Friday, May 30, 2008
By Joe Scalzo
Struthers senior Ashley Galbraith captured the high jump crown.
RAVENNA — Girard senior Aysha Nickels went around the crowd outside the shot put area, going from hug to hug, smiling, laughing, shouting, celebrating. ...
“I’m gonna run around and just meet people and give them hugs,” she said.
All this for fourth place. See, that’s the beauty of a regional track meet. The firsts are nice, obviously, but sometimes the best stories can be found a few notches down.
Take Nickels, for instance. For four years, she’s been chasing Karen Griggs’ school record from 1980. She entered Thursday’s Division II regional meet with no illusions about her chances of making it to Columbus next week.
“I knew the people that were under me,” she said. “I really thought they were gonna beat me. I wasn’t too positive. I’m not gonna lie.”
So what happened?
“I just said, ‘You gotta go for it,’” she said. “It’s my last meet and I wanted to go to state with KaiCee [Kubicina, of Newton Falls]. The whole season, she was my idol.
“We’ve been best friends for four straight years.”
And so, on one wonderful put, everything clicked and Nickels wound up with a throw of 39 feet, 73‚Ñ4, more than a foot better than her previous best. And just like that, the school record — and a trip to Columbus — were hers.
“My coach [Mike Cole] is gonna kill me for saying this, but I’m more excited about the record than going to state because I wanted it for a long time,” said Nickels, who will play volleyball at Florida Tech next year. “I got to speak the truth.”
Southeast’s Nikki Murphy won the event with a meet-record throw of 43-111‚Ñ2, while Kubicina was second.
Meanwhile, in the high jump, Struthers senior Ashley Galbraith placed first with a leap of 5 feet, 6 inches — edging Tallmadge’s Amanda Bennett on her final jump. Galbraith missed on her first two tries at that height and knew she had to clear the third in order to win since Bennett was ahead on previous jumps.
“Each jump, I kept telling myself, ‘If you make this, you can win,’” Galbraith said. “I know if I just do everything right, I can get over these heights with no problem.”
Galbraith placed second in the event at the state meet two years ago and finished third last year. She’ll be among the top contenders again this year.
“I’m pretty comfortable,” she said. “It’s my senior year. It’s my last chance.”
LaBrae sophomore Steve Woodyard placed fourth in the discus to become the only area boys qualifier of the meet’s first day. It’s his first year throwing and while he didn’t show much emotion afterward, he said he was celebrating on the inside.
“As soon as I get back to our site, I’m going to jump on my coach and give him a bear hug,” he said. “I didn’t expect to go to state this year. Districts or regionals, maybe, but not state.”
scalzo@vindy.com