Alexis Hall of Fitch 3rd in discus

Canfield sophomore Audra Frimpong placed fourth in the long jump.
By ZACH STIPE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
COLUMBUS -- It's pretty safe to say that Fitch's Alexis Hall was a little more nervous before the discus last year than this year.
"Oh yeah," she said, laughing. "I wasn't even nervous this year. Last year, I was afraid to go near the ring."
It showed in her performance. After placing 14th last year, Hall threw 131 feet, 9 inches -- less than a foot off her personal best -- to finish third in Division I Saturday.
"To go from 14th to third, I'm pretty excited about that," she said.
Also earning All-Ohio honors in a field event was Canfield's Audra Frimpong, in the long jump.
The sophomore jumped 18-6 to finish fourth for the second consecutive year. Frimpong's jump was only half-foot from second.
"I wanted to get in the 19s so I'm very disappointed," Frimpong said.
Frimpong felt she was reaching for the board on her jumps too much and wishes she could have been more confident in preparing her steps at the start of the event.
Despite her disappointment, she is looking forward to next year when she hopes to propel herself through the 19-foot barrier and place in the top two at the state meet.
Jones, Romeo on podium
Chaney's Latalia Jones (100 and 200) and Boardman's Breanne Romeo (800) also earned All-Ohio honors for finishing in the top eight.
Jones entered with the fastest qualifying time in the 100 and was disappointed with her fourth-place finish.
"I started out real well and ..." Jones said, her voice trailing off.
The Chaney senior also placed sixth in the 200 in 24.97 seconds.
Although upset with how her season ended, Jones acknowledged that she was happy to be running in the finals. Last year, Jones got injured during the preliminaries of the state meet and was unable to compete in the final round. She will run at Akron next year.
Romeo placed seventh in the 400 with a time of 58.03.
"I'm happy to be here, but a little disappointed with how I finished," Romeo, a junior, said.
Romeo said she was uncomfortable starting in Lane 1 for the first time in her career.
She said that she tried to execute her race plan, but because of where she started, it was hard coming from behind from the beginning.
This was only Romeo's second year running track and her first year running the 400.
Division II
In Division II, a pair of area relay teams -- Struthers in the 4x200 and West Branch in the 4x100 -- earned All-Ohio honors with eighth-place finishes.
The Struthers team of Anastasia Seymour, Brianne Ciccone, Amanda Clawson and Ashley Galbraith ran a time of 1:46.06.
The West Branch relay of Laura Scott, Karen Steiger, Alyssa Bowman and Megan Diehl finished in 50.98.
Hubbard sophomore Katoria Carter placed sixth in the 400 with a time of 58.89.
Vindicator sportswriter Joe Scalzo contributed to this report.