Cookies aren’t crumbling for these 3

By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

AUSTINTOWN — Who needs water when you have cookies?

Those were the thoughts running through the minds of Boardman High’s Evan Klepec and Corey Linsley, who along with Harding’s Chris Anzevino, went right for the cookie jar minutes after qualifying for next week’s state meet in the discus on Wednesday at the Division I regional meet.

The trio took three of the four qualifying spots, and with Alliance’s Matt Walker, made it a sweep for the Fitch district. None of the 12 throwers from the three other districts coming to Fitch qualified for state.

“It made it more relaxed for me knowing that they weren’t a bunch of great guys coming in from the other districts,” said Klepec, as he shared some chocolate chip cookies with his fellow qualifiers. “These guys [Linsley and Anzevino] really push me and make me work harder. We’re buddies outside of track, so it makes it nice.

“I started the season throwing in the 160s, so I was pretty confident about my chances this year. But Corey really started throwing well the last three weeks. We thought he’d just be our main shot put guy, but he surprised us and now is going to state, too.”

At the top

Klepec won the discus with a throw of 165 feet, 2 inches. Anzevino, who will return to state after qualifying last year, took second with an effort of 159-11. Linsley was third with a toss of 156-7 and Walker was fourth at 156-2.

Linsley, who will be a threat to go to state in the shot put on Friday, laughed when asked if he thought qualifying in the discus was even possible.

“No way,” he said. “I was throwing like 115 [feet] in the beginning of the season. But I finally decided to start listening to my coach. He told me to hold the disc back and I started throwing farther. Then I started thinking, ‘Hey, this stuff actually works.’ ”

Anzevino, a senior, actually threw for Boardman his freshman and sophomore seasons before transferring to Harding. After competing in the state meet last year, he had a little advice for the Boardman duo.

“Don’t let the amount of people watching you throw get to you,” he said. “The total amount of people here today will just be watching discus next week. There are a lot of people.

“Today, I was just trying to throw better than I did last week and make it back to state. It feels good to be going back.”

Others are close

Those throwers were the only Valley athletes locking up state berths on the first day of regional competition. But several athletes did move one step closer to the feat by advancing to Friday’s running finals.

Canfield’s Kevin Ricks will run in the finals of the 300 hurdles after finishing in the top four of his qualifying heat in a time of 39.69. He owns the seventh-best time from the preliminaries and is excited about the possibilities.

“I ran this race for my dad because he couldn’t be here tonight because he was away on business,” Ricks said. “He told me that he didn’t want the district finals to be the last time he saw me run.

“I was nervous today because I was up against some great competition and they pushed me all the way through. It’s going to be hard to beat those times, but I just have to rest and get ready to go on Friday. I want to get to state or break the school record.”

Harding’s D’Avery Crawford will enter the finals of the 110 hurdles in prime position to earn a state berth. He posted the fourth-best time in the prelims, finishing in 14.71 to move on to the finals.

He also will run on the Raiders’ 4x200 relay team in hopes of qualifying to Columbus. The unit of Crawford, Chris Rucker, DJ Williams and Brandon Davis turned in the eighth-best time to squeeze into the finals.

Spartans

Boardman’s 4x400 relay squad, consisting of Rick Lape, Jake Lape, Mike Lesko and Matt Moore, have a legitimate shot at the state meet. The quartet turned in the fourth best qualifying time (3:24.51) to advance to the event finals.

Canfield standout Audra Frimpong will have a busy Friday as she attempts to advance to state in three events. In addition to the long jump final, the junior will run in the finals of the 100 and 200. She enters both the 100 (12.38) and the 200 (25.30) with the fifth fastest qualifying times.

Frimpong placed fourth in the long jump in 2005 as a freshman and 2006 as a sophomore.

Boardman’s Breanne Romeo will have the opportunity to go back to state in the 400 when she runs in the regional finals on Friday. The senior posted the fourth fastest time with a 58.07, two seconds slower than her season-best of 56.4 two weeks ago in the Federal League meet.

“I felt like I still had a lot left today,” said Romeo, who finished seventh in the 400 last year. “I was thinking I went out too fast, but then on the home stretch I had a lot left. This region is the best in the state and the times prove that. It’s going to be tough on Friday, but I like it that way.

“It’s a great experience competing against her [Euclid’s Jessica Beard],” said Romeo, speaking of the three-time state champion. It’s inevitable that she’s going to win. I usually don’t watch the other heats because it makes me nauseous, but I actually watched tonight. She’s just incredible.”

The rest of the field event finals will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday. The running finals start at 6 p.m. The top four in each event advance to the state meet in Columbus next weekend.