Bialik, Tolich and Brode to compete at indoor nationals

Vindicator staff report

BOSTON

Three area track and field standouts will compete at this weekend’s Nike Indoor Track and Field National Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center.

Boardman senior Joe Bialik will compete in the pole vault, while Fitch junior Ali Tolich and Canfield senior Dustin Brode will each compete in the shot put and weight throw.

Brode, who will throw at Harvard next year, is the defending indoor state champion in the weight throw.

He also won an outdoor state title in the shot put last June.

He also competed in the national meet last March, finishing 14th in the shot put and 21st in the weight throw.

Brode is ranked first in Ohio this winter in Division I in both events.

Ohio’s indoor state meet is next weekend at the University of Akron.

Bialik, last year’s Federal League champion in the pole vault, is Boardman’s school record holder in the event.

He qualified for the Nike meet earlier this indoor season at Akron University with a vault of 14 feet, 6 inches.

He is ranked fifth in Ohio in Division I in the event. Bialik is the first vaulter from Boardman to compete at a national meet.

Tolich placed second in the discus and fourth in the shot put at June’s state outdoor meet.

She is ranked first in Ohio in Division I in both events this winter.