Cards come up aces

DIVISION II DISTRICT TRACK

Mooney relays set records at Division II district

By JOE SCALZO

Vindicator Sports Staff

SALEM — Two days after Mooney’s girls relays broke a pair of district records, Cardinals senior Matt McWilson found himself streaking down the last 50 meters of Saturday’s 4x100 relay with a baton in his hand, history in his sights and a little something to prove.

“We give them a lot of grief in practice,” McWilson said of his female teammates. “We say we’re faster and they say, ‘We broke records.’

“Now we’re able to say we broke records, too.”

McWilson, who anchored last year’s state championship 4x100 relay, helped the Cardinals set a district record at Saturday’s Division II district meet with a time of 42.60. It came just minutes after the Cardinals girls won the 4x100 in near-record time.

Mooney’s girls set district marks in the 4x100 (49.57) and 4x200 (1:44.52) in Thursday’s preliminaries and nearly broke them again Saturday, running 50.09 and 1:44.74, respectively.

A year after getting overshadowed by the gold-medal boys relay, the girls have forced themselves into the same sentence — and don’t plan on going away.

“It’s pretty fun,” sophomore anchor Alicia Williams said. “Now when we talk, the boys can’t always say they’re the best.”

Williams, along with seniors Katie Jerek and Natalie Neshite and sophomore Elena Andino-Esparra, finished fifth in the 4x200 at last year’s state meet and all four were back this spring.

They expected some success. But after setting seven records (so far) this spring, Williams said they didn’t expect this much success.

“We didn’t expect to break records,” she said. “We’ve just been working really hard and [last year’s success] made me really confident. It made me feel I could go farther than I did last year.

“Maybe this year we can get first.”

The boys have the same goal, and McWilson admits he can feel the target on his back. The Cardinals have the state’s best time so far this spring and, unlike last year, they’re all healthy.

But in a race like the 4x100, those things don’t guarantee success.

“Anything can happen in any given race,” said McWilson, who is joined by senior Scott Johnson and juniors Braylon Heard and Ray Vinopal on the relay. “Everyone is gunning for our No. 1 position.

“We have two steps down and four more to go. We want to go back to state and win again.”

The Cardinals finished fourth in both the boys and girls standings Saturday as Tallmadge narrowly edged West Branch for the girls title (87 to 84) and Marlington pulled away from Salem for the boys crown (105.33 to 91.50).

West Branch junior Taylor Kring set a meet record in the 100 hurdles, placed second in the 100, won the 300 hurdles and anchored the winning 4x400 relay for the Warrior girls.

West Branch’s Emilee Zets won the 800, while United’s Victoria Bates claimed the Valley’s other individual title by winning the discus.

Salem junior Dustin Matak bested McWilson in the 100 for the 100 title and was a member of the winning 4x200 relay and the third-place 4x100 relay.

Poland junior Sean Murphy won the 800 and classmate Robert Balzano won the 400 (he was just 0.13 off the district record), anchored the winning 4x400 relay and was a member of the fourth-place 4x200 relay as the Bulldogs placed third.

While the 4x400 title wasn’t quite redemptive — the Bulldogs won the event at least year’s district meet, albeit four seconds slower than Saturday’s time of 3:24.14 — it was the first step toward erasing last year’s disappointment. Poland dropped the baton and was disqualified in the event at last year’s regional, costing them a shot at Columbus.

Three of the four runners are back — Balzano joins classmates Ryan Storkel, Brian Ciccone and newcomer Luke Wollet — but they’re not exactly using the disappointment as motivation.

“We were kind of mad about it,” Ciccone said. “Today, we just kind of put it in the back of our minds and ran our race.

“It felt good to be four seconds faster. It shows all the hard work in practice is paying off.”

Wollet’s addition was a bit of an accident. Known more for football (he just got a scholarship offer from Eastern Michigan) and basketball (which gave him a late start on track season), Wollet was inserted earlier in the season when Storkel was acting as a fifth-grade camp counselor and Balzano was attending a wedding.

“They just threw him in there to see what he could do,” said Storkel. “He’s been in there ever since.”

While all four are also in the 4x200 relay, they know their best chance at Columbus is in the 4x400. Considering Saturday’s time would have won last year’s regional, the Bulldogs are on their way. (Again.)

“We were kind of hoping to make it to state last year,” said Storkel. “Now we’re hoping to get there this year.

“We’ll do our best.”

Heard won the 200, United’s Ethan Wutrick took the shot and Newton Falls’ Ryan Buchanon won the high jump to round out the area’s other individual boys winners.

The top four in each event advanced to next week’s regional meet at Ravenna Stadium.

scalzo@vindy.com