EAST PALESTINE INVITATIONAL Cards' Frimpong wins three events, nabs running MVP

Boardman won the team title, while Natasha Kassim and Gretchen Haug shared the field MVP.
By ERIC HAMILTON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
EAST PALESTINE -- The weather was so cold during the first half of Saturday's East Palestine Invitational that Canfield's Audra Frimpong had to look down at her feet to see if they were even moving.
"It was freezing in the morning," said Frimpong. "It was so cold that Natalie [Fox] gave me hand warmers for my feet. But once it warmed up a little I could feel my feet again and they weren't as frozen."
Once the sophomore got warmed up, neither the chill nor the competition could slow her down. Frimpong led Canfield to a third-place finish in the team standings, with victories in the 100, 200 and long jump. The performance was easily enough to earn her running events MVP honors with 20 points. Her win in the long jump gave her 30 total points in the meet.
"I was happy to win, but I was a little disappointed in the long jump," said Frimpong, who finished fourth in the event at last year's state meet. "I know I can do better, but I guess I was just concentrating harder on my races today.
"I'm just trying to work on my times and distances right now and not worry about winning. Our team did pretty well today against Boardman and Poland, which are good teams from our area. We're just trying to cheer each other on and be good teammates."
Off to good season start
Frimpong is off to a good start this spring, trying to pick up where she left off at state. Her goal this early in the season is to post the times and distances she had at the end of last season and steadily improve.
She won the long jump at the state indoor meet at the University of Akron this winter. But she knows that some of her strongest competitors weren't there, but will be at the end of the outdoor season.
"I hope I can win state this year; it would be great," she said. "But there will be some good athletes to compete against, so I just have to get better every week."
Behind Frimpong's effort, Canfield scored 102 team points and a third-place finish. Poland (105 1/3) finished second and Boardman (118) won the meet.
Boardman has split squad
Boardman took team honors despite bringing a split varsity squad. Part of the Spartans competed on Friday at the Massillon Jackson relays, while the other half of the team came to East Palestine.
Boardman coach Linda Frease was excited about her team's effort and what the rest of the season may hold.
"I was a little surprised that we won this meet with us splitting the team up," she said. "I thought we could be in the top three, but everyone stepped up and had some excellent performances. I really have some challenging decisions to make now because our depth is really showing.
"Our approach to these meets are to get as many of our 66 girls competing as we can and let the girls challenge each other for varsity spots. It's an exciting problem to have, but with so many good athletes, it makes it tougher on me."
Agnew wins 3200
The Spartans' team title was paced by distance duo Lauren Agnew and Lauren Blase. Agnew won the 3200 in a time of 11:46 and took third in the 1600 with a time of 5:35.8. Blase was second in the 3200 (11:54) and fifth in the 1600 (5:39.1). The two combined for 28 points for Boardman.
Corey Carter, Holli Robinson and Genna Higbee each did their part. Carter and Robinson joined Caroline Farina and Sarah Navarro as members of Boardman's winning 4x200 relay.
Carter took second in the high jump and third in the 200. Higbee won the 300-meter hurdles and was fourth in the 100-meter hurdles.
Robinson was sixth in the 100.
"We really just wanted to work on our training today and wherever we placed, we placed," said Frease. "But for us to win the meet is really a testament to the group that came here today. Everyone did their part and contributed to our victory."
Canfield's Natasha Kassim and Mooney's Gretchen Haug shared MVP honors in the field events with 14 points. Kassim was second in the discus and third in the shot put. Haug took second in the shot and third in the discus.