Boys track team focused on Fed title

April 23, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Boardman boys track coach Dave Pavlansky enters his 22nd season (his 12th as head coach) with the Spartans’ track and field program with a “nice mix of talent at all age levels.”

“This team, overall, works exceptionally hard and is quite focused. They definitely want to improve on last year’s fourth-place Federal League finish, which was disappointing to all … This is a group that definitely wants to return to the winners circle,” Pavlansky stated.

With 70 team members, numbers are the least of Pavlansky’s concerns. Three members of Pavlansky’s squad competed this past March 19 in the state indoor meet at the University of Akron.

Junior Devi Campbell, who had just returned from New York City where he competed in the New Balance Indoor National Meet, placed sixth in the 60-meter dash, while classmate Allen Starkey, who was an outdoor qualifier last year, competed in the long jump.

Eddie Adu-Poku, a senior, qualified in the 800 and earlier in the year dipped below the two-minute mark, which pleased Pavlansky. Senior Nick Buonavolonta, a four-year member of the Spartans’ squad, will add his speed to the relay teams where Boardman is expected to once again field one of the faster units in the Federal League.

The down side to the season, however, is the loss of sophomore pole vaulter, Ian Phillips, who suffered a broken tibia in practice earlier this spring.