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Harding sweeps Trumbull track meet
By Jon moffett
Cortland
It was all about the W at the Trumbull county track meet.
Warren Harding High captured both the boys and girls titles at the 16th annual meet at Lakeview High on Thursday. The Raiders used the meet as a soapbox to proclaim their intentions.
“Coming into the meet today, there were certain events that I wanted to focus on,” said coach Charles Penny. “We wanted to focus on both sprint relays — the 4x100 and 4x200 — the 4x400, 800 and 300 hurdles. We’re looking at what we want to progress in, and those are events we needed to not make a statement, but kind of put our name back out there.”
Not only did the Raider boys capture all of those races, but Harding collected 15 first-place finishes between both teams. The boys team had 10 of those finishes. But Penny said he wasn’t surprised the girls were able to chip in five more.
“We don’t have a whole lot of numbers on the girls side, but what we do have on the girls side is a lot of heart,” he said. “Our girls in practice, they bust their butts, they work hard, they do everything we ask of them and a little more, which is good when you have a limited number.”
The boys team scored 132 points, and were followed by Lakeview with 109. The girls had 97 total points. Howland finished second with 85.
Leading the pack for the Harding boys was the dynamic and energetic Marvin Logan.
Logan, a senior, earned first-place finishes in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles. He was also a member of the championship 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.
“I owe it my training, I owe it to the Lord, and I owe it to my coaches,” he said. “A big part of that is the Warren tradition. We push each other and we have one goal, and that’s to win a state championship. Not to win county, not to win districts and not to win the regional. But to win the state championship.”
Lakeview’s Lauren Schattinger also went all out in her race, the 100-meter dash, with the hope of a place in the event.
After crossing the finish line first, Schattinger, a sophomore, tumbled forward and took a hard fall on the track. A cut left shoulder and sore hip were just part of the deal.
“I heard [LaBrae’s] Allorian [Horn] coming, and I know she’s strong at the end of a race, so I tried to lean,” she said. “But I got out a little far. I don’t even honestly know what happened.”
Schattinger’s fall wasn’t the only of the day, but was much less severe than one by Howland’s Kattie Chambers.
In the scariest moment of the day, Chambers was within 10-meters from the finish line of the girls 800-mter run when she suddenly collapsed. Officials said she had blacked out and was disoriented for several minutes after the fall, which she did not brace for.
Chambers was taken to an area hospital as a precaution.
While some runners have their sights set on state, one runner simply wants to help keep the tradition of her school alive.
McDonald freshman Sarah Jones won the 1600-meter run in a time of 5:27.95 and while she’d love to qualify for state at some point, right now she’s just focused on making sure she lives up to the long line of Blue Devils who have succeeded in distance running before her.
“We take pride in it, and I love it,” she said. “I work hard for my team, and I like representing McDonald. I kind of want to keep the tradition alive.”
Jones said she first learned of the tradition as a fifth-grader when the high school coaches encouraged younger runners.
When asked why she likes distance running, Jones said, “Um, honestly I ask myself that all the time.”