Provitt qualifies 4 times

Canfield's Audra Frimpong defended her title in the long jump.
By ZACH STIPE
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Warren Harding High senior J'Abneb Provitt walked off the track after the finish of the 200-meter dash at the Division I regional track and field meet at Fitch on Friday with an exhausted look on his face.
The senior had just earned his fourth state meet berth of the night to lead area athletes.
Having already finished fourth in the 100 (10.88 seconds) and earning third-place finishes as a member of Harding's 4x100 (42.74) and 4x200 (1:28.31) relays, Provitt was far from fresh going into the 200.
"My legs were a little tired, but I just gave it my all," Provitt said.
Provitt placed second in the 200 in 21.76 for his top finish of the meet, but his best performance came earlier in the evening.
Flying headband
As the anchor of Harding's 4x200 relay, Provitt received the baton with a large gap between himself and fourth place, where the relay needed to finish to get to state.
He dug down deep, pumped his fists and blew past several opponents down the back straight-away, though. He ran so fast that his white headband flew off his head.
"I felt it slipping off my head," Provitt said. "[But] I just couldn't worry about it."
Provitt ignored the distraction and anchored the 4x200 relay team to a come-from-behind third-place finish, leaving his headband on the track.
Christopher Rucker, Daniel Herron and Darren Lee joined Provitt on the state-qualifying relay teams.
Defends title
Canfield's Audra Frimpong used a season-best performance to win her second consecutive regional championship in the long jump.
The sophomore reached a distance of 18 feet, 4 inches on her second jump of the preliminaries to seal the victory.
"It felt like I was in the air for a long time," Frimpong said. "When I landed, I looked back and it looked long, so I was happy."
Also winning a regional championship was Fitch senior Alexis Hale in the discus, despite being pressed for time by prom.
Hale threw the discus 130-08 to earn a second straight trip to state and reached her hair appointment for the dance on time, too.
Boardman senior Breanne Romeo, ranked sixth heading into the finals of the 400, said she was hoping for the best leading up to her race.
When the 400 ended, Romeo had run her best -- by a lot -- to finish fourth in the 400 in 57.04. Her time was more than two seconds faster than her district championship performance (59.6) and broke the school record of 57.20 held by Monica Cuevas.
Falcon speedster
Andrew Kagarise of Fitch already had a ticket to Columbus, but said that didn't mean anything if he couldn't enjoy the trip with his friends.
After finishing second (48.13) in the 400, the senior anchored the Falcons' 4x400 relay team to a second-place finish and a berth at state.
Kagarise received the baton in fifth place, slowly gained on his competition and exploded down the backstretch to vault the Falcons to the state meet in a time of 3:20.10 in the meet's final event.
Kagarise, who was fifth in the state 400 last year, credited his good friends and fellow members of the relay for the victory.
"They kept us in it," he said of Jason Anderson, Tim Koniowsky and Joe Hammond.
Chaney's Latalia Jones qualified in two events, as well.
Jones placed third in the 100 (12.27) and was fourth in the 200 (25.22).
Also qualifying with fourth place finishes were Boardman's Brandon Rader in the shot put (52-11) and Canfield's Trevor Carroll in the 400 (49.87).
Cleveland Glenville won the boys championship with 100 points, while Cleveland Collinwood scored 69 points to claim the girls title.