in the last 400 meters, Perry's Corwin Swint seemed to get winded. GlenOak's Aadam Soorma passed Hlebak, but by the time Hlebak reached the final 200 meters, he knew the Spartans had it clinched. Their time of 8 minutes, 04.29 seconds was just 0:04 off the school record.
Perry, meanwhile, was disqualified, which took a little of the drama out of the final results.
"Fourth place was exactly what we wanted," Hlebak said. "Now we'd like to break the school record and at least finish in the top five at state."
Moving on
On the girls side, Boardman senior Brooke Katzman saw an off-season of hard work pay off with a fourth place finish in the shot put. Before the meet, she told her father, Ed, that if she didn't make it to Columbus, her season would have been a waste.
"Pretty much, that's true," she said. "I've been working really hard and this has been my goal since I finished fifth last year.
"I'm really, really excited."
Ed Katzman, one of the track officials, spent the first part of the meet pacing back and forth, hoping for the best. When asked how he was feeling, he shook his head and said, "Really, really nervous."
When he found out Brooke had qualified, he ran over to the shot put area, hugged her and said, "Ask me how I'm feeling now!"
"It's a great feeling and I'm really relieved," said Brooke, who will throw at Ashland next year. "I feel like all the pieces are falling into place."
The meet continues at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
scalzo@vindy.com