Boardman's Carter jumps to regionals

She won the high jump in Wednesday's district meet clearing five feet.
BY ERIC HAMILTON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
AUSTINTOWN -- Entering Wednesday's Division I girls' high jump final, Boardman's Corey Carter was clueless.
It wasn't that she didn't know what she needed to do to earn a spot in next week's regional meet. The part she knew nothing about was what her competition would be like. And frankly, she didn't care.
Seven competitors came into the meet with seed marks of 5 feet or higher, but Carter was not among that group. She had the opportunity to check out the field before jumping began, but chose not to.
"Coach was handing out the sheets, but I said no," said Carter. "I learned from past experience that I didn't want to know what I was up against. Last year, I psyched myself out so this year I just went out there and jumped.
"I didn't feel like the underdog or the favorite because I just didn't know. My goal was just to do my best and qualify, but not to settle for that because I knew I could possibly win it."
Carter's strategy paid dividends in the end as the sophomore cleared 5-0 and won the district championship and a spot at next week's regional. She'll be in familiar territory, jumping again at Fitch High.
Carter's season-best jump is 5-2, but it's been a while since she's hit that. Her hope is that with another week of practice that she can get back to the things that put her at the top of her game.
"I'm sick and tired of settling for 5-2," said Carter, who also led two Boardman relays to Friday's finals. "I know I can jump higher and I'm clearing the bar. But the little things are holding me back right now. I just need to keep going and I'll get back there soon."
Golubic also qualifies
Carter's teammate Candace Golubic was one of five jumpers to clear 4-10 and the senior claimed a regional berth as the fourth qualifier.
Thanks in part to that one-two punch in the high jump, the Boardman girls' team finished the first day of districts as the top team in the field after three scored events. The Spartans have 26 points and lead Twinsburg (20) and Aurora (18).
Boardman's 4x800 relay team advanced to regionals for the second straight year, finishing third in the event with a time of 10:02. The quartet includes Lauren Agnew, Katie Stoll, Tricia Haff and Lea Byers.
Lyndsie Hall and Kim Haug, who finished sixth and seventh, respectively in the event, scored the other Spartans points in the shot put.
Poland's relay advances
Poland's 4x800 relay squad also notched a regional berth by turning in a second-place finish behind winner Twinsburg. The Bulldogs were running in the top four most of the race before senior Lauren Fithian surged as the anchor leg to get her team across the line in second.
"It was kind of an adrenaline thing because we knew it was going to be a fast race in Division I," said Fithian. "We won regionals in Division II my sophomore year, so when we knew we were going Division I this year it was tough. We just had to step it up to another level today.
"We just stayed with the lead runners the whole time and cut some time off with our handoffs. We know next week we'll get even more competition."
Poland's other regional qualifier from Day 1 was junior Amanda Cox, who took third in the shot put with a toss of 36-8 ∏. She was just 2 feet off the winning throw of Twinsburg's Leah Love.
Boys meet
Coming off a strong performance at last week's Federal League meet, the Boardman boys picked up where they left off and head the pack at the district competition. The Spartans picked up 38.5 points in the four event finals and lead Alliance (20) and Twinsburg (19).
The record-setting team of Rick Lape, Mike Lesko, Jake Lape and Matt Moore, which broke the district record in the 4x800 relay, paced the Spartans. Finishing in a time of 7:56.43, the quartet won the event and advanced to the regional meet.
The old mark was 7:59.37 by Tallmadge in 2005.
"We knew if we won it we'd break the record," said Moore, who anchored the squad. "We have a great team with Lesko and the Lape brothers, so I know we can run hard. I knew if I could just go under two minutes on my leg we were in good shape.
"I just relaxed and did what I had to do for us to finish strong. We're all in good shape and we know we have a tough region next week, but we have to suck it up because the toughest guys will win it. I think we can go in the 7:40's at regional and mark it to state if we go after it hard."
Winning Spartans
Helping Boardman's cause Wednesday was individual district championships by Caleb Matthews in the long jump (21-5) and Evan Klepec in the discus (161-8). Corey Linsley claimed the fourth and final regional spot in the discus.
Steve Wysenski missed a regional berth by one spot in the pole vaults, finishing tied for fifth.
Fitch sophomore Jim Verdream won the pole vault and a spot in the regional by clearing 12-6. That effort was a full foot ahead of the second place finisher from Twinsburg.
Other area athletes advancing were Warren Harding's Chris Anzevino (second, discus) and Howland's Mike Mangiarelli (fourth, long jump).
Preliminaries in all other running events were contested on Day 1. The running events and the remainder of the field event finals will be contested on Friday, beginning at 4:30. The top four in each event move on to the regional meet.