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Poland boys, Canfield girls win AAC Red track crowns
By Joe Scalzo
Canfield
With the league title resting on Thursday’s final event, Poland High track coaches Gabby Moore and Ryan Williams stood near the finish line, stopwatches in hand, as Bulldog senior Brian Ciccone ran the anchor leg of the 4x400-meter relay.
Moore: “He ran a 49.”
Williams: “You think he was ...”
Moore: “Jacked up?”
A 49-second 400, by the way, is very, very fast. And the Bulldogs’ 4x400 relay, even without standout senior Robert Balzano, is very, very fast.
Poland needed to finish first or second in the 4x400 to clinch its first boys title since 2002. The Bulldogs won by 11 seconds, edging Canfield 105-98. Howland was third with 881/2, followed by Niles (301/2) and Beaver Local (10).
Canfield won the girls team title.
“We knew we had to win this so we could win the league,” said Ciccone, who was joined by seniors Luke Wollet, Ryan Storkel and Taylor Malaniak. “We know we’re good and we know even if we don’t run a good race we have a chance of winning.”
Balzano, who will run in the relay in the postseason, earned the break after winning the open 400 and 200, placing second in the 100 and anchoring the winning 4x200 relay.
Senior Sean Murphy added wins in the 800 and 1600.
“It was a good culmination of this senior class,” said Williams, who coaches Poland’s boys. “They’ve worked hard and had a lot of success in a lot of sports.
Canfield made it a closer meet than expected, with Cardinal junior Tyler Mettille sweeping the hurdle events, senior Garrett Zuzik (long jump) and sophomore Jonathan Hutnyan (3200) adding individual victories and senior Dustin Brode (discus, shot put) continuing his year-long assault on the record books with two more meet records.
“We never expected that,” Canfield coach Mark Carden said of the narrow margin. “They did a fantastic job.”
While Poland built its victory on the backs of seniors, the Canfield girls (who have just three seniors) did it with juniors and freshmen.
Junior Emily Gleichert won the 100 and 200, anchored the winning 4x100 relay and anchored the second-place 4x200 relay to help the Cardinals beat Howland, 1341/2 to 103. Poland was third with 811/2 points, followed by Beaver Local (7) and Niles (6).
It was Canfield’s first girls league title since 2006.
“This is something we’ve been working toward for three years,” said Carden. “At the beginning of the year, the girls set out with one goal and that was to win the conference.
“They just did a phenomenal job.”
Gleichert ran six races — four finals and two prelims — and admitted she was pretty tired by the end.
“But it felt great to see all my hard work pay off,” she said. “The last two years, we were really close [to the league title] and we felt like this year was our year.
“Everyone worked really hard and everyone is so supportive. We’re proud when other girls win and they’re proud when we win.”
Gleichert, who carries a 4.0 grade point average and is line to be valedictorian, is used to that supportive atmosphere. She’s a triplets — sister Meredith plays soccer and brother Robert is a wrestler and football player.
“It’s really fun,” she said. “They’re great support and it’s a lot of fun having people your age to go through turning points with.
“I love it.”
Sophomore Maggie Bresnahan won the discus and placed second in the shot put, junior Leanna Hartsough won the high jump, junior Nicole Tiberio won the 1600, junior Jillian Smith won the 400 and freshman Emma Lunne won the 3200 to key the Canfield victory.
“We have a lot of depth and a lot of balance,” said Carden. “And we’re almost all juniors and freshmen.
“We’re going to be tough for a little while.”