Celebrating spring feats

Track’s top notes, quotes & anecdotes

RECIPE FOR RE-CREATING STATE TRACK MEET (Sports Media edition)

Find a red marker, roll up your sleeve and draw a line across your bicep, then color in everything below. Repeat on other arm, then fill in face and neck.

Buy cheap hot dogs, eat them and immediately curse yourself. Repeat the following day.

Buy sunglasses that remind you of “Hangover” actor Bradley Cooper, then listen to colleague tell you that you look like “ChiPs” actor Larry Wilcox.

Stir, serve and enjoy.

Whenever I tell people that the state track meet is my favorite event of the year, they look at me the same way I look at people when they say soccer is their favorite sport or broccoli is their favorite vegetable.

“Really?” I think. “Have you tried the other ones?”

But here’s the thing. The state track meet is in June. Outside. In sunshine. And the Mahoning Valley is very, very good in track.

Quick example: Midway through the second day of the meet, I was sitting next to a sportswriter when I asked, “So, what are you writing about?”

“Well,” he said. “I just interviewed a pole vaulter who finished 13th.”

“Oh,” I said. “I’m trying to cram three state champions into one story.”

The downside of that, of course, is that I barely have room to mention the athletes who finished second, much less third, fourth or fifth. (Also, as a card-carrying NASCAR hater, it pains me to admit just how red my neck is right now.)

But those are quibbles. Last weekend’s meet was a warm, wonderful end to the most rain-filled spring in memory. Here are my highlights:

Most random haircut

Warren JFK senior Carl Broadbent had “Spud Webb” shaved across his head — graffiti-font style — for the final day of the state meet. (Webb is best known for being 5-foot-7 and winning the 1986 Slam Dunk contest.)

“The night of the district meet was the same night as prom, so we couldn’t go,” Broadbent said. “We ended up going to Cosmic Bowling and when someone asked me what name I wanted to use, I said Spud Webb and I ended up bowling pretty well.”

That’s it?

“Yeah,” he said. “There’s really no meaning to it.”

Oh.

Best T-shirt

At the Division III regional meet, Springfield junior Stephen Lyons wore a green John Deere T-shirt that read “My other ride is a tractor.” He then explained that it was “Tractor Day” at Springfield, where you ride your tractor to school. So, he and his friends piled into a John Deere “Gator” that day.

Apparently this is a fairly common thing. I had no idea.

Best track website

Neohstrack.com. It’s run by local track aficionado John Jeren and it has lots of results, photos and videos from this season.

Best moment

Watching Newton Falls senior Jen Bjelac — a class valedictorian — start crying as she received her diploma atop the podium after winning the Division III long jump title. Bjelac had to skip her graduation in order to compete.

Best statistic

McDonald has had at least one qualifier to the state track meet every year since 1972. The school, which has won 58 state track titles, won its second team title this weekend.

Best example of why distance runners are a little off

One week before retirement and less than an hour before the Division III regional meet in Navarre began, Maplewood track coach Ted Rupe was out in 85-degree weather doing an 81/2-mile run.

I actually passed him in my car on the way to the meet and thought, “No, that can’t be him. He’s not that nuts. Oh, wait, yes he is.”

Five favorite athletes to watch

McDonald senior Matthias Tayala, who basically took over the meet for a time on Friday while winning state discus and shot put titles. Watching him flex his arms and scream out “Let’s go, baby!” after throwing a career-best in the shot summed up the school’s performance. … McDonald senior Miles Dunlap, who basically took over the meet for a time on Saturday with a first-, second- and third-place finish over a 90-minute stretch. …Maplewood senior Jordan Moxley. She was down to her last jump at 5 feet, 5 inches in the high jump, nailed it and went on to win her second straight state title. … Girard junior Jamal McClendon. He’s 5-6 and he won a regional title in the 110-meter hurdles. Enough said. … And South Range junior Tim Nichols (aka the short white kid with the dreadlocks). I love distance runners. They’re a little off, but in a great way.

Favorite athletes to interview

Lakeview senior Lauren Schattinger. She’s so good, she should be mentioned twice. She’s like talking to a 25-year-old. … Struthers senior Jermayne Brooks. He opened up about a rough past and how much of his success he owes to his mother. Good stuff. … Bjelac. She came from an ACL tear and skipped her graduation to win a state title and wouldn’t have mentioned either thing if she hadn’t been asked. … Maplewood sophomore Wyatt Hartman. Said all the right things about dedicating his season to his outgoing coach, then went out and performed, finishing an impressive second in the 800 at the state meet. … And Moxley. (See quote below.)

Finally, the five quotes I loved the most

After helping her team win a district title less than an hour before prom, I caught up Fitch senior Jen Shiley as she walked to the locker room. She gave me a pitch-perfect teenage girl quote about how prom affected the meet:

“Oh my God, you run and then you think and then you run again and then you’re like, ‘Am I going to be late?’ And then you wonder if it’s going to storm. It’s so hectic, but it’s so much funner because it makes the prom even better.”

Former Lordstown coach Frank Rahde, on what it was like competing against Rupe in cross country:

“Uh, demoralizing?”

Chaney coach Chris Patrone, on whether he reminds his athletes that they will be the last to compete for the school:

“They know that. But we don’t put any pressure on them. There’s no Knute Rockne speech about being the last team from Chaney. We just let them run. Track’s got to be fun.”

Moxley, on the pressure of making a final jump:

“A lot of those girls, if they miss two, they automatically go in the tank and say, ‘I’m not making my third.’ I love the third jumps because it determines how good of a competitor you are. You see how good of an athlete you are when you put the mental aspect together with the physical aspect and see if you can make that one jump under pressure.”

McDonald coach Lou Domitrovich, on driving back from the regional meet after finishing one point short of the team title:

“Each storm we’d go through, we’d see this rainbow that was following us. I told the guys, every cloud has a silver lining and in this case, it’s gold.”

He was right. A week later, the Blue Devils won it all.