No McWilson? No problem for Mooney

By Joe Scalzo

RAVENNA — Matt McWilson was thrust into the role of Cardinal Mooney’s fastest cheerleader on Saturday.

After straining his hamstring in the last 10 meters of Thursday’s 4x100 relay, McWilson tried to gut out Saturday’s 100 final before coming up lame almost immediately. The injury cost him a chance to advance, but more importantly it meant he’d have to forgo his anchor role in the upcoming 4x100.

In stepped freshman Roosevelt Griffin, a member of the 4x200 relay who got less than 24 hours notice that he might be pinch-hitting.

This was no ordinary assignment. Three teammates — McWilson, Vinopal and junior Braylon Heard — were on last year’s state-championship relay and the Cardinals entered the regional meet with the state’s fastest time.

“Matt told me last night he might not be able to run, so be ready,” said Griffin, who also runs the 4x200 relay. “I just came prepared.”

McWilson instead served as a blockholder for junior Ray Vinopal, whispering words of encouragement before the start, then shouting at each handoff, hoping his teammates could clear a path to Columbus without him.

Was Griffin nervous?

“Yeah, a little bit,” he said. “But when I got the baton, I just took off.”

The Cardinals didn’t win — Griffin couldn’t quite catch Lakeview senior Ben Moody down the stretch and finished second — but they did what they need to do. They advanced.

A similar situation played out last year, when then-freshman Charles Brown filled in for Scott Johnson (now a senior member of the relay) late in the season and helped Mooney win the title.

“I’m the happiest guy in the world right now,” said McWilson. “Rose stepped up the plate.

“It’s good to have people like this that can step up, just like last year. I’m just as happy for them as if it were me in there.”

Mooney finished sixth in the 4x200 to miss qualifying — the top four advanced — but Heard placed fourth in the 200 as the Cardinals salvaged what could have been a disastrous day.

The Mooney girls, meanwhile, had their hiccup on Thursday, dropping the baton in the 4x200 to almost miss the finals a week after setting a district record in the event.

The Cardinal foursome of seniors Katie Jerek and Natalie Neshite and sophomores Elena Andino-Esparra and Alicia Williams rebounded on Saturday, placing third in the 4x200 and second in the 4x100. Andino-Esparra also finished fourth in the long jump.

“We were kind of psyched out,” said Jerek. “We got the Lane 8 [outside lane] assignment [in the 4x200] and we were nervous.

“But it ended up working to our advantage because the whole year we haven’t seen any competition until regionals so we’ve been used to being out [in front] already. So I think it worked out well and we’re just excited because we thought it was over.”

Andino-Esparra went further.

“I was so emotional I cried,” she said, “because we have two seniors and we wanted to get them down there. That’s all I thought about.”

Salem’s 4x200 boys relay won a regional crown, as did Poland junior Robert Balzano, who set a school record in winning the 400 and helped the Bulldogs capture the 4x400 title with a time of 3:22.88.

“We began the season running 3:30 and just kept getting better,” said Balzano. “We finally put it all together at a meet that really counts.”

Champion’s Andrew Austin was the only other area boy to win a regional title, placing first in the long jump with a leap of 6 feet, 6 inches.

On the girls side, LaBrae senior Allorian Horne won the 200 in a meet-record time of 24.54, besting the 24.70 set by Girard’s Cachet Murray in 2005. Horne, who also qualified in the 100, broke Murray’s district record in the event last week.

West Branch senior Emilee Zets added a win in the 800.

scalzo@vindy.com