Valley supports Blewitt

The area donated $28,000

The Boardman native will compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials starting Thursday.

BY JOHN KOVACH

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

BOARDMAN — Most Olympic contenders, especially the outstanding athletes who have a good chance of making the U.S. team, have attracted corporate sponsors.

But in shot-putter Adriane Blewitt’s case, although she has a partial nationally-known sponsor in Nike, the Boardman native’s main sponsors have come from hundreds of people in the Valley.

The community has donated $28,000 plus numerous in-kind services to the Adriane Blewitt Olympic Fund during a fund-raising campaign conducted over the past year, so that she could compete for a berth on the U.S. team.

Thanks to all of this financial support and Blewitt’s training, perseverance and comeback after beating cancer in 2003, the Boardman High and Ashland University graduate will carry the Valley’s banner this week in the track and field Olympic Trials at the University of Oregon.

She will compete in the shot put starting Thursday.

Blewitt, who placed fifth in the 2004 trials (the top three finishers are named to the Olympic team) not long after her battle with cancer, will be among 20 competitors. The top 16 advance to the finals Saturday, with the top three qualifying for the Beijing Olympics starting Aug. 8.

Blewitt, who trains in Tucson, Ariz., will leave for the trials Tuesday. She enters the meet with her best 2008 throw of 17.2 meters or 56.4 feet. The top U.S. entry is Jillian Camarena of the New York Athletic Club/Nike and Tucson, Ariz., with a throw of 18.81 meters or 61.7 feet.

By distance, Blewitt is ranked No. 14 among the 20 entries but she is rated No. 6 in the nation by the U.S. Track and Field Magazine entering the trials, indicating her potential to uncork the long one.

The preliminaries aren’t scheduled to begin until after midnight (EST) Thursday. Saturday’s finals will begin at 4:50 p.m. (EST).

Blewitt will be wearing a Nike uniform that also will display sponsoring logos of Second Sole Athletic Footwear of Boardman and Run Ohio magazine.

Steve Hixson, owner of Second Sole, helped to negotiate sponsorship deals for Blewitt with Nike and Run Ohio.

Denise Gorski, the Boardman High girls track coach, spearheaded Blewitt’s fund-raising campaign with Larry Scarazzo, who was chairman of the “Blewitt Backer” campaign.

“It was a huge undertaking with this fund-raising campaign but I will never forget the generosity of the entire Valley community for this family that is very special to my heart and to many others in the Valley,” said Gorski, who was Blewitt’s coach at Boardman High and a long-time supporter who will join Adriane and her mother, Rae, at the trials.

This will be Gorski’s fourth trip to the trials. She was with Blewitt in 2004 and also with Laurie (Gomez) Henes, another of Gorski’s proteges, at the 1992 and 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Gorski said the biggest contributor to Blewitt’s fund was philanthropist Tony Lariccia, who gave $5,500.

Other large donors were Dr. Ron and Sue Yarab, Niles Building Products Company, the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley and The Kennedy Family Foundation, all donating $1,000 each; and Dr. Jon Porman, Adriane’s Chiropractor in Arizona.

Other major contributors were Sanny and Bob Blewitt, Tom and Mary Fleming (Aim National Lease), Cheri and Charles Craig and Brother Ronald Ruberg.

“In September [2007], John and Gwen Darnell [of the Boardman News] began to work on some fund-raising for Adriane and suggested that I begin a community-wide campaign as well,” said Gorski. “So I launched the ‘Be a Blewitt Backer’ campaign. Tony and Mary Lariccia were the first to come forward.”

Gorski said the word spread and the community responded generously.

“The Vindicator and Boardman News covered the event so extensively that I had several checks pouring in within just a few weeks,” she said. “And these were people contributing from all across the Valley as they found Adriane’s story very inspiring.

“Not only had Adriane battled cancer at the age of 24, but before her senior year of high school, her father passed away so she and her family have endured a lot.

“Her mother Rae and sister Samantha are her biggest supporters, and Samantha was an inspiration to Adriane growing up as Samantha was a two-time state qualifier in the discus while in high school herself.”

Blewitt was training for the 2004 Olympic Trials when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer in the fall of 2003.

“When I went to the hospital to visit her before her surgery to remove some of the cancer, I was so inspired by her outlook and positive attitude,” recalled Gorski.

kovach@vindy.com