Boardman boys, girls win county track crowns

By Eric Hamilton

AUSTINTOWN — It was not a record day for the Boardman High boys and girls teams at the Saturday’s Mahoning County track and field meet. Eight meet records were broken on an ideal day for competition, but none by the Spartans.

But in the end, the spoils went to both Boardman teams as they swept top team honors in both Division I and overall to win county championships at Fitch High.

The boys breezed to victory, rolling up 174 team points to win the meet by 101 points. It was the second straight county title for the Spartans, who used their superior depth to place in every event except one (4x100 relay).

“On paper, we knew coming in that we had a tremendous advantage,” said Boardman boys coach Dave Pavlansky. “You don’t score that many points without a bunch of talented guys. We knew we should win the meet, so we set some individual goals for the day.

“I’m impressed with how focused our guys were and how they just keep trying to improve in their individual events each meet and in practice. We have some big meets coming up and we use meets like today to work on handoffs and block starts. We’re a special team this year, but we know we can’t slack off.”

The Spartans were paced by standout Caleb Matthews, who scored a meet-high 38 points. The junior won the high jump, long jump and 300 hurdles. He finished second in the 110 hurdles, losing by just one hundredth of a second.

“I’m pretty happy, but I could have done better,” said Matthews after outkicking the field to win the 300 hurdles. “I wish I’d done better in the 110s and maybe the long jump, but I’m happy. I just tried to push as hard as I could.

“We have a great team and we work hard every day in practice. We wanted to come here and win the county as a team. We know we have to get ready for districts and regionals. I’m just trying to get better and hopefully do well in all my events.”

Matt Moore scored in all four of his events, winning the 800 and helping the 4x800 and 4x400 relay teams to victory. He was also a member of the second-place 4x200 relay squad.

The Boardman girls (97) outdistanced second place Fitch (71) to earn the county title for the eighth straight year. Depth was also a factor in the victory. The Spartans won the meet with few multiple winners, but a lot of multiple placers.

Individually, several local athletes stood out.

Canfield’s Audra Frimpong scored 22 points in the meet, winning the long jump with a new meet record jump of 18-61‚Ñ2. She also claimed victory in the 110 hurdles and was part of the Cardinals’ second place 4x100 team. She qualified for the finals in the 200, but scratched.

Youngstown East’s James Allen enjoyed a banner day, winning individual county titles in the 100 and 200 and anchoring the victorious 4x100 relay team.

Jackson-Milton’s Samantha Hamilton mastered to two longest races of the day, winning both the 1600 and 3200 to earn the points award in Division III.