Harding top team in Div. I

The Raiders have the best times in the sprints and the sprint relays.
By MARK W. MILLER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
J'Abneb Provitt of Warren Harding, at the boys first big track and field meet the Ward Invitational in East Palestine, said the Raiders went there to dominate the sprints and sprint relays and they did just that winning all four events.
The Raiders have among the area's top marks in all four events -- the 100 and 200, and 4x100 and 4x200 relays -- and will be the favorites at the Division I district meet Wednesday and Friday at Fitch High Falcon Stadium.
The Raiders' sprinters were also dominant at the F.E. Cope, Lakeview, Optimist, Poland and Steel Valley Conference meets in preparing for the district, the first step toward the state meet in Columbus June 1-3.
There are 15 boys and 16 girls teams entered at Fitch with preliminaries set, along with some field events and a running final, Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. The rest of the finals are Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Boardman's boys and Canfield's girls are defending champions. Brandon Rader of Boardman (55 feet, 10 inches) in the shot put, Sam Cassano of Fitch (175-0) in the discus, Adam Kagarise of Fitch (49.8 seconds) in the 400 and Darren Lee of Warren Harding (40.6) in the 300 hurdles are returning boys district champions.
Natasha Kassim of Canfield (126-4) is back to defend in the girls discus. Chaney, which moves up from Div. II, has district champion Latalia Jones in the 100 (11.8) and the 200 (24.5). Poland's girls, the 2005 Div. II district team champion, also moves up to Div. I.
Division II at Salem
The Div. II meet at Salem's Reilly Stadium has preliminaries Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and finals Saturday at 11:30 a.m., with 16 boys and 15 girls teams entered, including defending champion Salem in the boys meet.
West Branch's Alyssa Bowman (15.4) and (46.9) is the defending 100 and 300 hurdles champion. In fact, the top four 300 hurdlers return, including Catie Cianchetti of Field (47.0), Alex Woytek of Mooney (47.9) and Amber Ferraro of Poland (49.0).
Casey Benner of West Branch (5-2) returns to defend in the high jump and Kelsie Crowder of Newton Falls (16-6 1/2) in the long jump.
Eric Anderson of Struthers (39.6) is back to defend in the boys 300 hurdles and he'll also be the athlete to beat in the 110 highs (14.8).
Springfield host Div. III
After three years at Western Reserve, the Div. III district meet moves to Springfield High's stadium with 19 boys and 20 girls teams Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. and Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Michelle Rupe of Maplewood (5:25.1) defends in the 1600, Angelene Ciccero of Warren JFK (44.3) in the 300 hurdles, Andra Sanders of South Range (12:08.5) in the 3200 and Alex Rathburn of Western Reserve in the shot put (41-1) and discus (132-1).
Boys defending their district titles are Ryan Gilanyi of Southington (4:24.1) in the 1600 and Andy Arnio of Maplewood (9:41.9) in the 3200. Dan Hull of Warren JFK (51.8) and Mike Leskowski of South Range (6-2) will defend in the 400 and high jump, respectively.