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Poland, Salem enjoy final races in Division II
By Joe Scalzo
columbus
Mere seconds after Poland senior Robert Balzano won the final 400-meter race of his high school career in record time — the normally-stoic Balzano even allowed himself a rare smile in between gulps of water — three of his teammates ran toward him at the finish line and engulfed him.
“Dude, you were moving,” said senior Luke Wollet. “That was stupid. That was gross.
“He’s a beast.”
That was the Bulldogs’ first celebration.
The second one was even better.
An hour later, running together for the final time of their storied careers, Poland’s 4x400 relay of senior Brian Ciccone, senior Ryan Storkel, Wollet and Balzano ran into the record books, lowering their own school record to 3:19.42 to capture the Division II state title at Saturday’s meet at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
After that race, those three teammates lifted Balzano on their shoulders to finish equal to the 1937 and 2000 teams, which both won the four-lap relay.
After a solid opening lap by Ciccone, Storkel grabbed the lead for good, patiently waiting until the long last turn to make his move. Wollet extended the lead, handing the baton to Balzano with a 15-yard head start on their main rivals, Dayton Dunbar.
Dunbar actually beat Poland in Friday’s preliminaries with a strong final leg. When asked if they learned anything from that race, Storkel paused, then said, “Uh, they’re fast? We knew they were going to be here all year. That’s who we were gunning for.”
Dunbar’s anchor nearly caught Balzano over the first 200 meters, but the Bulldog anchor wasn’t worried and finished seventh-tenths faster than Dunbar.
“I had a 15-yard lead going into it,” said Balzano, who also lowered his school-record 400 time to 47.8. “There was no way I was going to let that go.”
It was a triumphant final day for the Miami (Ohio) recruit, who last season took third in the 400 and fifth in the 4x400 relay with the same teammates. For good measure, those same four also placed third in the 4x200 relay earlier Saturday, helping the Bulldogs place fifth in the team standings.
Salem’s 4x200 relay ran faster than its state-winning time from last June but couldn’t quite catch Akron Buchtel, finishing 33 hundredths behind the Griffins’ winning time of 1:27.55. The Quakers returned three members of last year’s relay — seniors Dustin Matak, Ben Eisel and sophomore Zack Penick — and turned to senior Tyler Cosma to replace Dustin Huffman, who passed away last summer in a tragic accident.
“Being a half-second faster than last year with a new guy in there, that’s pretty unbelievable,” said Eisel. “Hats off to Buchtel.”
When asked if they thought of Huffman on Saturday, Eisel said, “Oh yeah. Anytime we’re at a track meet, especially the last couple weeks.
“We definitely miss the kid.”
Eisel, Matak and Penick joined Trent Toothman on the third-place 4x100 relay. Eisel also placed fourth in the 200, while Matak was sixth in the 100 and 200.
“It was great, no regrets,” Matak said. “We had a lot of fun.
“Now it’s off to college.”